Differences: Quant Trading, Research, and Software Engineering

Meet Helen, a 24-year-old quant who’s earned over $900K and is here to reveal what life is really like inside the quant world. We dive into how she landed Meta as her first internship, exposed the company publicly, why she walked away from an S-tier job, and the exact systems that helped her build a seven-figure career. If you’ve ever wondered what ‘quant’ really means, how to break in, or what it takes to thrive in one of the world’s most competitive tech roles — this episode is your blueprint.

Computer science students, new grads, and software engineers…want to land your dream software engineering job or internship? Click here 👉  https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=Quant_$900K+_MetaLayoff&video=KVyCKFk4hcQ

🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer

🎧 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

I’m 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.

📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume

🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode

💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter

📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion

📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6

📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/

🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir

👉 Check out Helen’s app here: https://apps.apple.com/za/app/sceneit-discover-movies/id6744046280 
👉 Follow Helen on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helen.pdf?igsh=ODJ1dmttYmpkeDlt 
👉 Follow Helen on Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sweintern?_t=ZS-90PheTpF8xG&_r=1

—

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 The Harsh Reality of Interns, Burnout, and Why Quant Pays So Much
07:16 Was Meta Trying to Silence Her?
14:51 How Helen Landed Meta as Her First Internship
20:41 Aman Reveals the Accelerator That Guarantees You a Tech Internship
24:26 What Is Quant, Really? Helen Breaks It Down
31:59 Aman’s Hypothetical: “How Would You Get Into Quant If You Were Me?”
45:00 Inside Quant Culture: The Truth Few Talk About
49:39 Aman Drops His Free Resource on Landing SWE Jobs
50:12 Helen’s Confession: The Borderline Unethical Tactics People Use
1:02:27 2020 vs 2025: How the Tech Market Has Transformed
1:08:04 AI Is Writing Code Now: Here’s What That Means for You
1:11:20 Why Helen Quit Her S-Tier Quant Job
1:19:37 How to Land Your First Internship with No Experience
1:31:43 Leave A Rating and Review