I've read plenty of threads on this forum asking questions along the lines of "which desk is most profitable/more desired/"baller"/allows me to start a supertight hedge fund in X years/prestigious/has the best upside and opportunities etc".
The answer is NONE of them and ALL of them. By far the most important thing to consider are what are YOUR interests and particular skillset, then target appropriate desks. There is no point joining what half this forum thinks is a "baller" desk at GS (i.e. GSPS) when you are neither 1) interested in equities/credit 2) have little ambition to do balance sheet analysis/valuation. I did a rotations with them last yr on the summer programme and thought it was one of the most boring places on the floor.
Profitability of desks and products changes YEAR TO YEAR. In 2006/2007, structured credit was where all the action was, 2008/2009 it was vanilla rates and FX trading. Next 2 years, it's probably going to be M&A and equities trading, after that, who knows! You simply can't base a career choice by jumping onto the bandwagon of "what's hot now", as the chances are that by the time you get there, the product class will be having a 30% drop in flows. At GS, all the traders had a running joke: the desk which most of the interns want to rotate on is the one where the market is in a bubble the most. Funnily, last year, hardly anyone wanted to rotate on credit or prop.
Finally, your ability to be a baller hedge fund manager 15 years down the line has minimal bearing input from which asset class investors are fighting over right now. I've known hedge fund managers making an absolute killing but started their careers equity trading in October 1987, guys who started EM trading post-Asia crisis and people who were into credit in 2007. Oh, and btw, the large majority of them did NOT start at GS or MS. Key point: stop chasing a bubble/prestige, research each product/asset class, decide what YOU enjoy the most, meet ppl from your choices and then make a decision. Good luck!
