There is a lot of discussion at the moment about various types of trading firms one could potentially work at if a particular candidate cannot get a seat at an elite shop like Jane Street, Citadel, HRT, Tower, SIG, etc. In doing so, the trader is attempting to find a way to play in a game where the table stakes are custom silicon, Chess GM traders and data cleaned by MIT PhDs. They are effectively volunteering to be adversely selected against. I would suggest that anyone considering a career as a professional risk taker try to cast as wide a net as possible and also investigate emerging and non-traditional markets and products where the barriers to entry are lower and the established knowledge base is smaller. It gets back to table selection. Would you rather play against the tournament pros or the tourists trying to remember if a straight beats a flush?