Making his dream come true, EPAT alumnus Nikhil is now an established Quantitative Analyst in the Algorithmic Trading domain. But, did you know that he is a Commerce graduate, has done his MBA and still achieved his dream job via EPAT’s Placement Cell?
How is it possible? How did he do it? How can you too make it possible? Read on to find out. It may sound unbelievable but it is indeed a true story. This is Nikhil’s journey!
Hi Nikhil, tell us about yourself!
Hi! I’m Nikhil Channarayapattana Prakash and I’m from Bangalore, India. I’ve done my MBA, I’m a Commerce graduate and have worked at ABB Global as a Financial Analyst.
I consider myself a fitness freak, and my day begins with jogging, and workout. I’m fond of travelling and when I have some free time, I dig into books.
I wanted to understand how I could invest my salary and savings, and that got me into pursuing the stock market. I started understanding the market, market trends, the players and the instruments I could deal with.
Commerce to MBA and now Algorithmic Trading - how did you achieve that?
During my graduation in Finance, I was interested in MBA, and it was then that it dawned upon me - in commerce, one deals with the balance sheets of the companies, and uses financial tools.
What if one could use the same techniques and tools to earn their bread and butter! This got me curious about trading even more!
Although there are a lot of resources available, none of those resources seemed to be on the lines of what I wanted to do. One of my friends suggested to enhance my financial knowledge EPAT. It was then that I heard about QuantInsti, and I thought it would help me to improve my knowledge in the stock market.
EPAT has lots of information about automation, it’s curriculum covered all the topics I needed in a section-wise manner. I realized that it could guide me in the right direction and help me achieve my goals.
I inquired, it sounded interesting to me, and thus I enrolled. I’m thankful to EPAT, it has helped me a lot in developing my career in the field, which I wanted to be in.
The Lifetime course access feature is also quite amazing, because one can access the latest ongoing courses at any point of their life. And even if they have any doubt, again, they can get in touch with the faculty. It is a feature which is not offered by any other course.
What role has EPAT played in your life?
I was very interested in trading. But, I’d always end up a little bit disappointed when I missed some trades because of faster execution, and due to a lack of skills from my side.
Before joining EPAT, the only intention was to automate all my ideas and strategies. And yes, EPAT has helped me a lot to achieve my objective, and I’m able to automate my strategies now.
It was quite challenging for me managing my workload and the EPAT weekend lectures, because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. My Support Manager, Siddhesh was very helpful for me during my journey of EPAT, by updating me about lectures, assignments, etc.
If there was an issue from my side, he would provide a solution or resolution to that, immediately. Because of the tremendous support, my journey of EPAT was a little bit smooth.
Which one feature of EPAT do you really admire?
I was also looking to build my career and the stock market field with automation while joining EPAT. So, for me it was definitely the Placement Cell!
They regularly shared relevant job profiles that suit me, followed up with me regarding job availability and also helped me with keeping my resume updated. They’d guide me in making my resume more visible, also helped me prepare for the interviews.
It was quite interesting, I have never seen this kind of featuring any of the institutions at all.
It was amazing, EPAT’s placement team is literally too good!
Could you describe a day in the life of a Quantitative Analyst?
After I got a letter from Tradetron, I was literally very happy. It was an amazing thing for me. Since I never expected that I would receive a job offer from Institute like Tradetron. It's very amazing to work in the culture that they’ve built.
Being from a commerce background and shifting my job to quantitative analysis, it was a little bit challenging for me. But I never gave up, because my interest was always there.
My team is incredible, supportive and guides me with daily work activities. As a Quantitative Analyst, I handle the clients Algo Trades and ensure that it runs smoothly.
I'm very thankful to the EPAT Placement Cell, that helped me to join me to the company.
Algo Trading has helped me a lot. Today, it's like a dream come true for me!
What is your message to the aspiring Quants out there?
EPAT is built in such a way that it will guide you right from the basic understanding of coding and basic knowledge of financial markets, and provide the essential study materials to help them get to the next level.
Refer the provided study materials, regularly attend the lectures, pitch in your queries and doubts, practise what the faculties say day by day, and just work towards your goals. That's it!
It is very rare that you would get a beginner's level introduction into this domain of algorithmic trading. Let alone only statistics or programming. Mine was an amazing journey with EPAT because of the kind of services, and the kind of knowledge that they provide.
I was not proficient with Python or coding in general, my background was different and I wasn’t from a finance background, but I was able to achieve my aim with EPAT. The same is possible even for those with a financial background, or with a programming or coding background.
Find out the average salary of a quant.
Thanks for your time, Nikhil. We’re very happy to have been able to guide and help you in your Algo Trading journey and make your story a success! We wish you continued success and hope you achieve even more.
If you too desire to equip yourself with lifelong skills which will always help you in upgrading your trading strategies. With topics such as Statistics & Econometrics, Financial Computing & Technology, Machine Learning, this algo trading course ensures that you are proficient in every skill required to excel in the field of trading. Check out EPAT now!
Disclaimer: In order to assist individuals who are considering pursuing a career in algorithmic and quantitative trading, this success story has been collated based on the personal experiences of a student or alumni from QuantInsti’s EPAT programme. Success stories are for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to be used for investment purposes. The results achieved post completion of the EPAT programme may not be uniform for all individuals.
