Candidate:

Mr. Self-Taught Big Tech/HF SWE

About Me:

I was admitted to a T10 USNews undergrad (and can prove it). My parents refused to sign my student loan for it and I was 17, so I went to a mediocre liberal arts college on an academic scholarship. I was a shortsightedly unmotivated student there. Stumbling upon my love of programming and teaching myself software engineering turned my life around.

Schools:

Target School: Stanford GSB

Considering: Harvard

See More Profiles For: Stanford GSB

Application Status: Open

Details:

Undergrad School: Mediocre Private Liberal Arts

Undergrad Major: Mathematics - Economics

GPA: 3.33

GRE: 336 V+Q / 5.0 AW

Age: 33, Ethnicity: White

Other Degree/Certification: M.Eng. in Computer Science

School Name: Cornell University

Extracurriculars: Played an instrument with a music scholarship in college, in addition to doing a sport. After starting my SWE career, I built a free calculator app that answers a common personal finance question more accurately than any alternative. Currently, I avidly read nonfiction 10+ hours per week outside work, mostly about news and various academic topics.

Work History:

Title: Lead Software Engineer at Public Tech Company

Industry: Technology

Company: Top Firm

Length of Employment: 1 yr, 11 mos

Title: Senior Software Engineer at Hedge Fund

Industry: Banking & Finance

Company: Top Firm

Length of Employment: 1 yr, 2 mos

Big Life Wins:

A few years after sending 461 applications to get my first job as a self-taught SWE, I joined a major hedge fund in NYC and later lateraled to a lead software engineer position at a public tech company. There, I led 5 (later 10) engineers and found ways to 15x our work stream’s profitability, delivering over $31M in new annual profit for the firm.

Post MBA Goal:

After 8 years of working as a self-taught SWE, I’m now completing a 1-year master’s degree in CS. My ultimate goal is to become a personal finance entrepreneur, focused on enriching others by maximizing the median household’s net worth. I’d prefer to pursue that after working in product management, VC, and/or another HF, to build the best products.