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Introduction
Hey Everyone! I'm Lohkesh, a fourthie in Chemical. The last year was a rollercoaster where I made many mistakes, gained a lot of learnings (more on that at the end), and finally, I managed to get a role that I loved. I'm currently interning at Mako Trading, a prop-trading firm (like Optiver, but Mako is much smaller). Mako Trading is a market maker in options markets.
The Structure of the Internship
The internship was unique in its design - they let us experience a bit of every role in Mako, so that we could choose what we like to do. I'm currently writing this 3 weeks into my internship and till now, it has been all about being an options trader (the Quant Trading role). We have had a week each for Python, Equity Research, and the Quant Research roles left now.
Apart from this, there were frequent networking sessions to talk with senior and junior traders, learning about the practical sides, the work-life balance, and the fun experiences they had in their careers.
Moreover, this was a part-time internship (work hours were 4-5 hours/day on average) so I had a bit of time to read further and explore the other areas of finance that I liked.
The Experience
Let me first describe my experience in the trading technicalities of the internship, the impetus to this read. During the first week, we spent most of our time learning about the fundamentals of making markets: Guesstimating with probability bounds. It was also easier to fit into the market-making environment once we got to know why these market makers are essential. The second and third weeks were filled with extensive sessions and reading assignments on options. Note: this is why you don't need finance knowledge for quant roles, they will teach you anyways.
After that, we had to trade in a simulated environment, where we could trade options while thinking about how to react to different markets, their risks, etc. For me, that was the most exciting part. Apart from this, we were given a set of books to read (you can find them here) since trading and financial markets have a psychological part to them, and the books covered more options for further learning too.
On the corporate/ soft skills side of the coin, we had a session last week on Game Theory, where we had to play poker (again, the virtual type). There were around 30 interns from a wide range of nationalities, and getting to know their culture and so on was really fun.
External Internships and Apping
So I got this role by applying on LinkedIn (yeah, who would've thought, right). I will try to give some pointers that I learned about applying for roles in finance externally.
The Good
Foreign companies value diversity a lot more, and you might have an edge
They open a lot of roles, and you have a wide variety of companies to choose from
External Resumes- So you can put in all the work you did during the semester
The Bad
Most companies hesitate to sponsor visas unless you are outstanding, so you might have problems in the offline mode.
More competition, i.e., you need to know finance properly for the non-quant roles.
Also, look out for the deadlines as they are a bit early for the big banks, and most of the good roles close around Oct-Nov. Apart from that, the points covered in the apping sessions (very useful!) are all you need to remember while applying.
Learnings from my Intern Season Experience
So a few small pointers on what I learned from the internship season
Focused Resumes- Make sure your resume fits your role (mainly external ones)
Interviews- Follow the dress code, make sure you know about the role and the firm
Follow your passion- It's not the end of the road if you don't get an intern for your fav role in the initial days (Fun fact: I did try hard for Optiver but in the end, looks like things turned out well)
Never put all your hopes in one interview, luck does play a significant role, and usually, it's not on your side. So have a plan B.
Lastly, surround yourself with people with common interests. I got to know about Mako from my wingie who was into trading as well.