How to go about Quant to IB career shift
For some context, I am a 3rd year (sci 27') applied math and computer engineering student at a Canadian "target" school for IB (ik it's more program-dependent rather than the school itself). I just finished up my internship as a quantitative analyst at a big 5 bank and realized that the environment I was in wasn't for me. I consider myself a social person who loves talking to people, and my favourite part about engineering wasn't the math or science; it was purely the aspect of it that involved the grind and pressure to meet deadlines. With this realization, as I have always had an interest in financial modelling, I am trying to reposition myself to break into IB and leave the quant world behind.
Essentially, I am looking for any advice on how I should position myself best for this change. I am somewhat aware of recruiting timelines, and I am aware I would be very behind if I wanted to work IB summer 26'. (at least for bigger banks, I'm not sure about smaller boutiques)
With this in mind, I am planning to take the next school year off to gain work experience and buy myself time to recruit for summer 27', which would push my graduation back to 28'.
My main worries are timelines (being far behind), and also on the networking front, should I get my technicals down first, then network, or mix everything in at the same time?
(Note: My IB network, as of right now, consists of one MD, so very much lacking.)
If you like working in collaborative environments and hard deadlines, why not try for prop shop trading? Most shops are SUPER collaborative and people there are some of the smartest folk I've ever met. Your deadlines are always pretty strict because, well, they're made by the markets. Just something to consider, you could def get interviews coming from a good school with past quant experience. Might be something slightly more up your ally.
I see the appeal of a prop shop however, I think I should have mentioned it in the post that I am looking to switch for a client facing role (not just collaboration). I honestly realized that I chose the wrong degree for what I truly wanted to pursue and am just trying to make things work out with how they are. Thank you for the insight tho.
Okay, I hear you. I would then say maybe consider S&T on a more quantitative desk. When I worked in S&T, I could spend a lot of time directly with clients if I wanted.
Other than that, IB could be more your speed, but all my friends who did STEM and went into IB found it mind-numbingly boring. Just something to consider when going into things. You trade off doing hard work for easy work, but doing a lot more of it.
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