Explore every episode of the podcast The Quant Finance Podcast

What does it actually take to break into quantitative finance - and what is the industry really like once you get there?

In the first episode of The Quant Finance Podcast, we sit down with Chid Periakaruppan of AlphaGrep, a global quantitative trading and investment firm, for an insider’s look at careers, trading, technology and the changing landscape of quant finance.

Chid has spent more than 20 years in finance, from equity derivatives at UBS to quantitative trading at GETCO/KCG and now AlphaGrep. He shares what he has learned from working across traditional finance, high-frequency trading and systematic investing - and what aspiring quants should know before trying to enter the industry.

We cover:

• What quantitative finance actually looks like inside a trading firm
• The differences between quant researchers, quant traders, quant developers and low-latency developers
• What firms really look for on a student’s CV
• How to demonstrate genuine interest in markets when you have little or no industry experience
• What to expect from quant interviews and internships
• The technical skills that matter - from programming and statistics to modelling and low-latency C++
• Why soft skills, resilience and willingness to “get your hands dirty” matter more than many students expect
• Pod-style firms vs collaborative firms - and why the distinction matters when applying for jobs
• How high-frequency trading is changing as firms expand into longer-horizon systematic strategies
• Whether AI will transform alpha research - or simply create more sophisticated overfitting
• Why compute, data and infrastructure are changing the competitive landscape
• Opportunities in emerging markets including India and China
• Where Singapore fits into the global quant ecosystem
• The misconceptions students often have about a career in quantitative finance

If you’re a student, graduate or early-career professional wondering how to get into quant trading, quant research, systematic investing or HFT, this episode gives you a candid look at how the industry works - directly from someone who has spent decades inside it.

The Quant Finance Podcast explores the companies, careers, technologies and ideas shaping quantitative finance, with a particular focus on helping the next generation understand how to break into the industry.

Featuring Chid Periakaruppan, AlphaGrep.

This episode is hosted by Assoc. Prof. (Practice) Nelson Lau of Nanyang Business School and Shanmitha Janakiraman.