Best Role to take for Power Trading

Hello everyone, I am interested mostly in power and am fortunate to have landed three opportunities:

  1. Market Operations Analyst at an ISO/RTO (ex. ERCOT, CAISO, MISO, etc.):
    1. Responsible for running software that clears day-ahead market, doing power system analysis, creating tools and conducting analysis to support market operations.
  2. Settlements Analyst at a large commodity trading house (ex. Vitol, Gunvor, Trafigura, etc.):
    1. According to the hiring manager, some people in the same role after 1-2 years in settlements have transitioned to scheduling and real time power trading roles at the same company.
  3. Commercial Operations Rotational Analyst at an IPP/Utility (ex. Calpine, NRG, NextEra, etc.):
    1. Will rotate through power and gas operations and scheduling for 1-2 years (12 hr shifts). Afterwards, will be placed in power or gas depending on personal strengths and company needs.

I am most interested in becoming a power trader (preferably not real time) or any quantitative commodity trading role, trading analyst, or market analyst in that order. I enjoy quantitative analysis and programming, but want to prioritize securing a position where I'm able to take risk as a trader, or inform trading decisions as a trading analyst (I am aware that the next step after becoming a trading analyst is a trader).

I am also interested in transmission analysis/FTRs, though I don't have an EE background so don't know how viable this path is. However, I have seen people on LinkedIn go from ISOs/RTOs to become transmission analysts/FTR traders, though they usually spend 5-10 years at an ISO and also have graduate EE degrees.

Which of these three options offers the most direct/straightforward path to becoming a non-RT power trader or quant commodities trader? Thank you!

Which Option

1. Market Operations Analyst at an ISO/RTO (ex. ERCOT, CAISO, MISO, etc.)
19% (4 votes)
2. Settlements Analyst at a large commodity trading house (ex. Vitol, Gunvor, Trafigura, etc.)
19% (4 votes)
3. Commercial Operations Rotational Analyst at an IPP/Utility (ex. Calpine, NRG, NextEra, etc.)
62% (13 votes)
Total votes: 21
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