Choosing between Internship Offers
Some advice would be great! I've recently been fortunate enough to get 3 internship offers (so far) for Summer 2021, but am struggling to decide on which one is best for my career.
To give a bit of context, I'm a sophomore pursuing a Math+CS and Finance dual degree at a Top CS school (semi-target for finance) hoping to work as a quant out of college.
The offers are:
Amazon (Software Engineering Intern) - Boston
Benefits:
- FAANG on the resume
- Typically fairly interesting dev work
- Pay (~10K/month with relocation)
- Would teach me loads about building enterprise-scale software
Drawbacks:
- Poor work culture/long hours (not IB hours so it's not so bad)
- Would need to relocate (though that's not a huge deal given the offer).
- Likely wouldn't have much responsibility/impact on the company
- Purely software dev role
- May be virtual
Rally Health (Backend Engineering Intern) - Chicago
Benefits:
- I really like the team I'd be placed with & the product I'd be working on
- Pay ($30 / hr)
- Great company culture
- Hybrid
Drawbacks:
- Amazon pays more & for similar work
- Purely software dev, no real analytical work
Small Prop Trading Firm (Quant Developer Intern) - Chicago
Benefits:
- Interesting work
- I'd be working to implement strategies/have an active role in developing new models
- Chicago Location
- Small Company atmosphere
- In-person
- Direct mentorship from traders & managing director
Drawbacks:
- Substantially lower pay than the other offers ($3K / month)
- Not that well known of a company
I've heard conflicting advice from family members/friends, so I thought I'd ask WSO since I've been a long time lurker of the forum.
Would you want to work at any of the above firms after college? Or strictly in a quant role. I’d really take that into account.
Congrats on all 3.
Honestly, I'd probably be happy working for any of them; however, I plan on leveraging this summer internship for a better internship at a top HF/prop firm. So, my focus is to find the best one to put me that position.
Definitely take Amazon. If you decide you’d rather work at a quant firm, having Amazon on your resume would help you get interviews next summer (if you’re a sophomore / freshman) or full time (if you’re a junior). Name brand is a huge thing
Is this the case for quant research/strategy positions as well? My worry is that if I start in software, I'd end up pigeonholed in that position in the eyes of quant firms. Not that there's anything wrong with SWE/Quant Development, but the end goal is to work on alpha generation—building strategies/pricing models.
What year are you? If you are a sophomore or freshman, you have nothing to worry about with regards to getting pigeonholed. If this is for your junior year internship, you could make an argument for the small prop shop, especially if you could see yourself working at that firm after graduation, but it still is not a straightforward decision.
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