
ex-Jane Street Quant: The Simple Formula to Make $800,000/Year at 22!
Lihong went from pre-law kid to Jane Street intern, IMC trader, and founder of Freeport Markets. He breaks down how he prepped for quant interviews, handled competing offers, and why he left a $350K+ role to build in AI. Plus why Jane Street is seen as the top firm in quant, and why so many quants are leaving for AI labs. Computer science students, new graduates, and software engineers...want to make $500k+/yr in quant at Citadel, Two Sigma, or Hudson River Trading? Click here 👉 https://www.sweaccelerator.com/quant?video=qEp6mwNw68g&utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=Lihong_JaneStreet Complete the free 60-second profile here 👉 https://www.sweaccelerator.com/quant?video=qEp6mwNw68g&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=lihong 🚀 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. Want a team of FAANG engineers + recruiters to help you land your dream software engineering job/internship at big tech guaranteed? Click here 👉 https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=Lihong_JaneStreet&video=qEp6mwNw68g 📄 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 👉 Lihong’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lihong062?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios 👉 Lihong’s Website: https://freeportmarkets.com/ — ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:00 Why He Wanted To Be A Lawyer 02:08 Humanities Kid Obsessed With Soviet Math 06:00 Did Math Help Break Into Quant? 07:10 Why Duke Over Cambridge And Columbia 09:45 Humanities Kid To Quant Trader 11:14 Apply Here to Get into Quant 12:33 The Freshman Year Pivot To Trading 16:16 Ditching Law For Trading 18:25 Exploring Before Declaring A Major 20:31 Software Engineering Accelerator 21:24 Almost Kicked Out Of Duke 25:11 What The Duke Saga Taught Him 26:00 Landing The Akuna Internship 28:42 Interview Prep Strategy And Resources 30:58 How Many Prep Hours It Takes 33:33 Intern Pay At Akuna Vs Jane Street 35:17 How It Felt Earning At 19 36:53 Inside The Akuna Internship 39:36 Where Akuna Interns Ended Up 41:14 Second Recruiting Cycle And Jane Street 44:04 7-day Software Engineering Roadmap 44:33 Why He Didn't Negotiate Offers 46:47 Why Jane Street Is Top Dog 49:25 Quant Brain Drain To AI Labs 52:30 Why Not Everyone Leaves For AI 53:48 What Jane Street Does Differently 56:20 Choosing IMC For Full-Time 57:27 IMC Pay And Salary Trends 58:26 Trading Semiconductors At IMC 59:28 Where Quant Is Heading 1:01:19 Why He Left To Found Freeport 1:05:11 Would He Ever Return To Quant?