Bulge Bracket Cap Markets vs Electricity Quant Shop

Hi,

I'm a graduating senior with an (accepted) offer from my summer internship at a cap markets group at a bulge bracket. I enjoyed my work there and working with my desk, and definitely could see myself hacking it through the analyst program, but would like to switch over to S&T internally if/when possible, as I don't think client interaction is my forte. 

I recently received an offer from a small electricity trading quant prop shop, and am genuinely having a hard time deciding between the two career paths.

  • Pay between the two is comparable, 110k base for both, with 20%-60% bonus from the prop shop and probably around the same for the BB
  • Location-wise I'd prefer the BB (not in NYC initially but would move there if switching to S&T)
  • Pay growth for the prop shop is probably a bit less than that of the cap markets group (salary would increase maybe 20-30k in 3 years, but bonus would 2-3x to 60%-180%), but hours worked are better
  • Work-wise I'd enjoy the quant shop more, as I prefer the technical/quantitative side of the markets more than the marketing/client facing side (math/econ major)
  • Main fear regarding not taking the prop shop offer is that once this ship sails I probably won't have another chance to break into the quant/prop trading space easily, and risk aversion regarding staking much of my pay on my/the shop's performance
  • Main fear regarding not taking the BB offer is losing out on less variable pay as I progress and losing out the comfort of being in a BB, as well as knowing that I did well on my desk as an SA and likely would do well as an analyst as well

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