How hard is it to go from one part of a BB into the trading division?

Say you want to go from a credit risk analyst or private wealth management analyst to trading for a BB like MS, GS, JPM, etc... what would you have to do? How about going from those positions to a hedge fund trader? I'm only interested in trading so I wouldn't want to spend a year or 2 in those positions if they couldn't help get me into trading. I don't know if there's a typical transition for people who come from these backgrounds. I didn't go to a target and don't have any connections in S&T. I'd actually prefer to work for a top prop firm, but I could only make it to the 3rd round before Jane Street told me I was too stupid to work for them.

 

I have very seldomly seen people successfully making the move from back/middle to front office. In a previous group of mine, there a girl who made it from IT to M&A. That is about all the success stories I know.

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 
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During my time at a BB I saw some pretty impression moves- Associate level MO guy moved into a corporate treasury trading/funding role, a kid moved from a BO rotation program into a investment role, another kid went BO-->MO-->CFA in MO-->FO investment role for AM, and lastly a kid went from credit BO idk wth it was a legit credit analyst. So, while there are nasayers it can be done.

I couldn't complete but working @ a BB gave me countless resources to speak to people of interest. All in all I think I spoke to people from muni ibanking, equity sales, emerging market debt sales, and equity research. Keep in mind the talent pool is absolutely massive for these roles

I'm on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shine ain't always gonna be gold. I'll be fine once I get it
 

Sounds like it would be really hard. I'm not really interested in finance in general, or sales, just trading. I wonder if I did a year in mid-back office and got a quantitative finance degree from somewhere like MIT, Columbia, NYU, etc it would help me break in. Problem is I didn't have any internships as an undergrad, because I didn't really know what I wanted to do in life. Now nobody wants to hire anyone without work experience and they don't want to hire interns who have already graduated. I go for my MS in Math at night and should have it finished by 2014. I spend my days day trading my own capital with a prop firm. I haven't been successful though (lost first 4 months, breaking even the last 2). I'm getting better every month and know a few people who are successful who I talk to, but my dad's getting impatient with me and wants me to get a real job. I also feel that now that I'm been doing it for 6 months I need to start making money or no firm would want me. Though if I started making money with this strategy I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to work for a BB either. As you can see I'm kind of lost. All I know is that I want to be a successful trader.

 
mastertrader89:

Sounds like it would be really hard. I'm not really interested in finance in general, or sales, just trading. I wonder if I did a year in mid-back office and got a quantitative finance degree from somewhere like MIT, Columbia, NYU, etc it would help me break in. Problem is I didn't have any internships as an undergrad, because I didn't really know what I wanted to do in life. Now nobody wants to hire anyone without work experience and they don't want to hire interns who have already graduated. I go for my MS in Math at night and should have it finished by 2014. I spend my days day trading my own capital with a prop firm. I haven't been successful though (lost first 4 months, breaking even the last 2). I'm getting better every month and know a few people who are successful who I talk to, but my dad's getting impatient with me and wants me to get a real job. I also feel that now that I'm been doing it for 6 months I need to start making money or no firm would want me. Though if I started making money with this strategy I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to work for a BB either. As you can see I'm kind of lost. All I know is that I want to be a successful trader.

do you know how to code? c++?

have you tried other shops besides JS? If you're good enough to get round 3 at JS, then you prob have a decent shot at a whole bunch of other salary paying shops. I would be very shocked if you could not land a job at a smaller lesser known shop in that case.

and yes a quant fin degree would def help. the job placement at those programs(at least on their websites) you mentioned is really good.

 

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