[osullivj]

All good points from swtf: especially on C++ and masters level maths. I'd add Python too; hopefully you've already had some contact with that as a web dev. Back in 2007 I was building automated rates market making systems in Python. Another big factor is market timing. Businesses that earn their revenue from trading financial instruments tend to have volatile earnings. Compare the year by year earnings of the investment bank at JP Morgan Chase vs the retail bank, credit card biz etc. So trading businesses have volatile earnings, but they also have high costs, and the main cost component is staff compensation. Which accounts for the hire and fire nature of the business. Times are tough currently, with HFT firms consolidating in the face of falling returns, and many large banks struggling too in the face of low interest rates and returns. There's a reason so much cash has crowded into VC; because there are few returns elsewhere. The last real hiring upswing was 2010, when the QE cash hit. In the big banks regulation and compliance are the only growth areas. Very boring work! So I suggest building your C++, Python, maths skillsbase, and waiting for the next hiring upswing. Trump & Brexit are bringing market volatility back, interest rates look likely to go up, maybe that will help trading businesses and we'll get a new growth cycle in financial markets.