Moving From Data Science to Investment Analyst HF
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Jan 22, 2022
Career Resources
WSO Virtual Bootcamps
Career Advancement Opportunities
November 2026 Investment Banking
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Evercore 01 99.5%
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Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
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JPMorgan 01 98.4%
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Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
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Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%
Overall Employee Satisfaction
November 2026 Investment Banking
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Moelis & Company No 99.5%
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Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
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Evercore 01 98.4%
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Banco Santander 04 97.9%
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BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%
Professional Growth Opportunities
November 2026 Investment Banking
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Evercore 01 99.5%
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Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
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Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
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Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
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JPMorgan No 97.4%
Total Avg Compensation
November 2026 Investment Banking
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Vice President (17) $409
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Associates (58) $261
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3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
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2nd Year Analyst (29) $183
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Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
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1st Year Analyst (84) $151
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Intern/Summer Analyst (77) $101
16 IB Interviews Notes
“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”
Leaderboard
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99.0 |
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98.9 |
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98.9 |
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98.8 |
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship
“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”
Let me guess, you're a foot-soldier for the fundamental PM? fighting with shit data/tech and trying to incorporate data science as a marketing tool even though most PM's don't appreciate your work and you're underpaid?
The easiest way would be a MBA. Otherwise, network to a data analyst role while taking the CFA. Have you looked at point72 or BAM? they have some in-between roles
Eminence was hiring a similar role as well, but that was a while back. At least it validates the existence of non-fundamental research role in HFs.
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ah a young professional's naive bubble of "I'm going to have so much impact" gets popped by real life politics.
in 99% of cases, quants and fundies are opposed to each other and the political hierarchy at most shops disregards quants.
With how much tech can pay out these days, it's kinda stupid remaining as a tool for a discretionary guy who doesn't appreciate you.
I mean, I've seen ops guy work for 6-9 years while getting a CFA to get a shot at a single manager firm. If you're willing to take that kind of career risk, that's a hail mary I guess. Either way, it's up to see how much rope you got left before you decide to either get a seat or leave.
btw, your boss sounds like a typical MBA executive, ex-IB/PE guy aka a guy I would never work for. Idk I just can't imagine working with this guy 24/7 and not slapping him 20 seconds in
1. if you don't have finance background, you may need to do a MBA / CFA
2. talk to the fundamental analysts in your firm to learn more about what skills you need to develop
3. maybe pivot to a quant role in a quant strategy HF first, before moving to fundamental role
4. reading investment books
5. think about investment ideas, trading ideas
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Basic skills for fundamental analyst:
Do you think you can figure out all these on your own? If so, how long will it take? After that, can you have interviews? How much money can you make? How does it compare to DS role in tech? Do you think you actually like working in HF?
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You should check out the book "So Good They Can't Ignore You." Essentially the argument is the accumulation of "career capital" and when you can "cash it in." For example the reason why corporate executives turned yoga instructors generally fail at the latter is they have limited "career capital" in yoga to cash in The "3 month yoga training course" is nothing compared to the person who has been doing yoga for 20 years.
By switching from data science to fundamental investing you'd be giving up a huge chunk of your "career capital" bc even as your current experience shows it is not valued that highly (not a judgement on whether it should be or not). If you truly cannot imagine doing anything other than analyzing companies/investing then take the plunge, but hopefully this explains why you'd likely need an MBA to accumulate more "career capital." If instead you just want more $, autonomy, to have an impact, be appreciated etc. then there are many other front office type functions that would more value your skillset. Think quant equity, FICC trading, heck you could probably credibly become an economist (not to mention non finance stuff). Re: "passion" the book has some good stuff on that if that is another hang up.
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