Did I reach a dead end in my career ?
Hi all,
I have recently started a job in derivatives Product Control within a reputable investment bank (tier 1) and am starting to think I did a bad move. I chose this offer over one from another investment bank to work in structured finance (tier 2 - FO). The thing is… the position in structured finance was temporary (initially 6 months with possible extension to 12 months) and the head of the area said he couldn’t guarantee I would have a job in six months. Also, the PC role paid a very handsome salary (more than double what the structured finance one paid). Should I have gone with structured finance to avoid getting branded as Product Controller?
Two weeks into the PC job and after reading many forums (which I should have done beforehand) I realize I made a mistake and feel like I got into a dead end. I know that PC is a possible route to become a trader… but (PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong) I feel like being a trader is as much of a dead end. What can a trader do later in his life?
My interest is corporate finance and business analysis… so I would enjoy a career in a equity fundamentalist HF, or on equity research, PE, VC, big 4 advisory, IBD and consulting (anything that gave me skills which I can apply in the real world, not only in a bank or a Bloomberg terminal).
Somebody please shed some light… Im desperate here. Where can product control lead me to ? Do I get any transferable skills ? I was thinking of a move to consulting… is it possible ?
Thanks.
between the two offers, you probably made the right decision in terms of future job security. that extension is looking less and less likely given the BB job cuts and economy at the moment.
Plenty of traders move on to HF later in their careers. Why don't you just go to business school and rebrand yourself if you're so scared?
Saying a trader is as much of a dead end as PC is just fucking stupid, by the way.
Ok, I guess I chose very bad terms to describe a Trading career. That is for sure. A trader's career cant be compared to PC in that sense. What I meant (and asked to be corrected) is that a trader develops such a specific set of skills that it is difficult to transfer them to other areas (a trader will do trading, no matter where it is... be it HF, Bank, etc). Obviously a trader earns much more by doing something far more interesting.
I do think that having a well paid job at the moment is a blessing considering the economy. But this poses another dilema. Look to change jobs now while I am only a little time in PC and avoid being branded permanently as a MO type of guy or dive into it and aim for trading ? What do you think ?
bump
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