Why does WSO hate S&T?

i know i know......industry decline, automation, regs, comp/headcount trending secularly downwards, risk/reward skewing the wrong way etc etc - but its still a damn good career that pays good right?

Why does this forum hate S&T so much? seems like every post on this forum has been along the lines of "how do I get from S&T to IB" or "S&T sucks do IB instead" etc (and ofc the classic "S&T is dying") - saw some post about choosing MM IB vs BB S&T and responses have been overwhelmingly for choosing MM IB....like, is it really that bad? seems like almost no one here actually wants to do S&T

y'all almost make it seem like S&T is some basement alternative against IB...Why?

Note: not trying to pick fights here. Am genuinely curious since I like my S&T experience a lot and struggle to see what's so bad about it

8 Comments
 
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I’m not trying to be rude, but you’ve answered your question in your first paragraph. It’s just not a growth area and, while it’s fantastic you’re in a S&T role that you enjoy, it doesn’t have a lot of job security and if you get laid off it’s hard to find another position. Given the difficulty in finding another position, it also doesn’t have as much of a transferable skill set to other fields or areas of finance as compared to MM IB. Or at least in my view.

Though I get your question. I find most people on this site are pretty rude and can be mean about career choices. I think you should do what you enjoy, but it is important to be prudent in understanding both your reasonable upside potential and the tail risk in your career.

 

Look, if you had come on this board back in 06-07, S&T was the hottest thing in the world. But things change. Advertising was the place to be back in the 60s, now that is a career that appeals to a very specific crowd.

If you really like trading and markets, you would probably still be better off in S&T than in IB. But if you really want to trade, there might be better avenues. S&T wasn’t a really big part of investment banks’ business until the 80s. You had more specialized firms before that and it seems like that’s the direction we are headed again (I mean just look at what people can make at these quant equity shops).

 

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