Hedge Fund vs. BB
The offers are from: Squarepoint (Quant Desk Analyst) and Barclays (S&T Analyst). I am a computer science major (and not french). Both the roles are in either London or Hong Kong. I haven't heard great things about squarepoint but I wanted to know if I'm doing a mistake taking S&T in a bank over it. The funny part is squarepoint is actually a spinoff of barclays so
Based on the most helpful WSO content, it's important to consider a few factors when deciding between these two offers.
Role and Responsibilities: As a Quant Desk Analyst at Squarepoint, you'll likely be involved in developing and implementing complex quantitative models. This role is highly technical and would leverage your computer science background. On the other hand, as an S&T Analyst at Barclays, your work would be more varied, involving tasks like learning the product, sending out reports, conducting research, making spreadsheets for the desk, answering phones, and sending out early morning offer sheets. Over time, you would gain significant responsibility, potentially even getting your own book to manage.
Career Progression: In S&T, your progression and the time it takes to get your own book depends on your performance, capability, and how well you're received. In a quant role, your progression might be more closely tied to your technical skills and the success of your models.
Work-Life Balance: S&T is known to have better work-life balance compared to investment banking, with weekend work almost non-existent. The work-life balance in a quant role can vary, but it's something you might want to investigate.
Company Reputation: While you mentioned you haven't heard great things about Squarepoint, it's worth doing more research or reaching out to current or former employees to get a better sense of the company culture, reputation, and career opportunities.
Ultimately, the decision should align with your long-term career goals, interests, and the work environment in which you think you'll thrive.
Sources: Sales and Trading - A Comprehensive Guide, Global Markets Pay Raise?, Sales and Trading - A Comprehensive Guide, Is S&T still a good career path?, Conversation with an Equities Sales Trader
I'm not personally familiar with the quant desk analyst role at Squarepoint but judging by the position description unlike what the monkey bot says it seems like more of a support role than a role to develop and implement complex quantitative models. I'm not sure about the typical outcomes of this role and I'm not entirely confident this is accurate but the Squarepoint website position descriptions seem to indicate that after three years you might get a junior quantitative researcher role subject to individual performance which doesn't sound amazing when Squarepoint seems to also hire junior quantitative researchers directly from university. Also unclear how well the quant desk analyst position pays but certainly for full time that should be a major consideration.
The OP didn't specify the exact position in S&T but I am assuming it is a trading role and not primarily a quant role so if the OP has a strong preference to work on quantitative models or doesn't mind being in more of a support function the Squarepoint role could be more attractive as it would be pretty rare to move from a trading role at a bank to any sort of quantitative role later.
Do you know what desks would be best suited to my skills? And what should I consider in my initial months so I don't end up at a desk I don't fit in?
I'm not very familiar with bank S&T desks but as a more general point your relationship with your immediate manager/teammates tends to be very important so I would also put a lot of weight on finding the best match with respect to that instead of the best desk in abstract. If you have to work longish hours under stress it makes a lot of difference if you enjoy working with your teammates.
you could say the same thing about going from quant -> trading. and depending on the desk, trading itself can be quite quantitative
unless op has an aversion to risk management / risk-taking (and in that case, why apply to S&T in the first place), it's kinda crazy to me that people would suggest working in MO support over FO S&T
Echo the above. The Squarepoint role isn't the actual FO quant investing role but more of a MO quant support role.(Although their base pay would be good as well disregarding the bonus)
Would need to specify which desk in Barclays to have better recommendation..afaik Barclays graduate roles are non-rotational.
I don't know which desk I'll work on, I only know I'll be in Global markets. They mentioned that it'll be rotational "you'll spend a couple of months on each desk so you'll know what you like" Any recommendations on this?
oh maybe I was wrong then..if its rotational you need to grind urself to get rotation in good desk,,,this means networking hard. good thing is majority of the graduates at BB aren't technical, so if you really want a quant oriented trading desk, then there will be less competition.
there are some risks as well. you could end up starting ur fixed desk as the sales/sales trading which could be very annoying once you already have >1 yr experience at the time.
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