Is IB/PE even worth it for me?
I’m 18 yrs old and have a 3.8 GPA at a non target state school doing economics but taking classes online and paying absolutely nothing. I think have a pretty good shot at hitting a semi target like NYU CAS/Colgate/Notre Dame and also going for Cornell which is a target. Applying for these schools for spring 2022 and if I strike I’m out going hard for fall 2022 and applying to like 25 schools just to shotgun to the max. I’m pretty confident I will end up in at least a respectable low semi target and will have ended up saving a ton of money doing so.
I’m working an amazing paid in person internship at a series D fintech firm in nyc and I’m doing mostly basic data analytics with python/SQL. I am also doing data scraping and started moving towards AI/Machine learning. I hang out with prop traders and developers a lot, it’s absolutely insane how much I’m learning compared to school. I couldn’t ask for a better internship it has a whole Silicon Valley workplace culture despite being in nyc it’s really great. Literally people will get pissed off if you insinuate working overtime, people routinely go home early if their work is done. My dad is really tight with the c levels and it’s no secret I have a job waiting for me as soon as I graduate. I would probably end up as a developer on the product team or a quant working for the prop traders.
Now the question is whether I should go for a PE internship next year. My mom is a director at a pretty well regarded firm and can set me up with a buy side internship next year. However, I see first hand what the hours and stress do to her and I’m seriously reconsidering doing it to myself when I have a cushy fintech job waiting for me out of college.
What is keeping me on the fence is at some point in my life I really want to work at a hedge fund, and it seems that PE buy side experience out the gate is the best way to get there. Is it really worth passing up 40 hour flexible days and good comp in fintech? Seriously it’s fucking insane my mom was working 80 hour weeks a few months after giving birth to me this industry is fucked up. Can I get a job at a hedge fund after a few years of being a developer at a fintech firm? Do I need to go for IB/PE slavery to have a realistic shot? I’m also split down the middle between Econ and comp sci, NYU CAS would be great because I could commute and do both.
Dude if you are going to work as a quant for the prop traders why not do the start up and use prop trader's connection to prop trade shop like Jane Street?
Also for hedge funds, do you actually know what you like? Multi manager hedge funds are very different from single manager hedge funds. What is your trading strategy? Do you like Bill Ackman's value-based approach or were you exposed to other strategies?
This website shows the MM (multi manager) hedge funds reality pretty well which made me go against recruiting for Point72 : https://www.buysidehustle.com/life-on-the-buyside-at-a-multi-manager-he…
I would probably leverage your coding skills and join a quant trading firm if you want to go to a hedge fund, but make sure to talk to different people at hedge funds to see if this is actually what you want.
So a little more background, my father was pretty high up in a Citadel/JaneStreet/Virtu and absolutely fucking hated it towards the later years. He left a few years ago and really doesn’t want me to pursue HFT. I also don’t want to pigeon hole myself into quant trading because I heard once your in it’s pretty hard to lateral because your skill set is so specialized.
Another problem is I have a slim chance at HYPSM and I will most likely graduate with a economics degree unless I go dual in NYU.
The reason I want to work in HF/VC so bad is I want to do startups eventually and the connections to funding would be really important. I have a ton of crackpot startup ideas but I’m not delusional to attempt them without proper funding and knowledge/credentials.
Wait so the only reason you want to go HF/VC is for start-up funding connections, but you said your dad was a higher up in the quant trading industry and your mother is in PE - I don't get this. Your parents probably already have connections to funding sources and the necessary connections if they are higher up as you said.
If your ultimate goal is a startup, I suggest just starting one with your dad's or mom's money (maybe ask around min $1000 to $5000) and gain experience that way. One of my mentor is a tech startup founder and he said only real way to learn to be a founder is to be a founder, not go to IB or PE (though they do set up nicely in terms of the financial knowledge). As for career wise also choose fintech firm and notice how they raise money, manage people, market their products, produce strategy, etc.
If you go to PE -> HF/VC, you will probably hate your life because 1. the hours are brutal (even in HF, you are always "on the job" as you need to read up on the sector) 2. junior work in the finance industry is 20% interesting and 80% boring. Skip all these, get your parent's money and connections, and just try man. No need to take the road all the way around.
This makes sense, but I am still going to intern in PE and if I absolutely hate it then I will give up on HF/VC, another path is trying to connect with the VC funds investing in the fintech firm I’m at and trying to get an internship. I am just a rising sophomore so I still have 2 more internships to go.
The types of companies I want to start require immense amounts of capital, it’s not some tech firm that you can start out of your garage. And nobody is going to invest in an 18 year old with no experience lol. I think I need a ~10 year career in startups/VC/HF before it even becomes realistic. Starting my own fund is also another thing I have thought about. Even if you have really good connections your not going to get much investment unless you have good experience or your a savant from Stanford or something.
Sure you seem like you have a plan in mind so go for it. Good luck!
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