> As a newbies with no experience in the field at all, it is unlikely that I would've even tried without a platform such as this. If Quantopian's intention is to bring more people into the field and get them exposure, even now, it's quite an impressive stepping stone.
This assumes that people with an inability to get experience should get into a field where one can lose one's shirt in less than 24 hours whilst competing against some of the smartest people on Wall Street.
There are barriers to entry to various things for a reason - e.g. driving, steel milling etc.
It's to stop newbies getting shot.