Can't decide b/w buyside and sellside
Background: Accounting focused UG and now incoming MS student at UK lower semi-target in Fin & Econ. Concurrently enrolled in a quant certificate program. 1.5 yoe in Due dilligence ops at WF/DB/MS. A year's gap trying to break into buyside/sellside ops AND learn Uni-level math for quant program.
My choice of MSc Fin & Econ as well as doing the quant program is driven by wanting to be taken seriously by people in finance and also to move away from accounting.
Moving to the matter at hand, I can't decide between buyside and sellside bc it seems unfair to drop one for the other when I'm interested in both. I think its FOMO on either side. Any mentoring would be nice.
If interested in both, why not recruit for both and evaluate any offers you get on the merit of the firm + career path it sets?
You should not drop one for the other without having gotten a job yet, and I'd think you would retain optionality for moving from one to the other once you get some level of experience.
But don't you think getting some level of experience in whichever domain I go into sets the said domain as my background for further recruiting attempts? Maybe I could justify switching but what about the employer's perspective?
Caveating I don't know a ton about quant finance, but is there not a lot of overlap in what you do and need to know between buy and sell-side wrt experience? What experience would you get that would preclude you from working in the other domain?
It will be your first job in the field, your prospective employer if you were to choose to switch will (1) give value to the fact that you have gained experience in the field where the majority (correct me if wrong) of the skills you learn are applicable, and (2) that you have learned more about what you wanted to do through working. The key point here is that it is common to switch between sell-side and buy-side.
Well, I guess so, although I'm not looking to become a quant; I'm just pursuing it to make people take me seriously bc my background is really not impressive. Landing a quant role is just a bonus.
When you put your latter 2 points that way, I guess it makes sense. I was under the impression that if I choose one side, employers would seem to think that it's my area of specialty and I might seem like someone who lacks experience in the other side.
These points really added a different perspective I never thought about, and since you're (obviously) credible, I'm feeling somewhat confident going forward. Incredibly grateful for this, thank you!
What exactly are you pursuing then?
Right now, for the next year or so, I'm just focused on getting my profile to a level where people can start taking me seriously. After that, it all depends on the opportunities I get.
Dude I'm NGL this makes like 0 sense. You're asking us to help you decide buyside Vs sell-side but you haven't even decided a role or an area of pursuit or anything? Why would the first decision be "buyside or sell-side"
I must apologize. I'm currently inclined towards sell-side domains like M&A(always been intrigued by this having read about deals in newspapers), ECM, Debt Syndication, VC and Capital Restructuring. However, I'm also interested in applying data science in financial markets. I'm also interested in Portfolio Management thanks to a family friend who's the head of sales at the firm that manages my mum's portfolio. Any sort of analytics driven research of any financial markets products interests me. I hope this makes it more clear.
But, as the earlier commenter described a perspective I hadn't thought of, if I picked one side and decided to switch, my prospective employer would value the fact that the majority of skills I learn are applicable, as well as, I will have learned more about what I wanted to do through working.
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