<p>What would one need to major in to do this?
Would it be better to (1) get a degree in finance or (2) get a degree in computer science?</p>
<p>Also, how's the job market for financial engineers?</p>
<p>Is "Data Mining and Analysis" a business department's job or the computer science department's job?</p>
<p>The majority of wall street's quants carry PhDs or Master's degrees. It would be nice to have experience in the field prior to graduate school through internships or full-time work. Being a financial or risk(credit/insurance etc) analyst for 1-2 years before graduate school would be perfect. You also need a 80%+ score on the quant portion of the gmat. Your math abilities matter the most.</p>
<p>The alternative is to get a PhD/Ms in math or physics or some other quantitative discipline. That is the old school path to wall street's quantitative divisions.</p>
<ol>
<li>Computational finance is better in my opinion than standard finance.</li>
<li>Comp sci would be a good minor</li>
</ol>
<p>Financial engineers are suffering along with the market. Quants were the ones that arbitrarily decreased the risk of subprime tied securities. Hence, wall street blames them. But the majority did so due to upper management's direction. Its all Dick Fuid's fault in my opinion!!!</p>
<p>The logic made sense. "People wouldn't risk buying a home they couldn't afford." In the case of the housing bubble, too many people risked it all.</p>