Hey monkeys,
I recently accepted a position for after college in fixed income trading. However, I'm really interested in working on the buy side at a fixed income asset manager as an analyst; eventually working my way to a PM. Is it a good career start to accomplish this goal of becoming a PM if I start as a trader on a credit desk? I'm not sure which sector they'll place me on yet, but I know it's in credit.
Any advice or opinions would be awesome!
Speaking from the credit side of things:
The end goal of a Credit Trader on the SS is to 1.) get a bigger book of risk, and 2.) to 'keep your seat' for as long as possible. If you're trading a massive book, and you don't blow yourself up, than you should be VERY WELL compensated. Which is why many ultimately stay. Its tough as a 2nd year trader to switch from $200k+ to $100k with the HOPE of someday managing $$.
However, if you want to be an PM/Investor, you should be looking to make the jump to an fundamental or analyst role . I say this b/c the majority of Credit shops are built on the Analyst -> PM model. And although most credit traders are required to sit as desk analysts, buyside firms want to make sure that you can TRULY evaluate and model from a long-term investor perspective rather than a trading oriented setting.
FYI- I made the switch 5 years ago and have no regrets.