How stressful is algo trading
So I just accepted an offer at an algo prop shop in Chicago, and I'm wondering how stressful doing HFT actually is compared to traditional (manual) trading. I keep hearing that people burn out really fast and that the industry is very stressful in general but most of the people I know at this company are pretty laid back and geeky, I don't think I've met a single Michael Lewis-esque person there.
I know my hours aren't going to be that bad, I think generally I'm looking at something like 8-6 for the first year or so. Additionally I work as a part of a trading team and my role (whether I'm more quant, dev or trading) is largely determined by my personal strengths and interests so it doesn't seem that bad since I get to work on what I'm interested in.
On a side note, if I come from a CS background and I'm looking to eventually become a team lead or a similar leadership position several years down the line, does it matter what kind of work I end up doing on the trading team? For example would it be better to do a combination of quant and dev work rather than focusing on one or the other just so I can get exposure to all aspects of the team rather than doing whatever I'm best at?





IMO, having experience
IMO, having experience trading both discretionary and systematic books, I find that algo is much less stressful. I strictly trade systematic now as a result....I don't do any programming, however, I do develop new strategies/backtest during down time. I can't speak for tech guys that code, but for me that would be stressful and boring.