Vital Stats
HOMETOWN: San Francisco Bay Area
Master's Program:Columbia University, Master of Science in Financial Engineering
Undergraduate Degree:University of California at Berkeley, physics major
Honors: Highest distinction and general scholarship award
Additional degrees: Bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder, summa cum laude; master's degree in physiological psychology from UCLA, with focus on neural networks and computational neuroscience (recipient of a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship)
Mentor: Definitely reading Professor Emanuel Derman's (director of the Columbia M.S.F.E. program) book was a pivotal moment for me in helping me decide that I wanted to get into this field.
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Interview Conducted By Kerry Massero
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- Qualifications and Background
- Aspirations
- Beyond the Numbers
Advanced Trading: How does your interest in psychology mesh with your interest in financial services?
Rothwell: I was interested in how the brain computes information, and if you really wish to study that as a scientist you go into neuroscience, which in many schools is in the psychology department. After earning my degree at UCLA, I went into developing neural networks to solve business problems. I worked for Mitek Systems for seven years. I also used neural networks to price equity options by estimating volatility -- that I did on my own. I spent a year developing models to price equity options while I did consulting work on neural network technology.
I then went to work for Sony Online Entertainment developing graphics for video games. The most recognized game I worked on is EverQuest -- which is a massively popular multiplayer role-playing game. At one point it had more than 400,000 simultaneous subscribers.
I worked there for seven years, then I spent the past three years as a professional poker player. I'd always played poker on the side, and I always wondered what it would be like to earn my income that way. I was able to sustain myself but not as well as I would have liked. I learned what it was like to experience the day-to-day fluctuations of competing in a stochastic environment. It felt fulfilling to put my strategies to work and earn a living that way. But ultimately there were too many of my skills that were not being used. I was playing mostly Texas Hold'em, playing five days a week. I did win some money in the World Series of Poker tournament. But mostly I was playing cash games. Poker is legal in a number of places in California -- this was north of San Diego. But I played in Las Vegas as well. The most I won at one time was close to $10,000.
AT: Can you explain the work you did pricing options?
Rothwell: Basically I wrote a program to simulate a neural network that would analyze volatility trends and try to predict future volatility based on past data, and then use those volatilities to try to find mis-priced equity options. I used that to trade on my own. I didn't honestly have much success with it because I am just one person working individually without access to a trading desk, all the data, etc. It was my first introduction to what it would be like to do that and it left me wanting more, but at the time I was geographically limited to San Diego and couldn't do the things I would truly need to do to break into finance.
AT: Did you consider commercializing it?
Rothwell: I considered it, but I was kind of in a bind and needed to get back to regular work. It was difficult to get traction in San Diego because it is not a financial center.
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AT: Why did you choose to pursue a master's degree in finance?
Rothwell: I felt I missed my calling in terms of what area would be the best use of my skills. But I wasn't really in a position to leave San Diego until a few years ago for personal reasons. Once that door was open, I knew that I really wanted to get into finance. And although I had come a good distance down my career, I didn't want to start without the background that I knew most of my competition getting into the field would have. I wanted to make sure I knew everything I could about finance before making the shift.
AT: Why did you choose Columbia's program?
Rothwell: It's a top program and it's in New York, and I wanted to be where the best quant jobs are. I had also heard of Columbia's M.S.F.E. program many years before when I had first been introduced to the field. And I had read Dr. Emanuel Derman's (director of the Columbia M.S.F.E. program) book, "My Life as a Quant," and that was when I had my eye on the Columbia program. He's here, and his story really resonated with me.
AT: What did you do between earning your undergraduate degree and attending your current program?
Rothwell: I'm getting my degree as part of a career change. I've been working in the software industry for the past 15 years. I also earned two other degrees in the meantime.
AT: How would you rate your knowledge of the business of financial services, on a scale of 1 to 10?
Rothwell: Compared to other students, I'm not a 10, but maybe an 8 or 9. But comparing me to people in the field would be different.
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AT: What drew you to a career on Wall Street?
Rothwell: I wanted to follow my interest. I always have been passionate about investing my money and learning new strategies. I am excited about the idea of competing in a stochastic environment where you need to adapt to changes in the market and modify your strategies to try to make as much money as possible. And the idea of doing that for one of the biggest players, such as a hedge fund or an investment bank, has always excited me.
AT: Do you have a preference -- buy side or sell side?
Rothwell: I would like to work on the buy side, and a hedge fund would be an ideal place for me. If not that, a quantitative strategies group at an asset management department of an investment bank. Somewhere I could find those rare inefficiencies in the market and exploit them through a combination of research and coming up with strategies.
AT: What type of role would you like to start in?
Rothwell: Somewhere I can apply my skills to trying to find profitable strategies for trading.
AT: Does any particular asset class interest you?
Rothwell: No particular asset class -- all of it. Basically you need to find an area that has not been too heavily explored by others so you are not in competition against too many people for the same inefficiencies.
AT: What do you see yourself doing in two years? In 10 years?
Rothwell: Since I am shifting into a new industry, two years from now I assume I would still be a relatively junior member on a team but hopefully contributing my own ideas to the development of quantitative strategies. In ten years I would hope I would be leveraging my skills by leading a technical team, investigating strategies still but perhaps playing more of a leadership role.
I would always want to stay connected to the type of work I was managing. I never want to be in a pure management role.
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AT: Name three firms you'd like to work for.
Rothwell: DE Shaw, Goldman Sachs, those are my main two; Morgan Stanley, as well. But also I would add to that many of the smaller quant hedge funds I'd also be happy to work for.
AT: What sets you apart from other quant candidates?
Rothwell: My [professional] experience -- not only design and development of software, but also knowing what it's like to work in a professional environment and seeing what things work in terms of helping the company and knowing how to manage your own time and others'.
AT: What three questions would you ask a prospective employer?
Rothwell: I'd ask some questions to get at the typical level of employee morale. Or course, an interviewer is not going to tell you it's bad, but you can kind of get a feeling from the enthusiasm in the response. Mobility is important: do people get promoted a lot? Can people switch to other departments if they are interested? I'd also be interested to know how risk management is handled. Does the risk management group have the authority it needs? I'd like to make sure if [the risk management group] is not a major player that the firm is financially sound.
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AT: What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Rothwell: I love to get outdoors in the wilderness and go backpacking when I can. I have a goal that once a year I like to go on a solo backpacking trip. Last year I went to Big Bend National Park.
AT: Name one thing you did this summer for fun.
Rothwell: I went to Disneyland before I moved [to New York].
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AT: Describe one of your personal goals beyond a career on Wall Street.
Rothwell: I'd like to learn how to take things in life and maintain a calm mental state throughout the day. I study psychology books on how to live your life in a healthy, spiritual way -- how to be in a high-stress environment and maintain a low level of internal stress.
AT: Choose one word to describe yourself.
Rothwell: Analytical.
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