He passed every Google interview round, then got the call. Years later, a secretive quant firm was paying him to do nothing.
Mustafa breaks down quant non-competes, what quant really pays, and how to break in today.
Computer science students, new graduates, and software engineers...want to make $500k+/yr in quant at Citadel, Two Sigma, or Hudson River Trading? Click here π https://www.sweaccelerator.com/quant?video=77m6FzEGIog&utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=Mustafa_Quant
Complete the free 60-second profile here π https://www.sweaccelerator.com/quant?video=77m6FzEGIog&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=Mustafa
π Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course β https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer
π§ Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazir
Listen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1
Iβm Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.
Want a team of FAANG engineers + recruiters to help you land your dream software engineering job/internship at big tech guaranteed? Click here π https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=Mustafa_Quant&video=77m6FzEGIog
π Get my free resume template β https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume
π§ Get my free LeetCode Roadmap β https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode
π Free weekly productivity insights/advice β https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter
π All my free Notion templates β https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion
π Sign up for Notion β https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6
π· Instagram β https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/
β
β±οΈ Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Paid a Full Salary to Not Work
02:17 What a Quant Non-Compete Really Is
03:59 Life During the Non-Compete Year
06:11 What the Non-Compete Actually Paid
06:27 Why the Year Felt So Isolating
07:55 Passing Every Google Round, No Offer
09:43 Why Google Was the Dream
11:04 Handling Rejection Out of Your Control
12:00 Apply Here to Get into Quant
13:20 Finding Quant After Google Said No
16:00 What He Knew About Quant Before
17:43 Software Engineering Accelerator
18:36 Betting on the U.S. and MIT
21:15 Is a Master's Actually Worth It?
23:53 Could He Have Skipped the Master's?
25:22 Landing the Two Sigma Internship
27:08 Quant Data Science vs Research, Trading, Dev
28:40 Every Firm He Interviewed With
29:42 Funding MIT With a $90K Loan
32:00 Would He Still Recommend the Master's?
33:38 What a Two Sigma Intern Earns
35:04 The International Student Gamble
36:25 Do International Students Pay It Back?
38:38 Free 7-Day Software Engineering Workshop
39:07 The Return Offer and $300K Comp
41:23 Telling His Parents About $300K
41:57 Zero Lifestyle Creep on $300K
44:19 Inside Two Sigma's Machine
46:10 Why He Left Two Sigma
47:26 The New Role and $400K Bump
48:47 Who Quant Data Science Is For
50:52 How Quant Data Science Interviews Work
51:53 Choosing Your Quant Niche
54:00 Advice for Breaking Into Quant in 2026
54:39 Where to Connect With Mustafa