QT Internship vs. BB FT
Hey, I am a London-based senior in a weird situation:
I hold a return offer for a FT FICC trading role at a BB. I like the desk and product, and would be interested in being considered for macro HF seats down the line. I have also been offered a QT summer internship, clashing with the BB FT start date.
Obviously the QT firm has higher comp, but if I don't manage to convert the internship I'm skrewed. I'm also not 100% sure if I'd pref the product vs. the BB one. In terms of my background I'm a bit analytical but def not a human calculator, would not expect me to pass most QT interviews, and quite basic in Python.
In terms of the organizations, the QT firm ofc seems more pragmatic and less restricted by regulation.
Appreciate any thoughts and considerations.
depends on the bank / desk and depends on the prop firm
could u pm plz?
dmed
I would say the way to look at this is where you want to end up long term. Most quant trading firms deal in MM in equities and equity derivatives. Some deal in FICC, but they're much smaller forces than the big banks because of the balance sheets requires for things like rates.
There are 2 main advantages of the bank route. One would be stability. It's really hard to get fired as a trader from a BB in the first 2 years of trading because you're not really managing much of a book and you're mostly learning. QT firms are much faster to fire underperformers early, but if you last a year or 2 in QT, it's rarer to get fired from big shops. The other main advantage would be if you want to do macro/RV hedge funds. If you're interested in macro, doing a QT internship makes little sense, because the products are so different. That was a big reason I decided against prop shops when I was considering offers as a new grad, as I had a future interest in macro.
Prop shops will win in a lot of other areas. I've worked in both a prop/quant shop and a S&T at a big bank, and the level of talent and tech is SO much better at a prop shop. Plus, bonuses are way bigger.
Is this still accurate? I see quite a few rates traders at CitSec for example so I’m wondering if the banks will lose their edge there in the future
There are exceptions to the rule. DRW, Jane Street, and Citsec are some big FICC shops nowadays. If you are on a FICC desk, it does change things a bit, but generally I would say most prop traders stay in prop trading. The type of person drawn to JS or DRW is rarely drawn to brevan howard or something like that. Cultures are so different.
But the point is, most of the rates traders in Citsec are from Banks. Theyve been aggressively hiring rates traders in all positions. One of my junior colleague was recently hired, neither he had proper track record, nor our bank was famous in FICC(we were only strong in Equities space)
I understand prop shops are massively investing to step into FICC trading and obviously JSC and DRW are one of the major players in the bonds. But large balance sheet banks still are still the major players and it won't take short time as for those electronic trading firms took over in equities space. FICC is a completely different space compared to Equities.
And given the current job market instability and OP mentioned he's interested in Macro trading I think taking FT offer is good in the long term. Bank is not really an ideal place to work nowadays but I still think its a good place to start the career.
Ty, I'd def be interested in the macro HF route, and would say I have a genuine interest in macro. However, not sure how realistic that would be. Mind if I pm with more info?
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