Quant trader vs Banker

Hi all, I’m a math student, and I’m deciding on two very different offers - weirdly, I managed to got both the offers from a BB investment banking at a decent coverage group and an offer for quant trader at a prop firm

I know it’s a bit weird to see this post as two positions require completely different skills but I’m very analytical while having really good communications skills, and I like both experience - when I do IB, I find it ok to work 110h/week, while doing QT I do like the work which is more fun and fast paced

I’m really into Maths as well as Finance, and I would say I’m a bit of workaholic and really want to dive deeper into the industry in the future 

The questions I’m having are

1. what would you choose if you fit for both jobs - I like them both in terms of the hours/work content 

2. I think converting summer at prop firms to FT is relatively easier but I’m not confident in the long run that I’m smart enough to break through the ceiling that other geniuses do. I’m not very gifted talented, I have top marks mainly because I’m hard working (also for recruiting, you just need to attend uni campus, perform good on simulations during the uni workshop, do networking, pass assessment and interviews, don’t fuck up and learn hard you will likely to get the offer)

3. I somehow think from my IB experience that IB might be a better option in terms of the long run since it’s more people business and your relationship builds from time to time

4. But I find IB work, especially for juniors being really tedious and somehow braindead, I feel a bit sad when seeing my maths background being wasted and align numbers at midnight for a pitch that nobody looks at afterwards, the modelling was fun but modelling, it was only small part of your life, rest are more repetitive or small tasks that I found killing my brain - I found myself less creative, think slower after a year of  doing the IB placement which I think is a bit terrifying 

Any answers would be much appreciated - I’ve read through most similar posts but still didn’t find a good answer

Where shall I start my official career (at least stick to it in the next few years) - in the case I generally like both jobs and have good skills sets for both?

5 Comments
 

Being a quant trader is better (at least from what I heard according to my friends) due to 1. More interesting and impactful work 2. Higher comp and 3. Better WLB *if* you are actually good and interested in math and statistics.

But being a quant trader does pigeonhole you into that space (with higher risk vs. IB), but I’ve seen people making a jump to data science roles in tech so should be fine.
 

 

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