FAANG APM v. MBB T1 City v. Strategy at Quant Firm
I am an incoming Cali MBB junior intern from a target school. I'm fairly confident I will receive a final-round for FAANG APMs based on the calls I have had. I am also considering strategy at a quant firm.
What is the most profitable option when considering long-term compensation? I would consider myself a good communicator who is somewhat technical but not a CS major.
FAANG APM pays more initially but not sure about the scaling.
I would do MBB first . It will give more optionality
Lower level PM jobs are pretty horrid. It’s more like a feature or product owner. And promotions are very slow
Go as high as you can at MBB then consider product
this is a consulting sub so your answers are likely all leaning toward mbb, so take anything with a grain of salt.
From your list, I would not consider strategy at quant firm. Im assuming its similar to say p&s at jane street? That's really a mid/back office role. I wouldn't pick that since you already have the tech and mbb offers.
You mentioned most profitable as your criteria. I believe taking a long term view, the more profitable career is still mbb. It will open way more doors for you, and it is the traditionally prestigious name. The ceiling at MBB is also higher, coupled with the possibility of pivoting to high finance. MBB is the way imo
Will say tho MBB pay, for how selective it is, is really peanuts compare to tech or ib at the junior level.
Curious on why not p&s at JS?
MBB represents spectacular long-term risk adjusted comp if you don't mind grinding / don't care about quality of life
FAANG PM represents high long-term comp, but not as high as MBB. Trajectory at the ~8+ year mark will be slower and there's a decent likelihood you'll hit a mid career ceiling for a bit, unless you go the startup route which is high risk but potentially unlimited upside (and much more viable coming from PM vs MBB). However, comp trajectory slowdowns / ceilings for FAANG PM will occur well after most folks' point of decreasing marginal utility of money, and the lifestyle is relatively great, so there's a reason so many high performers at MBB try (and most fail) to become a FAANG PM. Most people tend to choose the route with $500k @ 35 hours when they're 35yo vs $1M and 70 hours (numbers illustrative but directional)
For context I'm an ex consultant at a FAANG. I guarantee there are more MBB consultants who wish they were FAANG PMs than the other way around, but there are also benefits to doing consulting for a few years to learn how to create and communicate structure in ambiguous high-chaos situations with tight timelines. I don't think there's a wrong answer between the two of them
I wouldn't consider the strategy role at the quant fund
Interesting. Won't consider the strat role.
I think the MBB --> FAANG APM pipeline is almost impossible so I'd have to decide this summer. I don't understand why MBB is so underpaid when they begin but if in theory, if you can achieve the EM promotion within 3 years, you should be making ~320K at 25-26. This likely scales with APM.
From there, maybe you jump ship into something else. I still don't really know which path to take and don't have an interest in either job per se. They're just jobs lol.
Are you happy with your decision to move to FAANG? When did you do it and is that path still viable?
MBB pays less at the junior level because of the revenue model. While contracts may be structured a bit differently depending on the firm and client, you're still basically operating off of a billable hours model. This means your revenue per analyst is fundamentally capped at a certain point
Contrast with big tech. In big tech, your revenue per employee doesn't have the same kind of theoretical ceiling and your work's impact can scale more, so pay can be higher
Last thing on comp, again want to reiterate that long term risk adjusted comp is likely higher at MBB if you stick with it
I am very happy with my decision to move to FAANG. I did a few years in consulting and now a few at my FAANG. My lifestyle is a lot better, and I was confident I didn't want to do the consulting grind long term and am okay with the slower rate of increase on comp (keeping in mind total comp is still very good)
I'm happy I started in consulting though. The pace, rigor, and overall approach to structured problem solving in high chaos environments isn't something you can replicate elsewhere
I don't think you can make a wrong decision, but given you view them both as 'just jobs' I think it'd be really hard to turn down the higher pay and much better lifestyle associated with being a FAANG PM
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