Hi,
Basically i have a good job as a s&t 1st year analyst in one of the big US banks.
Results are very good and bonuses are up across the board in equities at least. I'm doing well and i like people in my team, but i'm starting to get really bored and the learning curve is flattening much quicker than i would have expected.
I think i would be much happier in a quanty small place let's say being optimistic a place like Jane Street. (I think i would have decent chances)
I'm still young, and i don't mind starting again as a ""beginner"". But i need to make a decision quickly, around this summer, otherwise ill start waiting for the end of year bonus, then ill get promoted associate whith a huge salary bump+sign in and be stuck by contract for another 1.5 year and then it will be way too hard to leave because you need to wait just 1y for VP...
It's really a machine that keeps you captive.
So my question is, does it make any sense ? How would an application for a junior position be percieved at a place like this if i am already full time ?
I am not in a particular rush, so i can seriously prepare to have the best shot, but i'm worried that my application would go straight to the bin.
What do you think ?
Thanks a lot !
I would give it another 12 months. If you've worked in trading for 18-24 months, and you can put that on your resume, I think that sends a strong non-negative signal to future hiring managers that leaving after 6 months doesn't send. 18 months means that the desk had a clear opportunity to fire you for being a screwup, but chose not to.
The major hedge funds and prop shops never seem to have trouble competing with comp at banks, at whatever level they're hiring at. And spending some time on the trading floor of a major NYC bank is valuable experience. I'd wait for your Jan or Feb bonus next year and think about leaving.
In a few months, you may start getting phone calls from headhunters and occasionally recruiters. Be nice to them. This is often how hedge funds get experienced hires. Also, stay in touch with your friends who went to the buyside straight out of school. I would not plan on leaving quite yet, but stay in touch with your friends.
Make sure you maintain your quant skills. It is hard to work on a quant strategy or work at a prop shop without some serious coding ability and a good knowledge of stats.
In addition to Jane Street, I'd give some consideration to Getco, Jump, Citadel, AQR, SIG, Bridgewater, GSAM, and maybe two relatively nascent firms on the quant fund scene- Trans Market Group and Blander Technologies.
In any case, there are a lot of good choices out there and there's no rush for this.
Blander Tech is pretty legit - ex Citadel - but what makes you think TransMarket is any good/new? It used to be Aardvark, right? Pay is pretty low and I've heard the kind of brains they have there aren't particularly inspiring.
I think TMG changed its comp structure a few years ago. Whatever they're paying now, I suspect it's different from the former arcade model. Of course I'm pretty sure their comp structure is protected by NDAs. But between the fact that they've picked up one of the smartest Princeton MFins- one who had really good job prospects, and also picked up someone leaving a major hedge fund, people can make the assumption that comp there is probably at least reasonably competitive with BBs and some hedge funds.
I completely disagree with this. If OP goes to JSC, no one is going to look at OP's future resume and say, "wow he left S&T quickly to go to a top-tier hedge fund, maybe he's a screwup."
We act like this guy is destined to succeed in his next job. And we're probably right. But it's not certain. 18 months may also be the difference between an offer at JSC and an offer at a shop with less capital. There's nothing wrong with taking some tentative steps to look, but there are only so many doctor's visits you can make before people start wondering.
The prudent advice here is to wait for the 18 month mark. You'll have more doors open and a much stronger safety net. If you have less risk aversion you can start looking now.
My story is that I spent 30 months in my first job- in middle office analytics, when a lot of people with similar backgrounds were moving to the front office. Those connections still help me. If I had quit after 6 months, that would have burned down a bridge. So you never know who can help you. Being on the sell side- or having friends on the sell side- gives you a broader network that will last for at least a good half decade, maybe a couple decades. I still grab beer with folks in my analyst class.
So even if you're not risk averse at all, I think the argument in favor of leaving now has to have more nuance to it.
Thanks for your answer. Really helpful. Thing is i am actually not trading. I am in structured products/structuring. I work with exotic traders and sales on a daily basis, making tradable prices, analysing payoffs and risks etc... I know these products inside out and could probably go into exotics trading if i manage well the political aspect.
Thing is i am not even sure i want to trade exotic products to start with where your job is basically to hedge the 3000 greek letters. And i can see that i am losing my quant abilities, i started again doing some stat projects in my free time to not dumb down too much.
I am just tired of living in the future, i just want to know if trading(quant) would be a good fit for me and not waste 5 years to figure it out .
I kind of wish i didnt accept this gig and interviewed for these places last year. But at the time i felt it made no sense to reject or renege on the offer so i didnt bother looking elsewhere after my SI.
Anyway, thanks a lot for your answer, it helps putting things in perspective.
what kind of quant background do you have?
During my final round with couple of those shops, it seems that everyone other than me was a CS, pure math, pr engineering major.
Physics / Stats
Feel free to PM me as well; I work in this space.
PM me if you want. I made the exact jump after 6-7 months of being an analyst at BB S&T.
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