Energy Hedge Fund or Boutique Investment Banking
So to give a bit of background, I'm currently a senior in university studying math and data science. I'm considering a few offers in finance and am a little stuck.
One offer is at a small boutique I-bank where I would be in a team of 4. Despite being so small, the shop has closed some insane deals. Last year they closed 3 9-figure deals in the tech space. The pros to this place is that the founders come from an entrepreneur background and have sold several startup companies, so they're main differentiator is they understand the tech ecosystem really well. I would be given a lot of responsibility and I was hoping to leverage my VC/ startup network to bring in my own deals.
The other offer is at a proprietary trading firm that specializes in domestic energy markets. I'd mainly be trading electricity products but a little oil and natural gas. The fund currently has about 7 traders with really impressive backgrounds (PhDs from top Ivys) which is why I was surprised to get an offer since I'm at a non-target with not a super competitive GPA.
As far as comp goes, they're relatively competitive. The bank is offering $80k base but told me their last analyst made ~$130k last year. The trading shop is a little more attractive with $90k base, $10k relocation, and ~$30-50k bonus.
My main concerns with the I-bank is that even though this shop seems a lot more technology/ strategy driven, it's still banking. I'm not very interested in polishing decks and whooing clients. My concern with the fund is that if I end up not liking trading energy, it might be hard to lateral to other markets. I'd be really interested in trading fixed income or equities, but didn't get any offers. Additionally, the fund would require me to work weekend mornings which would take some getting used to.
Are there any suggestions on how I can decide? I'm also really curious if anyone knew about traders lateraling from commodities to other markets.
If you don't like polishing decks and wooing clients, then banking is not the place for you.
I know kids who have transitioned from Big 4 Audit to equity L/S at good shops. Your background will only be supplemented by time in a quantitative space like commodities.
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