The Joy of Science

I believe I mentioned previously my nascent interest in Finance. My likely future location in the vicinity of NYC still serves as sufficient justification for delving into this brave new business domain (as opposed to ostensibly more relevant rote learning of something like JSP tags or, God forbid, ajax). So far I have unearthed a few very nice books and I hope to increase my awareness of the field to the extent that I will be able to understand possible employment opportunities, waffle a little bit in the financial lingo and probably judge better the education-related ideas I wrote about before.

In case you are still wondering what on Earth is common between Finance and the proclaimed subject of this posting a few additional considerations ought to be pertinent. To begin with (and to my considerable initial surprise) Finance is at least as quantitative as engineering is. Whatever math course you might have spent years on in university is likely to be useful in this line of business. Partial differential equations, Bayesian statistics, assorted numerical methods - you name it. In comparison with this panoply the knowledge required from software folks seems to be quite modest.

Now for the joy. Years ago, when CPUs were named by numbers and I was getting my degree in Electrical Engineering, I was heavily into programming frequently at the expense of my academic success. C++ was exciting, assembler 8086 seemed to be sacred knowledge, and digital electronics was the science. In a sense, it certainly was a smart choice – I have been rather well paid here and even capable of going to the US exclusively because of my occupation. On the flip side, back then I neither really appreciated math and other heavily theoretical courses nor saw any practical use for them. Not to mention the quality, variety and availability of Soviet textbooks (no, we did not have the Net or home computers in mid-nineties).

Fast-forward ten years. I am thirty. Programming languages are hardly even thought about and java ain’t no C++. Apart from a few areas such as architecture of large systems I do not find mainstream software development particularly intellectually stimulating. My skills are still a perfect vehicle for immigration but the sort of software I am likely to work on in the meantime (nowadays GC processing can take anything from 3 years to plus infinity) threatens my sanity.

Here comes Finance and hence my review of math areas seemingly long forgotten. To my astonishment, I sort of enjoy reading a book on Calculus and looking forward to reviewing a text on numerical solution of partial differential equations. Quite unexpectedly I recall my training in calculation of electromagnetic fields or signal processing with appreciation – although I am not a PhD in quantum mechanics I used to know a trick or two. Who knows, probably the lack of a degree in CS has positive side-effects. Unless I am interrupted by the reality check of job hunting which I am planning to start in late July I am definitely going to proceed with those math reviews and a couple of thorough financial textbooks as a bonus.

Just in case you are a rookie in Finance and interested in good books to start from:

• Investments by Bodie/Kane/Marcus – a friendly introduction into the field (looks like a b-school textbook), could be useful as a guide for individual investors as well. Some pretty basic math is present but not overwhelming


• Financial Engineering Principles by Perry Beaumont – arranges different financial instruments into a logical system


• Options, Futures and Other Derivatives by John Hull – one of the two classical textbooks. Not as intimidating as pure math texts but surely incomprehensible for people lacking college-level math training


• Mathematic of Financial Derivatives by Paul Wilmott – the other classical textbook


• Analysis Patterns by Martin Fowler - chapters 9-11 discuss in detail domain models systematizing a good deal of relevant concepts


• Calculus: Concepts and Contexts by James Stewart - this book will make you cry if you ever underwent Soviet education - color images and abundant examples make this book a paragon of American college textbook


• The Road To Reality by Roger Penrose – bonus. Strictly speaking an irrelevant but unusual book. The author, a renowned modern physicist, presents a 1000-page popular science-style review of the whole body of modern physics. The revelation here is that he does not avoid math altogether but provides pretty succinct review of all the major areas from complex numbers and Calculus to fields esoteric even to people with engineering degrees.

As for a lesson learned .. It is hardly a revelation that every age has its own idea of bliss and excitement. Nevertheless, each individual is likely to discover his experience-induced change in taste with some surprise if not suspense.