TL;DR: MAN WANTED — Quantitative Finance — Join a research group of my acquaintances — Solid income

Officially speaking, I’m currently developing quantitative strategies for WorldQuant as an Independent Consultant

How did a CS major end up in quantitative finance?
Because the pay is just too damn good

You might think — oh, it’s an ad, not interested
But I genuinely think this is a great fit
I hope you’ll think seriously after reading what follows

You should not throw away your shot

As long as you’re interested, you can join and see what we do every day, how much we earn
The more you know, the better choice you’ll make — I believe that

I started from zero too — if you want to do it, you can

Benefits of joining:
Learn Python, guided paper reading sessions, how to go from reading to reproducing papers
Monthly global online briefings, biweekly 15-minute slots with mentors (Central University of Finance and Economics undergrad, fully-funded Cambridge master’s)

Most importantly, the new PPAC rules — even if you have zero ideas and zero willingness to learn, just mindlessly running code for the basic stipend gets you 5k RMB pre-tax per year
Before, I’d have said this job has great potential — the highest daily base payment can reach 120 USD — but now: stop talking and come fleece the Americans[^1]
Of course, if you’re willing to improve quantity and quality, the income goes way beyond that

Saw a fellow college student on the forum who joined in October 2024 — their Q1 2025 quarterly bonus alone was at least 8k USD
So envious, and secretly thinking maybe I could do that too

Yes, this company WorldQuant operates on exactly this strategy — unique in the industry
Three cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhuge Liang the master strategist[^2]

Their database is enormous — hiring full-salary US-based quant analysts is too expensive, and one person’s energy is limited
So they lower the barrier to entry, lower the salary, and do it remotely worldwide
But thanks to the exchange rate difference, a salary US quant analysts would scoff at is serious money for a Chinese college student like me

In reality, most of the time is spent learning and thinking of ideas — actual daily work time is probably no more than an hour
It’s remote and online — want income, Submit alphas. Don’t want to, Zero pressure

Knowledge monetization is insanely fast — newly learned knowledge and fresh ideas immediately go into producing more alphas
I have to admit I stepped in tons of pitfalls — cloud servers, Linux, Python, HTTP, finance knowledge, all sorts of issues
But every day you submit an alpha, you get income — solve problems → earn income

Hard work actually pays off — in this era of involution[^3] and confusion, having this kind of positive feedback loop is such a precious treasure

Sir, I want to progress so badly[^4]

I’ve entered a different state of living — cheerful and diligent
Because hard work paid off, and it paid a lot and paid fast
At least I think the work I do is absolutely not worth that much money

Every day when the US Eastern Daylight Time rolls over to a new day, I can see how much I earned from submitted alphas
It’s addictive. Seriously addictive
Now I spend extra time each day on daydreaming

Sincerely inviting you to join our research group
Don’t be shy — it’s not some big organization, just people I know
We already have two signed consultants, the rest have also submitted their initial reviews

Because of non-compete agreements, there’s almost no one here with serious finance expertise
Everything I know I learned from scratch — and on the platform it’s even more so, inexplicably lots of old fogeys[^5] who probably faint at the sight of code
But things here are still not simple — you know in China, high returns + not difficult + few people is an impossible triangle[^6]
But the platform has only been live for two years, only 8k consultants globally, only 400 active in the China region — I feel lucky to even know about this

This matters to me too — last quarter I missed out on 30 USD in income because I didn’t know and lacked help
Studying alone without friends leads to narrow-mindedness and ignorance[^7]

I’ve already stepped through all the pitfalls, cleared all the obstacles, and can smooth out the learning curve to help everyone through the tough spots
Don’t worry — when a referral succeeds, the platform pays me a referral fee — consider it my tuition for teaching and providing on-demand tutoring

As long as you’re interested, you can join and see what we do every day, how much we earn
The more you know, the better choice you’ll make — I believe that

Tomorrow the China region holds its June info session
June 9th is the global consultants’ briefing (what a date to reflect on)
You can join as an observer, find me on the voice channel for Q&A!

Based on this earn-rice[^8] group, we want to form a close-knit study group with real connections
Welcome aboard
We need more friends and mutual support

💬 Comments

  • Dawn (2025-05-29 01:13): Yi was right — it was Yi who recommended this at first, I started during winter break, but suddenly encountering an unfamiliar field, and being far from actually earning the basic stipend, having real income, took a long time, so motivation was low. It was still Yi who stepped through many pitfalls upfront and slowly guided me onto the right track. I also successfully became a consultant and started collecting the basic stipend. Though seeing how much GM level earners make, I still get envious, so maybe that’s the drive to level up. If you also want to earn the basic stipend, like Yi said, you really can know nothing, just run the templates, wait for approval, and submit under PPAC rules — you can easily earn the basic stipend too. If you want 5000 a year in basic income, give it a try
  • LoulanRE (2025-05-29 07:20): In reality the study time is only about 20h, it’s just the initial and secondary review process is too long, but since I’ve already hit the pitfalls, I have ways to greatly reduce the queue time in the pool
  • Mangcai Pai Gaoceng (2025-05-29 08:05): Bro this is sounding more and more like a pyramid scheme
  • LoulanRE reply @Mangcai Pai Gaoceng (2025-05-29 08:11): The platform and income are really so mysterious, it genuinely is starting to sound like a pyramid scheme
  • LoulanRE reply @Mangcai Pai Gaoceng (2025-05-29 08:13): It’s all because of PPAC, even the basic stipend bros get their spring
  • LoulanRE reply @Mangcai Pai Gaoceng (2025-05-29 08:19): Now this is true gratitude — no merit, but at least there’s suffering
  • Mangcai Pai Gaoceng reply @LoulanRE (2025-05-29 08:28): It’s fine, I did it too
  • cloud (2025-05-29 17:19): I’m back to collect the basic stipend
  • LoulanRE reply @cloud (2025-05-29 17:37): Mainly it’s PPAC, as long as Sharpe > 1, they don’t check other performance or correlation, it’s basically giving money away
  • LoulanRE reply @cloud (2025-05-29 17:37): Come

[^1]: — literally “plucking wool off the Americans,”a Chinese slang expression for profiting off the exchange rate differential between USD and RMB. What counts as modest pay in the US becomes substantial income in China.

[^2]: — a Chinese proverb meaning “Three humble cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhuge Liang the master strategist.”Zhuge Liang is the legendary genius strategist from the Three Kingdoms era (181–234 AD). The proverb expresses that collective wisdom can rival even the greatest individual mind.

[^3]: (nèi juǎn) — literally “involution.”Originally an anthropological term, it has become Chinese internet slang for hyper-competition where everyone works harder but nobody gets ahead — a zero-sum rat race with diminishing returns.

[^4]:, — “Teacher, I want to progress so badly.”A famous quote from the Chinese political drama <> (In the Name of the People, 2017), spoken by the character Qi Tongwei. It’s used ironically online to express an almost desperate ambition to climb the ladder.

[^5]: (lǎo dēng) — Chinese internet slang, a slightly disrespectful term for an old person, roughly equivalent to “old fogey”or “boomer.”Often used humorously rather than maliciously.

[^6]: — the “impossible trinity”or “impossible triangle.”An economics concept (also known as the Mundell-Fleming trilemma) stating that three desirable properties cannot all be achieved simultaneously. The author humorously applies it to: high returns, low difficulty, and few competitors being mutually exclusive in China.

[^7]:, — from <·> (Book of Rites, chapter “Xueji / Record of Education”), circa 1st century BC. Full meaning: “Studying alone without friends leads to narrow-mindedness and scant knowledge.”One of the earliest Chinese texts arguing for collaborative learning.

[^8]: (zhuàn mǐ) — literally “earn rice.”Chinese internet slang for “”(make money), using the homophone (mǐ, rice) for (qián, money). A playful way to say “earning a living.”