No man was ever so completely skilled in the conduct of life, as not to receive new information from age and experience — Jonathan Swift

I was the youngest person to make partner in my first company, at the age of 26. That was just two years after I started working with the firm.

I remember thinking, “this must be early. After all, people work well into their sixties now. Warren Buffett will probably be trading long after Tom Brady has quit football.”

Turns out, it’s totally normal. The average age of algo traders in the company was just around 28. The average age in terms of years into service was even lower. Compared to an average career length of 30 to 40 years, the average career length for people in the firm was less than 5 years.

People are quite young in algo trading.

This is an anomaly. The national unemployment rate reduces with age and reaches a peak around 50 in the US. Then why do people leave (or are forced to leave) algorithmic trading? Caveat, I do know four people who are still into algo-trading after fifteen years, but that’s just four of the one thousand people or so that I’ve known in the field.

Aren't people supposed to get better with experience? I know I’ve improved. I have improved in my perception of overfitting, and how to make more long-lasting models. I have worked on many different aspects of the technology and the projects I undertake tend to be more homogeneous with what other teams consider good design. I understand the business better and hence I tend to use my time better. I think I am better at the job now than I was ten years ago. I think every one of the people I have had the privilege of working with have similarly improved over the years as well. Then why are most of ex-colleagues out of the industry?

Then, why is it that algo-trading as an industry has not matured to the point that it can be a genuine career? Why do people leave or why are people kicked out just when they begin to have a genuine command of it?