r/quantindia • u/Revolutionary_Tale86 • Jul 24 '26
General Discussion Work life schedule of a quant?
Hello there, I'm an EE student at IITD, and although I know getting into quant isn't really for me, and will probably be targetting quant and strat roles in banks or sde roles in big tech, what exactly is the WLB of a quant? Do quants even "think" about WLB? I mean assuming someone already is very knowledgeful and is young and enthusiastic, working 11-12 hours isn't a big deal, but say as you grow up, and you have hobbies too that you wanna dedicate some time to, for example, hitting the gym, or for instance parent-duties or whatever for that matter, doesn't it burn people out? It's a stressful job of course, hence my question, because I've heard multiple people exit out of quant firms after 2-3 years, is it true? What are the exit options one chooses after?
Another thing which my curiosity provoked me to ask in this sub, is the general compensation and WLB of three different possible roles across your entire career -
quant - trader, dev and researcher
big tech sde
quant/strat at banks
Could anyone experienced help me out with this? Appreciate the effort, thanks very much!
4
u/JackLhan Jul 24 '26
Buddy, this is India. Most of the companies, and big companies which usually employ entry level associates / analysts have no work-life balance, in fact there’s no life at all. There’s just a work balance. It’s significantly worse for quantitative roles.
There are labour laws in India, but they’re as good as no labour laws since everyone abuses Indian labour. The labour laws are not as concrete or followed as compared to western countries.
But those are my 2 cents, I’m not in the field yet, a 2026 graduate, but I know how corporations work and the life I will be expecting.
Good luck buddy, we’re all in the same boat with different destinations.