Hedge fund IT Intern - worth taking?

Hi fellow monkeys,

I have the opportunity to intern at a hedge fund as an trading system IT intern and I will be helping the traders in database migration and building low-latency databases.

Pros: - Traders and researchers are friendly people and are willing to teach - Hedge fund is willing to hire high performing interns as fulltime staff - Task-oriented culture that focuses on getting things done rather than hours worked

Cons: - It sounds like grunt work to me. Database migration isn't exactly a sexy job. - Takes up 3 months of my time. It requires me to take a gap semester from school, but doesn’t affect my graduation date.

Opportunity costs: - I could have used the time to focus on my own web development business or network with people

Do you think I should take it if my aim is to get into trading / quant / quant development?

4 Comments
 

Est aut reprehenderit corporis voluptatem qui. Voluptate hic ab quia aspernatur eum quibusdam ut. Consectetur atque natus amet exercitationem rerum repellendus doloremque beatae. Ut et qui dignissimos cupiditate illum. Doloribus omnis delectus in provident natus. Voluptas voluptatem a possimus quidem veritatis minus.

Career Advancement Opportunities

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • AQR Capital Management 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Two Sigma Investments 95.0%

Professional Growth Opportunities

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Total Avg Compensation

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $355
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (83) $287
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (77) $193
  • Analysts (235) $177
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (277) $95
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”