I cringed when I saw a big throw but then I exploded . <| sep |> Physicists don ' t typically become investment bankers because that path requires very little mathematical skills Long hours and Excel wizardry is what they do , the perfectly crafted CV and graduation from a target schoolprogramme are the typical requirements . This is not to say that physicists don ' t work at investment banks , they do , but more traditionally on the trading side of things as opposed to banking that is , often in a role directly supporting trading as quants or in a control function reviewing the mathematical models . The physicists will almost invariably hold a PhD , for why would you hire someone with a master ' s in physics if you can get someone with a master ' s in financial engineering who went to school for and learned exactly about the subject matter ? For a trader in a market making function , so an investment bank , there ' s probably not that much competitive advantage in having a physics degree , so I ' d wager most are from a more directly applicable background . That said it ' s not uncommon to have former quants as traders on the more exotic side of the business . This all is different on the buy side , where stats and machine learning and all that is king in a large subset of firms . The university programmes are not as developed to cater to the exact needs there and indeed physicists do find ample opportunities as quant traders , quants and technologists . Again the competition is quite fierce and having a physics degree without extracurriculars is not going to impress anyone . Market yourself as a data scientist and make sure you know the basic tools and then some . If you want to work in finance , why would you study physics ?