Move to tech in search of better wlb?
Long story short I have been doing S&T for about 3 years now, currently at a top BB in a demanding desk in terms of hours and strict non-wfh policy.
The hours don’t compare to IB in terms of how many but they are more intense. 11-12 hour sprints of being hyper focused and on edge and not being a able to step away from the desk for 10 mins without feeling stressed.
Been thinking of what possible roles I could take that offer better WLB, decent pay, while still being interesting and involved with markets - I’ve been looking into investment roles at tech companies, think within their treasury team working with PMs or something along those lines.
Anyone have any experience with that? I know comp will likely be less from what I’ve seen but I’m willing to trade that for a better WLB and more time to devote to side things like real estate and volunteer type work.
Any advice appreciated if anyone has made a similar move.
This was me a couple years ago.
You can do this. And it's worth it.
The issue with S&T is, of course...dying industry, compressing margins, etc. etc. But the strengths--and skills you learn--make sales / traders quite competent in certain tech roles.
Entrepreneurialism. Taking responsibility early in one's career. Ability to learn new things quickly. These all immediately apply to tech.
What to do
Where to go
One idea: start internally. Most banks have some innovation / tech teams. This is FinTech within a bank. Reach out to individuals who work in these innovation / S&T tech groups, and learn about the roles of a product manager--a good fit for business people.
This may look like building trading apps, ML / AI projects within banks, or even venture-type groups.
See if anyone else has made the move, and ask what and how they did.
While you may prefer the direct route of S&T-> external startup, an internal intermediate step will likely make the transition easier, and with better pay. Banks invest a ton into tech now. You'll learn a new skillset and this will add optionality. Plus hours / QoL should certainly improve in the long run.
Keeping sight of the finish line
At some point, if you follow these steps, you'll invariably face discouragement.
IDE's shooting out errors.
Brain's fried after a full day of trading.
Devs won't respond.
You'll need a clear picture of the reward to push through. And this is it: more optionality, autonomy, and a better life.
Do you want to be a 40 y/o sales / trader on his / her last leg, maybe on mgmt track, maybe not, still taking out clients or deciphering why PnL didn't match risk est. overnight? (Nothing wrong with this, markets can be a ton of fun...but few are true 'lifers.')
Or do you want...something else? The ability to work on projects, build products, step off for coffee whenever you want, take an hour for lunch. Ability to live outside Ultra-High Cost of Living cities (remote work is common in tech roles). And building a product is satisfying. I love seeing people use my work, measuring adoption, adding features.
Caveat: tech, like anything else, does have risks. You can work with poorly-communicating teams, incompetent managers, products that don't meet any real demand. But these issues are universal. The difference is the change in core substance of work in tech vs. banking.
End
Learning a completely new skillset from scratch will be tough. But it's worth it if you're committed to changing your career, esp. into one with much greater optionality, quality of life, and (in some cases) payout. Grind for a while. It may take 6months. It may take a year. Maybe more. But if you learn, you'll have not only the ability to choose a less rigid style of work (not glued to the screen watching levels all day), but also you'll have an edge: a deep knowledge of trading processes that fits FinTech.
Best of luck anon.
Terrific post
Solid
Delete
Many banks have product managers that are part of the 'front office' and they function similarly as product managers in tech. You can easily leverage your product knowledge into one of those roles and then expand more into the technical side.
How difficult would this roles be to get into?
There aren't many of them but I don't think it is that difficult for the right background. I've seen many ex-traders in these roles especially at more senior levels.
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