When I worked for an investment bank I had to be at my desk for 07:30. But most systematic traders don’t actually trade – their systems are fully automated. So there is more flexibility around working hours: because it’s a creative job it’s better to work when it suits you.

當我在一家投資銀行工作時，我必須在07:30來到我的辦公桌。但大多數係統交易者實際上並不交易 – 他們的系統是完全自動化的。因此，工作時間周圍有更多的靈活性：因為這是一項創造性的工作，所以當它適合你時工作會更好。

This part of the job is the same for all traders. I managed a team and we took turns doing this relatively boring but important task. Too many ‘quants’ get caught up in the abstract world of financial models and lose touch with the market.

所有交易者的這部分工作都是一樣的。我管理了一個團隊，我們輪流做了這個相對無聊但重要的任務。太多的“量子”陷入了金融模型的抽象世界，與市場失去聯繫。

At systematic funds traders work closely with software developers. We even adopted some of their working practices – including this meeting. Every morning we discussed what progress we were making and what was holding us up. This meeting is sometimes called a ‘stand-up’: nobody is allowed to sit down – which ensures it’s is over quickly.

在系統基金中，交易員與軟件開發人員密切合作。我們甚至採用了他們的一些工作實踐 – 包括本次會議。每天早上我們都討論了我們正在取得的進展以及阻礙我們的進展。這次會議有時被稱為“站立”：沒有人被允許坐下 – 這可以確保它快速結束。

Data is the lifeblood of the systematic trader, and new sources of data are always appearing. But using new data isn’t straightforward. The data has to be sourced, we have to work out how to feed it into our databases, and it will probably need to be cleaned to remove erroneous entries.

數據是系統交易者的生命線，新的數據來源總是出現。但使用新數據並不簡單。數據必須來源，我們必須弄清楚如何將其提供給我們的數據庫，並且可能需要清理它以刪除錯誤的條目。

We had a dedicated team of client managers, but as a senior manager I still had to show up for meetings with more important customers. My everyday clothing was jeans and casual shirts, but on days that clients visited I would don a suit and tie. Clients were usually interested in new ideas, and we were quite open in discussing them. The more information you can give about your strategies, the more likely you’ll get investment.

我們有一個專門的客戶經理團隊，但作為一名高級經理，我仍然需要出席與更重要客戶的會議。我的日常服裝是牛仔褲和休閒襯衫，但在客戶訪問的日子裡，我會穿西裝打領帶。客戶通常對新想法感興趣，我們在討論它們時非常開放。您可以提供的有關策略的信息越多，您獲得投資的可能性就越大。

Once you have some data the next step is to test and develop a trading strategy that uses the data. This is probably the most exciting part of the job – nothing beats the “Eureka!” moment when you find something new that appears to be profitable. However this is just the beginning: the strategy has to be thoroughly tested to make sure it is robust.

獲得一些數據之後，下一步就是測試和開發使用數據的交易策略。這可能是這項工作中最激動人心的部分 – 當你找到一些似乎有利可圖的新東西時，沒有什麼能比“尤里卡！”更勝一籌。然而，這只是一個開始：必須對策略進行全面測試，以確保其穩健。

At lunchtime I would head downstairs to our office canteen. The menu changed every day, and there was even a bar (sadly not open at lunchtime – probably a good thing!). If I was really busy I just grabbed a sandwich to eat at my desk, but there was usually time to sit down and catch up with some colleagues.

午餐時我會到樓下的辦公室食堂。菜單每天都在變化，甚至還有一個酒吧（遺憾的是午餐時間不開放 – 可能是件好事！）。如果我真的很忙，我只是抓起一個三明治在我的辦公桌上吃飯，但通常有時間坐下來跟上一些同事。

All research has to be written up before the idea can go further. It’s also important to document ideas that didn’t work – otherwise someone else will waste time trying the same idea.

所有的研究都必須在這個想法進一步發展之前寫出來。記錄不起作用的想法也很重要 – 否則其他人會浪費時間嘗試相同的想法。

Some funds operate in “silos”, where you develop your own ideas and keep them secret. But I worked in a colloborative business where we worked together and shared information. This helped improve good strategies, and made it less likely that bad ideas would be implemented. The downside of this is that there a lot of meetings!

有些基金在“孤島”中運作，在那裡您可以發展自己的想法並保密。但我參與了一個合作的業務，我們一起工作並分享信息。這有助於改善良好的策略，並降低了實施不良想法的可能性。這樣做的缺點是有很多會議！

All systematic traders have to be able to code, otherwise you can’t manage data or test strategies. However it’s unlikely that the prototype code written to test the strategy will be robust enough for trading with real money. Professional software developers code up the “live” production algorithm, working closely with the traders.

所有系統交易者都必須能夠編碼，否則您無法管理數據或測試策略。但是，用於測試策略的原型代碼不太可能足夠強大，無法用真錢進行交易。專業軟件開發人員編寫“實時”生產算法，與交易員密切合作。

Actually putting a strategy into live trading is a team effort involving people from all over the business including technology, operations, compliance, risk and many others. Systematic funds don’t usually have the “rock star” mentality of other hedge funds where star traders get all the attention. Everyones contribution is important and acknowledged.

實際上，將策略應用於實時交易是一項團隊工作，涉及來自各個業務的人員，包括技術，運營，合規性，風險和許多其他人。系統性基金通常沒有其他對沖基金的“搖滾明星”心態，明星交易者會得到所有人的關注。每個人的貢獻都很重要並得到承認。

The journey home was an opportunity to catch up on the latest academic research. Hopefully they would inspire me to dream up a new idea whilst I slept.

回家的路上是一個了解最新學術研究的機會。希望他們會激勵我在我睡覺的時候想出一個新的想法。