[rayiner]

I have family/friends who are in the industry. Re: demand, it's size-able, and quantitative skills are becoming more, not less, important. To paint with very broad brushes, the recruiting emphasis on Wall Street has shifted towards math/science majors at the top of their class at top schools. There are less opportunities out there to make money, so the value of precise analysis has really gone up. Also, given the current regulatory environment, the value of risk management, which is intensely quantitative, has gone up.