The Quant Careers Report
The first part tells you, firm by firm, what Jane Street, Citadel, Optiver and ten others test in each round, what they pay interns, graduates and experienced hires, and when their classes fill, all from their own adverts and careers pages. The second teaches the methods behind every kind of question they ask, through 345 problems you will not find anywhere else, each solved the way a strong candidate would talk it through.
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PDF, delivered as soon as payment goes through. Edition 2, October 2026. Sample pages are shown below.
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What is inside
- 11 chapters on the methods, with 255 problems written for this report. Counting and conditional probability; Expectation, indicators and variance; First-step analysis and Markov chains; Continuous and geometric probability; Martingales, stopping times and random walks; Games, optimal stopping and decisions; Market making, odds and bet sizing; Options and pricing; Brownian motion and Itô calculus; Statistics, inference and machine learning; Brainteasers: invariants, counting and estimation. Each chapter explains a method, works through examples the way a strong candidate would say them aloud, and ends with exercises; full solutions follow the last chapter.
- Five timed practice papers: 90 questions you will not find on this site or anywhere else. A probability screen, a brainteaser round, markets and options, a 40-question arithmetic screen and a research round, written for the report and set the way the firms test, each with an answer key and full worked solutions. Every answer was reproduced by an independent computation before printing. Plus 12 coding problems.
- Three interviews, worked through. A probability phone screen, a market-making game and a research case, step by step: what a strong candidate says at each turn, the follow-ups to expect, and where marks are lost.
- The CV, line by line. Weak and strong versions of the lines that decide whether a trading firm calls you, and why each works.
- Offers and decisions. Exploding deadlines, comparing offers stated in different units, and what to read in a contract before you sign.
- What the firms say they pay. Base pay for interns, graduates and experienced hires as written in the firms' own US adverts, firm by firm: Jane Street, Five Rings, Jump, IMC, DRW, Citadel, SIG, D. E. Shaw, Two Sigma, HRT, Tower, Akuna and others. Weekly and annual rates side by side, and what a summer comes to.
- Moving as an experienced hire. How a lateral process differs, where non-compete law stands in the UK, the US and New York, and how to work with recruiters without losing control of your CV, with the specialist firms that candidates do not complain about.
- Who each programme is for. The graduation windows each advert sets, the degrees and languages it asks for, and which firms sponsor visas. Applying a year early or late is the most avoidable rejection there is.
- When to apply. The dates firms give for opening and filling their classes, and which processes cannot be repeated if you sit them unprepared.
- How each firm interviews. Thirteen firms, each with what the firm states about its process, what candidates describe where reliable accounts exist, and how to prepare.
- The tests, decoded. Arithmetic screens, online quant quizzes, coding rounds, market-making games and case studies.
- An eight-week plan and an application strategy. The order to apply in, the CV, and what to do after a no.
From the report: ten things to know
- US interns are paid at full-time rates. Jane Street, Five Rings and Jump state a base of $300,000, IMC and DRW $250,000 or more, as annual rates paid for the weeks worked. Firms that quote weekly state $4,500 to $8,600 a week.
- Finance is optional. Jane Street says it does not test finance or economics; D. E. Shaw says its quantitative analyst interns need no prior finance knowledge.
- The calendar runs early. G-Research launches graduate roles in August, IMC's season begins in September, and D. E. Shaw advises applying by the end of the year before the internship.
- Some attempts cannot be repeated. Optiver's online assessments can be taken once every eight months.
- Speed with numbers is screened first at market makers.
- Research roles test statistics and code more than puzzles.
- Python is the common language; C++ appears in most research and development adverts.
- Processes move fast once started: one to two weeks at G-Research for internships.
- Visas differ by firm. Read the advert before you apply.
- Signals beyond grades matter: games, olympiads, and research on real data.
The report has the detail behind each one, with the source.
How it was made
Every firm-specific fact comes from the firm's own careers pages and job adverts, read between 1 and 5 October 2026, and every source is listed at the end. Pay figures are base pay as written in US adverts, where firms are required to state it; nothing is estimated from surveys. Where the report describes what candidates say rather than what a firm states, it says so under its own heading.
It was written by a working high-frequency trading quant who has been through these processes as a candidate and now prepares candidates for them.
Paid in full, in advance. No refunds. Full terms
Common questions
How do I get the report after paying?
Payment is handled by Stripe. When it goes through you are taken straight to a page with the download link.
Does it give pay for London and Europe?
No. UK and European adverts do not state pay, so the report gives none for them rather than guessing. The processes, requirements and dates cover London and Amsterdam roles as well as US ones.
Is this the same as the practice questions on the site?
No. The 345 questions in the chapters and the five papers were written for this report and are published nowhere else, on this site or anywhere. The site's question banks are a separate collection. The pay, eligibility, dates and firm-by-firm processes are not on the site either.
How current is it?
Edition 2 was compiled from sources read between 1 and 5 October 2026, for the 2027 recruiting cycle. Adverts change during a season, so check the current advert before you apply.
Can I share it?
The licence is for your own use. Please do not redistribute the file.
Practice: 500 quant interview questions with worked solutions, timed firm-style papers and mental maths tests.
Free from the same research: quant intern pay in 2027, from the firms' adverts, and how trader, researcher and developer roles differ in work, pay and interviews.