Information technology (IT) in banks
Hi, I'm a signal processing/control engineer and I did a placement in IT for a top bank. However, the IT was really easy and thus boring. There was no challenge. I was writing code for workflows and creating tools to automate tasks (not very interesting).
So I wonder is all IT like that? Maybe I was in a boring team - IT is a big division. But then I don't want to throw all this hard maths and physics out of the window.
Any insight on IT and whether it's all automating tasks, workflows etc would be useful.
Almost all corporate IT is that way. What purpose does IT serve, if not to automate things and improve efficiency (thus reducing operating costs)?
You might look into Information Security - specifically vulnerability research. By it's nature, there is a bit more creativity because often you are looking for the unknown, which means a canned approach doesn't apply. Most large corporations have decent InfoSec organizations, but you're going to tend to have better budgets and be taken more seriously in the health care and government sectors (defense), because data sensitivity is more highly regarded in those places.
You might make a good candidate for quant analytics and or algo trading. Actually your signal processing background makes you sound a lot like an HFT guy. Have you considered applying to an HFT shop or maybe trying an internal transfer to your algo trading group? Try to aim for a team under S&T rather than IT, though IT could be great experience.
IlliniProgrammer, I have thought about that and I did speak to some quants people in the bank. They all had PhDs (I mean 95% of the team were PhDs).
Now I am confused whether I should do a PhD or get industry experience in sigproc. I am doing my masters right now.
However, in banks it seems to me that people with masters/bachelors degrees are often at top positions and have greatest power. I don't want to end up as a quant and do loads of maths so that a trader can get the result and execute the trade. Not unless we are a team/buddies and work together and share influence/power.
:)
Well, you're not being very clear on what you want. Do you want the most money? Do you want the most interesting type of work? Do you want the most power / influence? All of the above? Which are your priorities? One may be at the expense of another, etc. Your OP indicated that boredom was the problem....
djfiii, I somehow can's see how in a bank the people who make the most money and the people who have the most power/influence will be different. Anyway, I think I would like to make the most money mainly because I think this would be the most interesting, hardest, most stressful and have the greatest influence job. I am also of course very very interested in the money.
Sure, a lot of quants sometimes feel a little used. But really?
-Quants have 2-3% unemployment; traders have 15%. -Traders get laid off all the time. Especially if they have a bad year. Quants have the most stable jobs in the financial markets. -Traders have to sign non-competes and managers get tied down at the same firm. Quants can leave whenever they'd like for whatever firm they'd like.
-In terms of pay, the career average is probably about the same for quants and traders- maybe just a tad higher for quants due to S&D considerations with the smaller size of the applicant pool, but the skew and variance in trading is tremendous.
Would I enjoy the opportunity to be a trader? Absolutely. Am I going to get down on myself for living in the quant world instead? Probably not that much. Considering my college friends are grinding out code at Netflix and Expedia while I get to deal with mathematical and financial problems all day long, I am not going to complain.
Recently, I was talking to one of my friends who's a real-estate broker. She had a client who just graduated school and had a $800/month budget for an apartment in Chicago's north side. The first one was too small. The second one had a view of an alleyway. The third one was on the third floor of a walk-up. The fourth one did not have a parking space. Finally she said, "Honey, for $800/month, there's always going to be something wrong with the place. But your first apartment won't be your last." The lady finally got it. She took the small studio and moved on.
So too it is with entry-level jobs and even careers for that matter. Don't complain; every career has its flaws, but any career in the front-office at an investment bank is generally a pretty good choice.
Fair enough, but that's not at all related to your original post.
If you want more money, follow IllinisProgrammer's advice. Try to land a gig as a developer / trader at a HFT shop.
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