hedge fund prop trader vs portfolio manager

Any update?

I'm assuming you're early-career (if not this is a bit different). Here's how I'd think about this if I was in college or 3yrs out:

If I had to choose, I'd choose the second option. I work with a lot of former prop traders, and almost to a man, the guys that started out in prop trading with no formal research experience, have been doing terribly the past few years (mainly b/c these guys historically exploited strategies that have largely been picked clean by algos - whether they realize it or not). Conversely, guys that have a patient and well thought out research process have done well - as there have been big shifts over the past few years that were possible to anticipate and plan for - but not that you could necessarily call to the day in my opinion. So by having a broader portfolio, you were able to build positions over time and extract alpha from the market. Furthermore, the second option would give you more stability early in your career (which is important), and, hopefully, somewhat of a brand name. Exit options from a prop firm, if it doesn't work out, are basically whatever you came into it with (or less, given atrophy). And finally, nobody at a prop firm will help you learn, regardless what they say. They are mostly struggling to survive themselves. The only exception to this I would make, would be if you are an exceptionally good quant/systematic trader, and have a suite of algo's you feel is already ready to deploy - in that case, think about potentially going somewhere you can deploy those immediately (prop firm).