Ex-Citadel Quant and AI Researcher: Breaking In, Tech vs Finance Careers | Nimit Sohoni

In this episode, I talked to Nimit Sohoni, a Stanford PhD and AI Researcher at Cartesia who previously worked as a quant at Citadel. We discussed the differences between AI research and quant careers, including work-life balance and the value of a PhD in these fields. Nimit also shared what he's currently working on and offered advice for those looking to transition into AI research. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1FCo... • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/stanford... 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:45 - Do you need a PhD? 00:06:25 - Research taste and finding problems 00:09:04 - Why become a quant 00:12:01 - What quants do 00:14:53 - How quants and SWEs collaborate 00:16:29 - Quant vs tech culture 00:26:39 - Quant firm tier list 00:27:56 - Quant insider trading and perf culture 00:30:53 - Going back to AI research 00:35:08 - Who the top competitors are in voice AI 00:39:22 - AI startups vs big labs 00:42:08 - State space models vs transformers 00:49:33 - AI labs: research or product? 00:52:38 - Advice for SWEs who want to try AI research 00:56:48 - Advice for younger self 00:57:49 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁: • Twitter/X: https://x.com/nimit_sohoni • LinkedIn:   / nimit-sohoni-68998854   • Cartesia: https://cartesia.ai/company 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn:   / ryanlpeterman   • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram:   / ryanlpeterman   • TikTok:   / ryanlpeterman