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yikes, lookin kinda scary from here.

ok, so matlab was first on your list. i know how to use it to run statistical models/tests etc. but can you write data gathering programs w/ user generated functions?

so how long do you think an intelligent hard working individual would take to learn C++ enough to program a trading system?

thanks,
Barron

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Most guys with 5 years of hardcore C or C++ experience hired as programmers with computer science degrees couldn't do it.

If that's really what the employer wants, they are being cheap (don't want to hire real programmers) and unrealistic.

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Yea, this is not the kind of thing you need to worry about, Barron. Unless you've been really misleading about your background and what you want to do, no one in their right mind is going to hire you to do this kind of work. It would just be a gross mismatch of skills to requirements.

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that was my gut reaction.

when she said that to me "you are light on the programming side," i told her i think the specialization of skills & the difference in marginal cost of training in a new person in stats/finance/economics vs. programming overall i think work in my favor. i want to do research. if it involves doing the manual labor to test my own ideas, i can do that right now in matlab, excel, and with a small review, SAS. i just can't go through the programming to execute that system.

this caught me off guard and thus the post. i just want to get a sense of how much it would take to 'get there.'

thanks eastbay, as a stumbling piano player the music analogy hit home. i don't have a love of computers so it would immediately take me longer.

also evan, i have been absolutely forthright in my desires/abilities accross the board. under skills, my resume says:

Proficient in Matlab, SAS, Bloomberg and Excel (advanced functionality, basic macro)

anybody who reads that should know where i'm at.

thanks for all the responses guys.
Barron