Which of these careers are better if your main motivation is financial reasons

(If you could answer without the “require two different personalities answer”)

Buyside quants (supposedly sell side makes less than big tech engineers) vs bankers (PE/IB/HF):

1st: which is more competitive is it the same amount is it more but just slightly or a lot

2nd:which career makes more stable high amounts of money

3rd: which skills are harder to acquire

4th: which career has more high paying options with its relevant degrees (stats, math,cs and accounting,finance,econ ) and experience you get from it

5th: which career is more stress free at entry/junior, intermediate, and senior levels

8 Comments
 
Most Helpful

From what I understand:

  1. Competition is all relative. Way more spots in IB but also lots of people applying. Buy-side quant in particular is pretty niche, with very specialised candidates (maths/phys degrees) and very few open spots, so I guess it depends on your skillset
  2. Comp for buyside quants is crazy from the start (much more than IB) especially at elite shops but, since you mentioned stability, it seems that job safety is not the same as IB. But both careers will leave you satisfied
  3. Unless you are studying maths/phys/stats (and maybe cs/quant finance from top schools) it is pretty much impossible to even just pass CV screenings for buyside quant res/trader roles, while the barrier for access for IB is much lower in terms of raw quantitative preparation (though it requires lots of grinding for technicals, networking etc, which is time consuming but objectively easier). On the job, being a quant requires absolutely top notch, very advanced preparation (especially buy-side)
  4. Not sure
  5. I guess this is group-dependant, but IB can be absolutely soul-crushing (just take a look at some threads on this forum). Quants have it relatively easy in terms of hours (again shop dependant) but it can still be stressful, you really need to enjoy that kind of stuff if you want to survive. I guess that in both fields it gets better as you move up the ladder

I know you know this already, but yes, they are two completely different careers, aimed at two completely different kinds of people (both for personality and background). Many buy-side quants have never taken a business/finance class in their life

 

After reading your comment, I feel like this debate is identical to a career choice between being a accountant vs actuary: there are way more accounting roles, but there are way more people who qualify to be an accountant.

There are way fewer actuary roles open comparatively, but it’s a more niche career that requires much more intensive, longer education, which significantly lowers the number of people trying to get those roles.

However, they both need very different people to be successful, so the comparison doesn’t matter anyway. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that seems to be the same for this comparison.

 
  1. Buyside quant is more competitive. Much fewer seats.
  2. Banking, as it’s much more stable.
  3. Depends on the person. I know you didn’t want this answer but it’s the truth. If you’re a finance major then very unlikely you’ll be able to acquire the level of math skill needed for quant. If you’re a nerdy math major who can’t hold a conversation then unlikely your social skills will ever improve enough for IB.
  4. More options in IB. There isn’t really an exit from buyside quant. I guess you could move into tech roles or data science. IB has access to a wider range of investing seats (PE/GE/VC/HF/AM) and also corporate positions.
  5. It’s probably quant, since your performance is much more quantifiable and it’s much easier to get fired. That said, people who succeed at quant often don’t really feel the pressure. In that case, long hours and tight deadlines of IB is probably higher stress.
 

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