How a hedge fund quant researcher broke into Goldman Sachs after his depression diagnosis
Banking and markets can be a harsh industry to work in, but it also has the potential to change lives. Evan Kim, a quant researcher at hedge fund Squarepoint in New York, recently spoke on YouTube about his unconventional path into finance, which involved a stint in military school and a battle with depression.
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Kim said that he was diagnosed with depression and had developed a drinking problem in his first year of university: "I really had no dreams, nothing I wanted to do, just living day by day." In the summer, he went to Korea to intern at Tickle, a fintech startup; Kim described it as a "turning point in [his] life," after he became "so envious" of the achievements of the senior employees at that firm. He admired their independence and wanted to be a reliable partner for his then-girlfriend (now wife) who was at university with him.
Taking inspiration from other Koreans at his university, Kim decided to join military school for two years to "purify the body and mind," with an eye on joining Wall Street later. He spent his free time each day studying; he learned finance from textbooks and worked with older army members who had already worked in finance on topics like linear algebra.
After discharge, he returned to university but he was still battling with depression and had a low GPA. He took tutoring jobs from anyone he could to fund counseling while he pursued a banking career. Kim "sent cold emails to about 300 people working on Wall Street" and received just ten responses. He applied to 90 different internships in the US and got just two interviews, eventually landing a place in a California-based VC firm.
His grades had taken even more of a hit at this point so, the next year, Kim transitioned from finance and economics into a statistics degree. Spending time with friends became "too burdensome" as he tried to improve his grades. He also joined his university's investment society, where he met his eventual mentor at Goldman Sachs, who was visiting the university for a networking event.
That year, Kim applied to 60 internships and got just one: Goldman Sachs. He said that he "wanted them to not even be able to fathom how much this guy wanted to succeed." He woke up at 3:30am each morning to make it to the office at 5am "and left work later than anyone else" for the full ten weeks. At the end of the internship he had full time offers from three different desks at the bank. Kim moved to New York to work on a desk trading rates and commodities.
While working at Goldman, Kim said he had "never been this healthy, never been this happy;" he married his partner and was no longer receiving treatment for his mental health. He said that this came "little by little... the difference is how grateful and how much of it I feel."
You can find mental health resources at Mind.org.uk in the UK or NAMI.org in the US.
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