Welcome to The New Quant Times. This month, we chat with world traveler Nathan Landman, an MIT alumnus, ex-ML engineer, and ex-quant researcher who has worked at Apple, Capula, and BFAM Partners. Today, he's based in Hong Kong and experimenting with his own startup ideas - his most recent project being Try It On.

Let's start from the beginning. You went to MIT, right? How did you first get into the quant field?

I had an interest in finance when I arrived at university. Since I studied computer science, the only companies recruiting from our department were quant firms. Most had huge booths at the career fairs and would take you to dinner, treat you well. So it was natural for me to go to these events and meet people. The people were interesting, so it became a kind of soft networking. MIT was probably a target school for quants, so I fell into it. I did two internships in finance, then two in software, and after graduation I went the finance route.

Was finance something you'd always been interested in before college, or was it just the opportunity being there and you thought, "Okay, I'll give this a shot"?

It was definitely the best opportunity. I was more interested in bio research when I first got to university. But most of my friends were doing computer science, and I felt left out, so I started studying it too. I ended up doing a master's concentration in machine learning. Honestly, I would have been better prepared for quant with more math courses. I wasn't specifically aiming for quant, I just fell into it.

That's interesting you mentioned math, because most people I've talked to have a competitive math background. For you, without that heavy math foundation, how did you handle the transition?

I definitely felt like an outlier. Most of my team were math PhDs, or in electrical engineering or physics. But I became an asset in a different way. My colleagues would have ideas or theories and need time to code them up, but I could do that really easily. So I played to my strengths. Getting the job was tougher, I had to train hard with brainteasers and interview prep. For my math friends, it came more naturally. That was a disadvantage. But once inside, the computer science background was very complementary to their skills.

So, the interview process for quant roles is notoriously difficult. It’s also arguably not necessarily reflective of what you actually do on the job. Any thoughts on this?

That's true. But interestingly, most lunchtime and in-between-work conversations were about those kinds of problems. A lot of my math PhD colleagues would grab a whiteboard and solve problems just for fun. I'd sit back and watch (I didn't have the rigorous proof background).

Math all day, every day. That's funny. So looking at your background, you had a pretty interesting geographical journey: internships, full-time roles, all around the world. Could you walk me through how that path came about?

I grew up in South America, went to school in the States, and my first internship came from a finance career fair. Someone told me, "This is your only time to go have fun, don't take freshman internships too seriously." So I went to India my first year. It wasn't professionally enriching, but it was a lot of fun. MIT has a great international internship program, so I leaned into that.

For my last internship, I joined a software engineering company from the career fair. They had an office in Cupertino, but I'd just spent a winter at Apple and didn't enjoy Cupertino, it was boring even though the job was good. So I asked if they had another office. They said, "Well, we have one in China." I said, "Hell yeah, let's go to China." So I worked in Guangdong. Then someone from Hong Kong reached out on LinkedIn about a quant role, and that's how I ended up working in finance there.

That's awesome. I always wanted to work abroad. I studied abroad, but never worked. It was always a dream of mine.

It's really fun. If you're at a big company, most have offices around the world, so they can send you abroad. That's one of the perks.

Across all these different places—China, Hong Kong, India—and working in software engineering versus quant, what differences did you notice in the people and work culture?

Cultural dynamics vary a lot. In Hong Kong, half the office was mainland Chinese, a few were local Hong Kongers, and the rest Westerners. Westerners tended to be more outspoken, while the mainland Chinese were quieter in meetings but extremely punctual, always arriving before the boss, leaving after. But at the end of the day, performance mattered most. Our firm didn't care when you came or left as long as results were good. Eventually, even the mainland hires adapted to that culture. It was very top-down, our boss was American, so he set the tone.

Were you able to speak the local languages, or was everything conducted in English?

Mostly English. I took Mandarin classes but not enough for a professional environment.

Seems like it worked out fine anyway.

Yeah, it was good.

Going from quant to what you're doing now with startups, how did that shift happen?

In quant, depending on the company and culture, work can feel siloed. You might spend weeks just collecting data, cleaning it, and running backtests. You don't need to watch markets daily if your strategy tests well historically. I felt a bit secluded from the real world.

I tried trading for a bit, but I realized I'm more social. I wanted to build something people actually use, get feedback, and improve it. I'd always been interested in startups. During COVID, between jobs, I started tinkering with AI projects. One took off, so I postponed a sabbatical for two years. Now I don't know if I'll go back to finance. I do miss it, not the quant research so much, but more the front office work. We'll see if an opportunity comes up.

So you're playing it by ear.

Exactly. Startups are fun too, you get new problems every day.

Just to clarify, when you were in finance, you were doing quant research specifically?

Yes, two years in quant research, then a year with a portfolio manager on the sales side.

Got it. So you've experienced startups, finance, and software engineering. For very technical, intelligent people today who aren't sure what career path to pursue, would you recommend going into quant or starting a company?

It depends. I ask myself: on a free weekend with just your computer, what do you naturally gravitate toward? These days it's easier than ever to set up a small crypto trading system. Put in $10 or $50, test strategies, run simulations. If you feel drawn to go deeper and deeper, quant might be for you. If instead you'd rather spend your time exploring the latest AI tools or something else, maybe startups fit better.

Interviewers can tell if you genuinely love quant or just want the paycheck. If you're not into it, it's much harder to break in.

Basically try things out, see what naturally fits, and go from there.

Exactly. I interviewed plenty of fresh grads. I'd ask, "What do you know about quant?" They'd say, "Oh yeah, we trade finance." I'd ask if they'd done anything on weekends. Most said no, or they'd followed a tutorial once a year ago. That's an immediate no from me. Straight A's don't matter if you have no genuine interest.

Now, there's an exception: math majors. The problems they like to solve are very similar to those in finance, so it's easy for a hiring manager to say, "Your math problems translate well here, you'll likely enjoy this."

Finally, what advice would you give to college students who are aiming for similar roles?

I'd tell people not to load up on all the hardest classes just for the sake of it. Instead, spend more time on side projects that genuinely interest you. The key is doing those projects either with mentorship from professors or with your friends, ideally both.

What really makes you stand out is being able to talk passionately about something you built on your own time. Those side projects show real curiosity and initiative.

Great stuff!

[Normal thank yous and goodbyes]