Help me figure out what to do with a PhD

[AvivaSimplex]

I finished up grad school last year, and since then I've been trying to find a career that really fits me. I took some time off, under the theory that I should do professionally whatever I did for fun. That turns out to be +EV gambling and equities research.

Here's a little about me. Strengths. I have a PhD in neuroimaging (fMRI) from Washington University. I know they're not Harvard, but they were one of the places that invented neuroimaging 20-30 years ago, and that department is one of the world's best. My publication record is pretty good, and my test scores and GPA are very strong.

I love strategy games. Poker, Civilization, bridge, etc. I'm very good at figuring out how to exploit rules quickly. I also have a natural instinct towards making money. Nearly all of my hobbies revolve around profit. Like most here, I'm a successful poker player, but I've also started an online advertising business (successful at one point but now defunct due to recent legislation), resold Nintendo Wiis, and did casino bonus whoring. Right now I'm supporting myself through sports arbitrage.

I've been extremely successful in the stock market. Over the past 3 years, I've made investment gains of 200% in my IRA (vs. 50% for the S&P500). This has mostly been accomplished using value-based investing with holding periods of 1-3 years.

Weaknesses. I'm honestly a pretty terrible salesman. During grad school I did casino bonus whoring, and I tried to convince my friends to do it so I could get some referral bonuses. For those who aren't familiar, bonus whoring is (was) a way to make a few thousand dollars with very little risk by exploiting online casinos' signup bonuses. Despite having a great product to sell (Real Free Money!), I was only able to get one of my friends to try it.

Working hours. I've always thought of my mind as a sprinter rather than a marathon runner. I'll figure things out very quickly, but I have a hard time working very long hours. Everything I've read about investment banking tells me that 100 hours/week is standard--that would kill me. 60 hours/week I could do, but that would be tough to sustain for more than a few years.

I have basically no connections in finance or business.


Does anybody have suggestions about what I should do with my career?

[SlowHabit]

Become a teacher?

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[crazy canuck]

Which departement did you do it under: comp sci, physics or engineering?

Regardless, I guess you have solid math/computational skills. Since you are into making money, I'd say the best thing for you is to apply to an MSc in financial engeneering (sometimes it is called Mathematical Finance). Quantitative analyst are generally required to work significantly less than 100 hrs.

Also, most programs are about pricing derivatives and not about learning trading techniques.

And becasue the market is saturated by quants, only do it if you get accepted to a top program (or the school has very good placement).

[Thremp]

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Become a teacher?

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[john kane]

salesman

it will help you to work on your weaknesses

[Praxis101]

Ummm, duh... what do you want to do? [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

With your background, it seems you can acheive anything you want - if you have no connections in Finance/Business, then so what? I bet if you dive in, you'll be able to find the people you're looking for (assuming you're looking for people!) Seems like you've got plenty of credibility from academia anyways.

What makes you happy? If you excell at those strategy games, I imagine you can come up with a decent strategy for anything (that's got to be useful in lots of fields.)

You've just got to pick!

I guess the cushion with your money-making abilities is quite handy as well - that much more freedom.

EDIT: you seem to like neuroimaging , any cool things going on in the science world around that? I don't know much about that field.

[stinkypete]

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And becasue the market is saturated by quants

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is it?

[Acein8ter]

I see a lot of companies that are started by PhD's. Out of college, they go to a company in their field and find a better way to produce the product or service and join up with other PhD's to start the company.
If they are successfull, their company goes public and they are the primary share holders.
The downside to this is loooooooong workweeks which you probably want to avoid based upon your initial post.

[PunchOut]

From what you have posted i would have to say that you are destined to be an entrepreneur. if i were you, i would figure out what kind of business you would like to start and go into that field. learn everything you possibly can about the small intricacies of that business/industry and start one yourself.

[AvivaSimplex]

Hey, everybody, thanks for your suggestions. To answer some of the questions in the thread:
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Which departement did you do it under: comp sci, physics or engineering?

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Biology. There was a significant computational aspect to it, which may or may not qualify me to be a financial quant.

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Ummm, duh... what do you want to do?

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Well, I like to make considered strategic decisions. I also like to research stocks and think about money and geopolitics. That's leading me towards a hedge-fund-type job.

I would also like to do something that helps people, and to build and lead a business. That suggests a biotech startup, but unfortunately my doctoral research is pretty far from anything profitable. If I went this route I would probably need to either partner with someone else or do a postdoc (a 2-3 year research position where you work with an established professor on your own research) to lay the groundwork for a startup.

Has anyone here been a consultant, for McKinsey or similar? I also enjoy giving my opinion and telling people how to solve their problems.

All of these will take a lot of hours, I'm sure. It's kind of frustrating that I can't even come close to doing what I want while working a 40 hour week, but complaining doesn't change it. Maybe working at a startup, where I'm really building something of my own, would motivate me to get through the long hours.

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you seem to like neuroimaging , any cool things going on in the science world around that? I don't know much about that field.

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There's a lot of cool stuff, but very little of it is in the commercialization stage. There are two companies trying to make infallible lie detectors (IMO, they are destined to fail). Several drug companies are using imaging for pharma screening. I've applied to these positions, but industry generally wants people who have used the exact technology before ("Oh, you scanned humans? We're looking for someone who scanned animals.")

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And becasue the market is saturated by quants

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There are a huge number of job listings for quants. I'm not sure how big the applicant pool is, but given the $200k+ salaries, I think there's a desperate shortage of quants.

I applied to a dozen or so hedge fund firms for analyst, researcher, and quant positions (a broad range, I know). I'm teaching myself C++ (since that's what most firms look for and use) and brushing up on my other languages. So far I've gotten one response from someone looking for a researcher/programmer, which is a far better response rate than any other job applications I've sent out.