BB Trading analyst: looking to jump to software engineering
Hi monkeys, I just started as a first-year analyst in a BB in trading. Soon after I started, I found out that I don't quite enjoy the job - the pace is so fast, I don't find a lot of meanings in guessing where the market is, and the sense of uncertainty of my work day is eating me.
However, I enjoy coding a lot - I started pretty late in college but have taken several classes and worked on some small projects. The feeling of creating something, the technical details of coding, and the project-based work culture attracts me.
I'm trying to think of possible ways to transition from trading to software engineering as soon as possible (I know within 6 months may be too soon and it might look bad, but still...) Ahead of me, there are 3 ways (happy to hear about other alternatives):
1) Get a master in computer science (I'm not a CS major in college)
Pro: A more systematic and conventional path to land a software engineering job at a tech firm. Help build up the knowledge for programming.
Con: Time & money consuming. Might face risks of not finding a good job when I graduate.
2) Self-study coding and try to recruit tech firm full-time jobs
This may be the best way but also the hardest. Without a CS degree / intensive CS experience, how hard is it to break into software engineering?
3) Internal mobility to a quant/tech role, then try to move to tech firms
Pro: I'm already at a pretty prestigious firm, and it seems not too hard to get internal mobility.
Con: The relationship management with my team looks intimidating...
Any inputs/advice/disagreement welcomed. Happy to hear about your experience/advice on why I should/shouldn't stay in trading and how I should proceed.
Just a quick warning, I'm still in college but I have a CS major, know a good bit about S&T, and know how to recruit for SWE. I don't think I would go back to school because I think there are three things you can do. You need to get some software experience, learn how to do coding interviews, and you need referrals:
1) Getting substantial software experience. A couple ways to do this: a) you can move to a front-office quant team like the central risk team or algo trading by talking to them informally, though I think this is overkill b) you can do some side projects related to CS in your free time. this can be building a personal website, writing a trading algo in Python, do something you like and that teaches you something. Sounds like you have some stuff but make sure they're substantial, on Github, and there's a link in your resume to your Github
2) Learning coding interviews. This will be the toughest thing for you I think. You need to learn data structures and algorithms and how to solve problems. Look up Cracking the Coding Interview and Leetcode (SWE practice problems). Those will be your best friends. Browse reddit's cscareerquestions and even ask this question on there
3) Getting referrals. A SWE app means almost nothing without a referral, especially if you're not in college. Reach out to old friends/alum at these companies and have them refer you for the role. Strongly increases your chance of interviewing.
I think people in tech are really interested in trading in general, so your background might be favorable. I hope other people give advice to confirm my guidance, but would also strongly encourage you to post this on the reddit page I mentioned. Also, I would browse LinkedIn for people who have made the switch and hit them up. Best of luck
Depends on what you mean by breaking into SWE. If you're aiming for these FANG jobs then your best opportunity might be to use internal mobility -> fintech job -> some fintech project at a FANG or something. I'm sure you'll find some nice SWE job if you just get an MSc in programming and start from scratch but I consider it unlikely you'll get a top tier job. Pivoting your experience in finance would be best IMO and the story would simply fit. I'm sure you're still somewhat interested in the markets?
I think you also might be panicking a bit too fast. The grass may look much greener now that you dislike your current job. There has to be a reason why all that stuff you mentioned attracts you now and it didn't when you were recruiting.
I think you should try to reach out to the devs/software engineers on your team and explain how you want to make a transition. Making a move internally seems like the easiest and most cost effective solution for the time being. There are a lot of different tech/coding roles that interact with the trading floor that vary in how easy they are to break into so I'd do some research on the organizational structure of your firm. The hardest tech role to land at a bank that I know of is strats but I wouldn't be intimated talking to people in other areas because aren't they supporting ug in S&T? I think a lot of them would be happy to see you are taking a genuine interest in what they do.
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