Am I crazy for thinking of switching from IB to swe?
Context: a2a at BB but studied CS. Most memorable experience in my career was my first internship building software, but subsequent experiences before IB jaded me and I pursued IB for money, prestige (better to be a banker than a nerd engineer).
Now thinking back to genuine interests and wondering if I made a mistake all along. Am I crazy for thinking about moving back to swe and maybe targeting something in the financial software space? Seems to be a growing area - factset, alphasense all need people and emerging startups like rogo, hebbia.
Could make a case for myself that I have true domain knowledge (rare, hard to attain) and can grow into the technical skills quickly (proven work ethic and some CS credentials).
Just spitballing and don’t know yet whether my heart is truly in it, but wondering if any opinions from people more up to date on the CS world?
You can try moving into a strategy role at a tech company then lateral to SWE.
No, it's not insane, but it might be "grass is always greener" type situation. FWIW, there's plenty of roles in the middle. Strats, structuring, fintech, etc. that you can do too. I had a brief stint in tech as a DS after working in S&T and realized it wasn't for me very quickly. Maybe you can do it while you're still young and have no career capital to tie you down. If you want more info on tech or those in between roles, just ask
thanks - what was after DS for you? i fixate on swe slightly because i had really enjoyed it in the past, whereas strat fin/strategy roles can seem quite nebulous (e.g. is it really strat fin or just fp&a) and are really much less important than sales/engineering functions in tech.
totally acknowledge it could be grass is greener but im sick of the hours... suppose i should just ask directly whether id be more attractive as an engineer or strategy guy. i might just look like a useless engineer
if there are better suited roles that blend the commercial/technical side im open to hearing
I went into prop trading at a midsized shop, one people will have heard of but not one that's at the front end of anything. I find that a lot of people do enjoy SWE because they're problem solvers, and a lot of coding is just problem solving, while IB can be crushing to these people. I knew I didn't like IB because it's not really going to challenge my own problem solving sense. A big draw of trading and structuring for me has been that sense of problem solving and working on complex problems with other smart people.
As for hours, this is so company dependent, and the big thing is the "on" factor. Working 80 hours in IB is bad, but you aren't exactly doing overly mentally demanding work. SWE, on the other hand, requires real thinking. Hours at firms like Amazon or Meta can be pretty bad too, as are a lot of startups to unicorns. The only people actually working really good hours are the ones that are really good at their jobs or working for companies like Google(not as much now, used to be heavily the case) with rest-and-vest cultures.
When it comes to a blend, there's roles in tech like prod management, but I would say you're more likely to find a good role in finance doing something technical. Something like pricing or structuring could be up your alley.
We always can use more people who understand software development but also the day to day of what traders are doing. Perhaps there is a structured SWE role (sounds like at BB there would be) where you can be a developer/programmer that works closely with FO?
At least it’s a2a vs a2m which is the norm in a lot of these industries…you have to follow your passion and heart. If focused on it you can get there albeit path may be a little less traditional you will be fine.
thank you
sorry for being thick but a2m?
Ass-to-Mouth
Ball out son, its your life
I hear you on the prestige. I'm a few years into my career, mostly buyside, but started in IB. I talk to technical founders all the time, many of whom began in software IB/PE, and I am the most impressed by them and their careers. They were "bold" enough to get out of this race, build some skills "in the industry", and eventually build a company of their own. Hope that helps.
I think theres actually a lot of value for someone with your profile. Honestly you should look into some Series A/B startups (Offdeal comes to mind) that can bring you back into SWE; then depending on your motives you could probably go into industry or keep developing with this unique banker/coder profile. But the way you operate would probably change…
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