I was discussing with some friends last night about how enjoyable working at a hedge fund is. We work or have worked at large, $10B+ AUM, systematic/ quant funds. The general opinion was, we enjoy the work. However, we’re surrounded by individuals with limited regard for other humans and it’s tolerated because of the pay. Do you monkeys have a similar or different opinion about working at a large hedge fund?
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Interested as well.
I Can tell you with certainty it’s not fun to be at a hedge fund right now. PMs are under massive pressure.
I'm talking more broadly than this recent market volatility.
Definitely not for the feint of heart. I went from working at an investment bank to a small hedge fund to trade energy derivatives and it felt like every day I was pressured to perform else I would get fired. When you go to a bank, there are structures and protocols, certain style of doing things but working at a hedge fund, everyone was open to hear my ideas as long as I can back it up and god forbid you say the wrong things to the wrong person without being factual, you'll get ripped apart, as I did. The fund I was at was definitely not a 9-5 or 7-4. All that mattered was come up with new ways to make money. If you have to stay in office for 18 hours to find something, fucking do it. I was forced to come to work at 3am to get ready to trade European natural gas all the way to 5pm to flatten our US natgas positions then stay til 7pm, coming up with new ideas. Honestly it was brutal and there was never ever a job I had that made me scream in my car after work from the stress and it actually ruined my relationship with the girlfriend I was with back then. I'm at a investment bank on their interest rate derivatives desk in CT... my old boss was working with aramanth when the the fund blew up so you already know he is one of those old school Greenwich style trader, friends with Tudor Jones... honestly, when I'm at a bank and I compare these traders to the my old boss who was a pit trader for 25 years... traders at banks are a joke. They don't know how to take risk... These old school hedge fund CT traders are just at another level compared to bank traders because they came from risk taking era.
Rentec in particular seems to be heavily academic. The environment can be described as like a library, which is suitable for some but not others. We've seen some attrition amongst juniors now due to the lack of so-called "collegiate feel".
RenTech fucks harder than anyone else in the world
Are people leaving your group because it’s not academic enough? They going to Rentec or are there other very academic places?
As in they are leaving rentec.
You're at Rentec? I say this pretty much in awe. Wow.
May I ask what does Rentec look for in recruits in terms of their research? Do you have a very defined person/research expertise you're looking for and then go out hunting for them or do you evaluate people as they apply?
i struggle to believe that anyone at rentec spends time on fucking WSO lmao
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When times are good and returns are strong and capital is being raised, life is great. When time are bad..it's dependent on the PM - they're either the type to remain calm under pressure or blow up on others That said I enjoy it overall, the culture and style of work is generally a lot more independent than IB or PE. I also find it to be a lot less corporate and formal than PE or IB (though thats totally dependent on the fund and the age/style of the PM). I have friends at HF's that for the past year have worked chill, 9-10 hour days with no weekends making materially more than if they had stayed the IB/PE route - the key is finding the right seat and the right PM
You either are built for the buyside or not you find out soon. To the person above upset about culture/hours...well euro energy had a career move in last 24 months sometimes people work you hard for a reason. Many folks retired due to TTF moves.
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