From Business Developer to Quantitative Trader: A Pandemic Success Story
I got motivated to write my story because I stumbled on this tweet
So here goes my lockdown story.
I was a business developer at a digital payments startup, and I loved my job but felt I needed to expand my skills to be competitive in the industry. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the company was forced to implement a work-from-home policy, and I found myself with a lot of free time.
Rather than sit idle, I decided to take advantage of the situation and enrol in some online courses to improve his skills. I chose courses on data analysis, machine learning, and data science from popular online learning platforms, Udemy and Coursera. In a period of 8 months, I enrolled in over 40 courses.
Initially, I was interested in specializing in computer vision or natural language processing (NLP), but as I immersed myself and progressed through the courses, I took a liking to quantitative analysis and trading. I must add that at this point I was following the Showmax TV series titled "Billions." My favourite character in the series is the talented Taylor Mason. Mason rose to become the CIO of the protagonist hedge fund within a short period of time.
Being intrigued by the challenge of using complex algorithms and data-driven insights to make profitable trades. I immersed myself in the courses, spending countless hours studying and practising his new skills. I applied all I learned to real-world examples, experimenting with different data sets and developing my own trading strategies.
In 2022, I discovered a new way to use my skills when I found an arbitrage opportunity in decentralized exchanges (DEXs) using the Bellman-Ford algorithm. I swiftly took advantage of the chance and profited significantly, which inspired me to change the course of my career.
Soon enough, this newfound expertise caught the attention of several prop trading firms as I shared a technical article and trading story that got shared on Hacker News. Impressed by my knowledge and skills, I was offered a position as a quantitative trader. I was thrilled at the opportunity to use my skills in a high-pressure, fast-paced environment.
As a quantitative trader, I analyze data to identify trends and make informed decisions about when to buy and sell. I continue to refine my skills, always looking for new ways to leverage data and algorithms to create profitable trades.
Years have passed since I first started taking online courses during the 2020 lockdown. Now, in 2023, I am a quantitative trader, and I couldn’t be happier. I enjoy the challenges of the job and love the thrill of making profitable trades using skills in data analysis and machine learning. I am grateful for the unexpected opportunities that arose from the pandemic and am excited to see what the future holds.
