First Major Career Move, Ops to Front Office - Need Advice

Hi All,

Long-time lurker, wanted to share what I'm going through right now and see if I can get some feedback on how I'm thinking this through.

I have spent the last year and a half as an Middle Office Analyst at a BB bank, my first job out of school. I find my job mind-numbingly boring and am upset at the fact that I work more hours on average than the junior salespeople and traders I support, but make 60% of what they make (including avg. yearly bonus).

I have put some feelers out and recently a recruiter has reached out to me about a role at a world-class HF for a junior trader role with a heavy emphasis on my Ops background. Basically, although I'd sit on the desk and book any excess trade volume my senior managers couldn't handle, my role would be more geared towards being the middleman for my desk and our middle office (I'm assuming I would be mostly amending anything that wasn't booked properly, cash flows, etc., all things I do in my Middle Office role currently).

However, the fact that I'd be trading at all means I would be getting my Series', and I see this as potentially being my entry ticket into making my move towards the Front Office/Sales & Trading space, even if I don't see myself remaining at this HF (especially if I'm not able to acquire a strictly trading position without the middleman nuance.)

Do you believe my analysis to be correct? I know "Ops" can be dirty word on WSO sometimes but I crave the responsibility of being able to actually make moves in the finance world and not just being a support employee. Is this move as much of a no-brainer as I think it is if I can secure an opportunity to move from Ops to FO?

Thanks in advance for any and all insights!

-Bog