Whilst I think this was inevitable, as banks have become increasingly technical, it also makes me a bit sad that now you need a Math PhD from MIT and a Harvard MBA to go and be a trader.<p>I think back to an earlier HN discussion [1] on the article &quot;The Rent Seeking is Too Damn High&quot; [2] - when my father worked at a bank he said it wasn&#x27;t uncommon for your market salesman from the street to get picked up as a trader, indeed my friends mother went from secretary to trader. She was given a chance because her boss felt like she had a spark about her.<p>It&#x27;s fun to look back on the past with rosy eyes thinking &quot;those days were better&quot; but truly how can we hope for meritocratic (in the true sense of the word!) social mobility if you need 0.5 million USD in school fees to get a job as a trader?