The Peterman Pod Ex-Citadel Quant and AI Researcher On Breaking In, Tech vs Finance Careers
27 snips
Jan 26, 2026 
Nimit Sohani, a Stanford PhD and AI researcher now at Cartesia who previously worked as a quant at Citadel. He contrasts AI research and quant careers, discusses PhD value and research taste. He explains Cartesia's voice AI work, low-latency TTS and long-context models. He compares startups vs big labs and debates state space models versus transformers.
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Develop Research Taste Gradually
- Read widely and cultivate research taste by skimming papers and talking to people.
- Start with small, tractable problems and scale up as you gain experience.
PhD Helps But Isn't Required
- A PhD eases hiring friction and develops exploratory skills, but it is not strictly necessary.
- Industry roles can train you, though academia better enables first-principles exploration.
Internship Sparked A Career Shift
- Nimit interned at Citadel Securities after his PhD and liked the new domain and problems.
- He found the change refreshing after years in AI research.