I have a VR setup with force feedback rudders and joysticks, and it has absolutely helped with my tailwheel and general stick and rudder skills. Another thing to consider is that you can safely simulate engine-out emergencies on takeoff. It’s quite surprising just how far forward you need to push the nose over!
Another thing that has been very enlightening is to read over accident reports and try to simulate the situation as closely as possible: over-weight, aft-cg, high density altitude, boxed into a mountain canyon with no way out… and you can see just how terrifying some of these situations are and if there was any way to get out of them.
The sim can be as realistic as you want to make it. One huge benefit for beginner pilots is to practice your radio skills with virtual ATC. When I was a student pilot, talking to air traffic control was sometimes much harder than flying the plane!
I interviewed with them way back in 2006, but regrettably did not get the job. I was also interviewing with a lot of other banks and hedge funds at the time but these guys really stood out. I was impressed just how friendly and seemingly happy everyone was. It felt more like a university research lab than a trading firm. Everyone had their own private office and they ate lunch together at the cafeteria. One guy told me with eyes wide open: "If you get this job you'll never want to leave".
Interview questions were standard fare, the usual brain teasers; one guy was really obsessed with calculating covariance matrices. They had a wood-panelled library with all the scientific journals where I spent the time between interviews. The gentleman who was guiding me through the interview process told me how their brokers were constantly front-running their trades so a big issue for them was keeping their market impact minimal.
During the interview I offered some potential ideas for alpha: having done some research on these guys before the interview I knew they had experts on voice recognition so I suggested they could put a microphone in the trading floor and gauge sentiment via spectral analysis. They really liked the idea. Trading floors no longer exist so this alpha is long gone, if it ever worked at all!
But alas - their alpha is simply skill and hard work - there are no shenanigans or insider trading going on there. It's just time-series regression done perfectly. I bet at the time they were not using anything fancier than linear regression. But considering how large their data team was they probably had access to datasets (even today) which give them tremendous edge. Data is oil in this field.
The book "MindF*ck" [0] briefly describes a project within RenTec to build a statistical behavioural model of every individual citizen the USA, fed by enormous public and private databases. From this behaviour they could anticipate consumer patterns which could predict the markets way ahead of anyone else. The insane level of ambition in these projects gives you a clue as to the level of technology they potentially might have.
Another thing that has been very enlightening is to read over accident reports and try to simulate the situation as closely as possible: over-weight, aft-cg, high density altitude, boxed into a mountain canyon with no way out… and you can see just how terrifying some of these situations are and if there was any way to get out of them.
The sim can be as realistic as you want to make it. One huge benefit for beginner pilots is to practice your radio skills with virtual ATC. When I was a student pilot, talking to air traffic control was sometimes much harder than flying the plane!