GS Securities vs. Bridgewater?
I'm fortunate enough to have received summer offers at both. I really liked everyone I met at both firms, and while I know their cultures are quite different I definitely think that both are good fits for my personality and I would thrive in either. As of right now I think I'll want to be in the hedge fund space long-term, though I'm not certain on what style/methodology I'll want to be working with. My main concern about GS is needing to network my way onto good desks (though it's rotational, so not quite as much of an issue as at, say, JPM); at BW it's developing a narrowly-defined skill set that I might have trouble transferring to other funds or back to the sell-side. I know I'm in an enviable position and will have a great experience in either place. Any thoughts/things I should consider?
The networking portion of the GS internship can be intimidating in general and isn't a guaranteed success but I would still advocate for GS over Bridgewater. Feel free to PM if you want to chat in more depth.
I would advocate for GS as well
So let me get this straight, you want to be at a HF long term, and have an offer from one of the worlds largest and most successfull HFs out there, and you still want to take the GS offer? And on top of that two guys are also recommending GS?
Wow, the power of GS never ceases to amaze me.
Bridgewater performance slumping lately (as are most macro HFs) and it's seemingly a rough place to start a career. He mentioned that he thinks he wants to be in HFs long-term but doesn't know what style etc. GS is a great place to see more variety, especially in the rotational summer program.
You wont get exposure to styles of HFs during a summer at GS. Sellside is a completely different business from the buyside for all intents and purposes.
Yes overall macro performance is down, but then look at banks, there isnt a day that goes by where a fine isnt announced. Trust me, if you saw the desperation from sell side sales people you would reconsider thinking it was an amazing place.
As another guy points out, the buyside is very hard to break into it, there just arent that many places to go around at the top shops, and the competition is fierce.
And if you decided BW isnt for you, its a lot mroe impressive to have on your CV anyway.
And the people who talk about the network benefits of a BB, it is 10x easier to build a network on the buyside than as a junior on the sellside. A) you talk to a lot of banks and B) you are constantly attending events with tons of other buyside guys.
You want to work at a HF and have a summer offer at one of the biggest. That sounds like a no brainer to me. I know that it's Bridgewater and the culture shock gets a bad rap around here, but the most important aspect of working at a HF is getting your foot in the door. I repeat, it is very difficult to break into the buyside. If it were me, and I wanted to work at a HF, I would take the opportunity. HF internship looks better to HFs than a GS internship.
go to Bridgewater if you want to be at the most successful top down fund in the world (save maybe Soros)
go to goldman if you care about preftige and love perenially incorrect economic forecasts and lackluster performance
If you go GS you will be working your @$$ off to get to a place like Bridgewater. Why not Bridgewater?
Because it's an internship and GS offers a much more robust experience. And also because macro funds are doing very poorly as a whole and you're likely to continue to see firms shutting down and an increased pace of funds withdrawn. This isn't even close to an ideal environment to have a good experience or land a full time position.
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