Solving the Success Equation
Financial engineering graduate Rui Zong used the Stevens curriculum, support services and knowledgeable faculty to help earn his position at Transamerica
Financial engineering is all about using math and formulas to pave the path to success. Rui Zong’s achievement algorithm was built on key components of his Stevens experience.
The first number in the equation was 45. Despite requiring only 30 credits to graduate, Rui decided to maximize his return on investment with five extra courses, completing the algorithmic trading concentration. If five extra classes weren’t hard enough, Rui came to Hoboken from his native China during the Omicron variant period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I started with five courses in the spring of 2022,” he said. “That first semester was hard because I had to get used to the new environment, and it was when Omicron just began. All my friends were getting sick, so I needed to do things like get a credit card, checking account, figure out contacts and get the vaccine by myself.”
Rui’s dedication and time management skills paid off after his graduation in December 2023 with a position as an Analytics Reporting Analyst on the liability derivatives hedging and trading team in Transamerica’s Baltimore office.
His work is focused on products correlated with insurance, including delta hedging for their Index Universal Life which provides insurance that guarantees a floor and a cap so customers can fix their returns and profits while minimizing loss.
“My senior director oversees three small teams, and I'm on the liability team,” he explained. “We also cross-train each other because we always have special projects, things to catch up on and new things to work on. For example, we are moving from an Alteryx process to Python automation. That requires time and expertise I learned at Stevens.”
Three other numbers that factored into Rui’s success were 610, 620 and 621, the class numbers for Stochastic Calculus for Financial Engineers, Pricing and Hedging, and Computational Methods in Finance. These are three of the six courses required for all Stevens financial engineering students.,
“These are our core courses. he said. “When I started this position, I understood why we require them. I use what I learned in these classes daily. Algorithm trading and deep learning are cutting-edge, cool and sophisticated, but we don't actually do those things every day. Students who succeed in those three classes have the knowledge they need to do what we do.”
Building his knowledge was the first step in the order of operations. Putting that expertise to work in the real world was the next step in the process. In addition to the added class time, Rui completed a capstone project with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and internships at Jefferies and Everbright Securities, one of China's largest securities brokerages by assets.
“I really want to implement what I learned in the program because our professors have a lot of industry expertise,” Rui said. “They teach us real cutting-edge industry knowledge that we can use in our daily work. At Jefferies, I helped them with a large language model, something similar to what I learned from deep learning course at Stevens.”
But he didn’t solve the experience equation alone. With help from his professors and the Stevens School of Business Corporate Outreach and Professional Advancement team, Rui perfected his resume and prepared for the gauntlet that can be the interview process.
“COPA helped me with a resume template and advice on to improve the wording and format,” Rui said. “My professors were a big help in getting ready for interviews. Professor (Dan) Pirjol gave me questions that would be asked based on the details in my resume and did two mock interviews with me. That's why I'm prepared. Language, your speed and your eye contact really do matter. Professor (Ionut) Florescu taught me to be more detailed. If you mention machine learning, what is your machine learning methodology? And Professor Hatzakis helped me study the market. It’s highly competitive, and I’m grateful for his help. In the future, if I want to go to another company, I can always come back to get his help and learn from the industry experience of my professors.”
With his job search solved and inspiration from the assistance he received, Rui moved on to helping others with their calculations. He is in contact with almost 20 current students and graduates to help them prepare to succeed in their job search while keeping his skills sharp for the next opportunity.
“I don't ask for fees or anything right now,” he said. “I regard it as training myself. It’s given me the chance to refine my knowledge and gain a new perspective. After I got the offer, but before I started, they reached out with questions about how I prepared. I talked with them about my personal strategy to prepare and we started doing mock interviews so I can ask some questions based on their experience, just like my professors did for me. I did that with 15 students, and 13 got the position.”
Rui’s experience at Stevens mastering complex financial processes, crafting his equation for success and now helping others find their solutions promises to pay dividends for years to come.