Anyone go from SWE to Banking?
I’m a 24-year-old software engineer at a big bank, and lately, I’ve been questioning whether I chose the right career path. I started off with a great entry-level salary, even out-earning my friends in investment banking, but my recent promotion bump was underwhelming. Now, I’m starting to feel like I’m falling behind financially compared to them.
To be honest, I’m not particularly passionate about coding (or banking, for that matter) – I’m really just passionate about making money. I also feel like I’m not working as hard as I could be. I work from home three days a week, clock out at 5, and live a semi-retired life. My job isn’t demanding at all, so I don’t feel the need to push myself harder.
The tech market is also extremely dry right now, and landing a $240k+ job at a FAANG seems almost impossible. On top of that, I’m not inspired by anyone I work with, and I don’t want to end up like them.
I know it sounds crazy, but I’m considering switching to investment banking – even though it would mean enduring two brutal years. Has anyone made this transition, and if so, what steps would I need to take? Do you think it would be worth it financially, or am I just stuck in tech forever?
YOE 2 TC 180k Location NYC
Just finished my two years in IB so wanted to share my thoughts in case it's useful. For context, I have not worked in SWE but have a few friends who have worked in SWE + high finance.
If you are not passionate about anything finance related, it's not worth it at all to switch to IB. I can tell you firsthand that the amount you sacrifice during your analyst years is not worth it unless you have some end goal in mind (PE, career banker, etc). In theory, you could work two SWE jobs and still generally have a better WLB and pay than a fresh new analyst. The other question is, what do you plan to do after 2 years? Being an associate is sometimes worse than being an analyst given the level of responsibility and expectations. Sure, there is a pay bump but it's still (in most cases) not much better than being an analyst. If you really want to go to PE you could but may not be worth it unless you really are really passionate about investing / finance
My genuine advice would be to look into HF / quant. The hours would be better, you can leverage your skill set in coding, and can also be more lucrative than banking. I'm not saying you shouldn't go into banking, but if you are not passionate about anything finance related and are just optimizing for compensation, there are better ways to do that than IB.
Hope that helps!
Yeah this is along the lines of what I’ve heard from friends and family - appreciate the insight. Quant is a dream but I didn’t go to MIT or Stanford and I only have a bachelor’s - when you say HF are you referring to a hedge fund like Citadel or something? Also, is there any possibility of a lateral move direct to PE (I’d probably need an MBA), or are the 2 years in the trenches mandatory for any exit opps?
But but I thought we would work more for less pay and no rsus and we were just fools to pick this over your god forsaken swe!! I mean you even outearned your friends in investment banking. You made the right choice bro, now take this shit with your random ass tc back to blind lmao.
Holy salt! This is a solid endorsement to stay in tech lol
Unless you have a passion for finance, no it’s not worth it. How many hours are you working right now? If it’s 40-50 hours for that $180k comp, then it would be a somewhat insane decision to switch.
Tech labor market is in a lull (or a normalization after a long period of outperformance now that the supply of SWE is catching up to demand) but still one of the better places to be. Finance labor market is already pretty efficient. I’m not sure what the next decade-long hot industry to work in will be (finance 80s-mid2000s / tech 2010s-2020s), or if there even will be a next one of any similar magnitude.
Passionate about making money and don’t actually enjoy finance? Boy do you have a career in banking, dont let these jokers fool you, you got exactly what it takes.
This guy bangs. He’s spot on
Brother we have AI powered robots, data center expansion, rockets being caught after launching and you want to do IB?
If you are lucky to survive this tech winter, industry will focus on recruiting experienced swe rather than ng.
You will be pretty competitive for an entry level role at faang by then. Which is still 200k+ with 36h a week unless you join tiktok or meta or amzn or some toxic teams like azure.
Remember the perks of 1m work from anywhere at google and the likes. Tech is good wlb less elitist (lots of umass amherst sjsu santa clara uci etc.) with lots of money. Even you just hang in there staying as a staff engineer lifer you will make 600k+ usd living a cushy life with 10-15y experience and cruise for next 20 years.
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