Jingting Yan

What's your background? 

I am originally from China. I finished my high school in China and came to the UK for university. I attended a one-year foundation degree at UCL CLIE, the Undergraduate Preparatory Certificate for Science and Engineering.

Then I studied the BSc Computer Science degree at UCL CS department, followed by the MSc Computational Finance degree at UCL, again in the CS department.

After graduation, I directly started working in the quantitative finance industry.

Why did you choose to study Computer Science at UCL?

I did a foundation year at UCL CLIE, so it was a natural shift to study a degree at UCL. Apart from this, I was attracted by the global reputation of UCL CS department as well as the design of its syllabus.

The syllabus of BSc Computer Science has a strong focus on hands-on learning which is absolutely the core of dealing with computers.

For the MSc Computational Finance degree, I chose it for two reasons; first, based on my BSc study, I trusted the high quality of teaching and research at UCL CS department.

Second, this is the only “Financial Engineering” degree that is set under a CS department, which is most suitable for my background. Other universities open similar degrees but under different departments, such as Mathematics or Business School.

What were the highlights of your CS programme?

For the MSc Computational Finance degree, all of the modules I selected were good. In fact, they can be split into two groups:

• The ones that prepared me for the foundation of a Quant role, such as Financial Engineering, Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes. Financial Market Modelling and Analysis module also introduced the basics of financial markets and products. I don't I would have passed any interviews without this knowledge.
• The ones that focused on one domain of the quant finance industry. I chose Market Microstructure and Algorithmic Trading and very enjoyed the content. These two modules directly related to my internships and my first full-time job.

What were the highlights of your time generally at UCL?

I enjoyed the time I spent in libraries, tackling the coursework and consuming the contents from lectures. Sometimes I went to libraries with friends, and I was always impressed by how smart my classmates were. Being surrounded by smart people and making progress alongside them was the best experience of my time at UCL.

The UCL libraries are open to alumni as well (for free!!!). I think for those who still live and work in central London, these are benefits you never want to miss.

What industry and career opportunities did you get access to on your programme?

In terms of career opportunities, one of the best ways is by attending related societies, e.g. Engineering Society, Data Science Society, etc. These societies hosted speakers events, inviting both practitioners and alumni as speakers, thus are good opportunities to make connections and get first-hand knowledge on what is happening in the industry.

Actually, I met my industrial supervisor of my Bachelor’s dissertation at one of the speaker events hosted by Data Science Society.

Some modules also invited external speakers, for example, I attended the Market Microstructure module (MSc Computational Finance) where the speaker was invited from HSBC.

Career Fairs are also good opportunities. Since UCL is a target school, a lot of big companies come to UCL Career Fairs. At these events, I directly handed my CV to the company’s representatives and spoke with them to understand what they were looking for. Some representatives were also UCL alumni, so that was an excellent networking opportunity for me.

What did you write your dissertation on?

My MSc dissertation was an IXN project. The content was adapted from what I had done during my summer internship at Nomura.

It was about limit order book dynamics simulation and price movement prediction. The focused areas are e-trading and market microstructure which are what I selected as optional modules for the MSc Computational Finance programme.

Apart from the opportunity to work in the industry, I received many helpful instructions from my academic supervisor, Professor Guido Germano, throughout the project. What I learned is how to structure academic writing, from literature review to critical thinking, on the methodology and the results.

How did you manage your workload, and what advice would you give to prospective students?

I think being successful in university life doesn’t mean to gain a 80+ score. Of course, lessons that I learned from university include time management, study efficiency, self-discipline, etc.

Plan ahead

One piece of advice related to workload management is to plan ahead. This means try to plan your study for the next weeks and months (not simply just for today) and also learn to leave enough time to rest in your plan (don’t do sprint type study for two days then sit back for a week).

I believe this ability to plan time properly is critical because we are then on a long-term sustainable way of self-development.

Try new things early on

My general advice for university life is to explore as much as you can in the early years and narrow down to a couple of areas you are interested in during the final year.

To explore more things, you can, for example, do the reading list, instead of just studying the past papers. You can also talk to your professors and lecturers. I’m sure they are happy to share their research areas.

If you were an international student, how easy was it to settle in? How did you find studying in the UK?

I came from China. In general, it was not too difficult for me to settle in. London is an international city and UCL is a very international university.

The first year I came to the UK, I was living in a College Hall (a catered UOL student hall). This gave me plenty of time to get familiar with London. There were also students from other universities living in that hall, e.g. LSE and SOAS. I made lots of friends there.

The Orientation Week also made the settlement easier. The Student Handbook and the UCL Map are super helpful. The Student Union also sent out booklets which contained information such as how to open a bank account, what restaurants we have around UCL, what are the grocery stores in London, etc.

I like London. I’ve been here for 7 years. I think London is a good city to live. You have parks and trees almost everywhere. The food is good (at least I think). People here are generally polite. The winter is a bit dark though, but the temperature won’t fall too low.

Where are you working now, and what are your career goals? How did your programme help you achieve this?

I am now working full-time at Goldman Sachs as a Quantitative Strategist.

When I reflect back, UCL helped me in terms of study and networking. The coursework and exams trained me to learn quickly and efficiently and stay consistent under stress. There are many students at Goldman Sachs who graduated from UCL. The fact that we are alumni has always been an amazing icebreaker.

In terms of career goals, I am interested in what my current role is doing. I will learn as much as I can.

Why would you recommend this course?

Beyond the well-constructed modules, I met an amazing group of classmates and super supportive staff. I was always able to find support from staff for my questions on the lectures, the coursework, the internship application, and so on.

Being located in central London provides huge benefits as well. It’s really convenient to travel across the city to attend events, visit museums and enjoy food.

The information on this page reflects the graduate's status at the time of publication (January 2025).