Ranking High Finance vs Tech, categorically
Compensation - Finance
Prestige - Finance
Client exposure - Finance
Career development - Finance
Women - Finance
Culture - Finance
Also by high finance I am exclusively referring to tier 1 finance jobs, meaning IB/PE/HF. Some tech jobs are probably better than corpfin or AM.
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| +39 | Insurance as High Finance? | 10 | 2d | |
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Corp fin gets a bad rep on here, but to be honest it’s an easy gig most of the time, you learn a lot about the workings of successful financial operations, the work life balance is better than IB and on a per hour basis, the hourly wage is close to IB if not the same hourly wage.
Never did IB, so no frame of reference, but corp fin is really boring like 90% of the time. I often wonder if tech is more fun.
Maybe at An1 but the comp differential grows exponentially later on.
If you’re talking corp fin vs IB, I don’t exactly agree. I was at a big company so my managers managers manager etc in corp fin was the CFO making 8 figures and dude had a Booth MBA.
There is a ladder to climb and if you’re good at managing in corp fin, it can be more lucrative in large companies than IB.
Worked a Corp fi job last summer, work-life was great but that was about all I found it had that was appealing. Lots of people seemed bored asf or just going through the motions. Sure, if you care about the “mission” or love optimizing financial efficiency for a small division you’d probably enjoy it. Probably more motivating to work in the medical industry that I was in, as you are “improving peoples’ health”.
IB seems more challenging, fast-paced, and offers much more personal growth opportunity. Comp/hr is usually higher on average too, but greatly outpaces corp fi opportunities 3-5 years out of the gate.
TLDR: Corp fi is only better if you don’t give a shit
I wholeheartedly disagree with this. It appears you’re a lazy ass working on small projects. And you only worked for a summer? Sounds pretty weak. Get some ambition and start giving a shit about producing good quality work.
WLB is obviously the elephant in the room here. Even 50 hour weeks mean two hours less of free time or sleep every single day.
Accurate, op alone gets more women than all the tech bros combined
A cope thread if I ever saw one.
Tech bro definitely stole OP’s girl
Yep. Know how it's a cope thread?
You will never see a tech bro or tech board compare themselves to finance professionals.
Feel like that level of career insecurity is reserved solely for finance and legal professionals. Doctors, programmers, engineers, etc. dont give a shit
software engineers are constantly on this website making posts about how they’re better than those in finance
You were saying…?
https://www.teamblind.com/post/IB-vs-Tech-h0271uqi
https://www.teamblind.com/post/Tech-vs-Finance-LxLNW7Nr
https://www.teamblind.com/post/Prestige-MBB-vs-APM-at-Tech-TrkxTWft
https://www.teamblind.com/post/Tech-vs-Pharma-rhai7xLX
Can we take into account how socially awkward and unattractive people in tech are?
I know very few tech people who aren’t absolute spergs or physically looking goblins.
Source: did CS and Business, chose business because people were more normal
Where do you work? I’ve worked with mostly normal people in tech. There’s some weirdos, but overall it seems like a pretty standard deviation curve. You get some really cool people, mostly just normal people, and some real weird people.
I have some bad news for you…
This is mostly in the engineering function to be fair - and not all engineers. Most other people in other functions are relatively normal (apart from raging socialists and the like).
Compensation - Both are relatively on par, there’s more terminal options around the $200-400k options in tech but those $600k+ jobs are definitely out there. Even some breaking 7 figures, but obviously really rare.
Prestige - lol why is this important?
Client exposure - Finance (definitely true)
Career development - Both offer great opportunities for growth
Women - My wife is a SWE but she got into it after me, no this is a no op for me personally
Culture - Finance (I’ll concede on this. I’m happy where I work, but it’s known some companies are pretty crazy on the ultra PC culture)
Prestige is the only thing that matters in this life
Prestige is still important because despite earning a lot of money, coder = nerd is still in the minds of many people.
In what context does prestige play a role? This is an honest question to understand. Prestige matters, no doubt. But to me, it matters in terms of earning money and raising money.
So ex-FAANG ex-Hedge Fund Quant or Stanford/ MIT/ Berkeley alum in tech means you get paid more and can raise money a bit more easily (at least get the meeting more easily anyway). Obviously finance has the equivalent (BB, EB, MBB, HYP, etc). But outside of the two goals of earning more and raising money- why does prestige matter?
Based and redpilled, too many techbros think they're kings of the world making 300k in SF where rent is like 80k/year. Also they get no women and SF has ugly ass women. Finance culture is elite (basically a frat house) as opposed to tech (basically a math club meeting).
Also AM is interesting as fuck
Lol I see the prestigious PE guys suck on the D with likes of Zuckerberg, Musk or even a Sillicon Valley startup, Whoring their way in with a blank cheque and a big bank name. For a moment just separate yourself with your firm's name and ask yourself if you're good for anything? Their goes your prestige down the wall street drain. You're not your company. Calm your tts.
Zuckerburg and musk are business leaders, not software engineers you troglodyte
Obviously prestigious people still pretend to like the plebeians (socially speaking) for the plebeians' money. Just like how banks run campaigns saying they support the "woke" left. Doesn't mean the prestigious PE guys would accept Zuckerberg into their country clubs, secret societies, etc.
Hahahahah I am gonna create an NFT out of it. wait nvm nobody gives a fuck about what you just wrote! They are tech bros, facebook is a Tech company (a tech based ad platform). It's listed on NASDAQ? Does that ring a bell? Anyway I guess changing fonts on M&A decks have killed some of your neurons.
We are comparing jobs you imbecile. Mark is not coding in his moms basement like you are, he is a decision maker and operator. Have fun typing in numbers on a screen and getting zero exposure to clients
Tech bros don't just write code but build products, scale them to trillion dollar companies like Apple, Google. There are probably a 100 more FAANGs brewing in a basement while you read your morning byte of market and taking a laxative supported dump.
So that was about PE. Let's not forget how the HF gigolos were on their knees a few month ago for the short squeeze from Reddit/Robinhood apes. Tech platforms bursting wall street balls!
Lol you are consuming too much news. That was a small blip that no one even gives a second thought
When was the last time PE/HF prestigious drains made a small blip on the Tech bros? Anyway I rest my case. Intellect in this argument is sub-par for a tech bro. Go back to changing fonts buddy. I hope each of you have the balls to carry this attitude while reaching out to a tech bro with your worthless pile of cash. Don't wiggle that tail b/w your balls 🤣
You just proved you don’t know shit. You’re conflating IB with PE/VC which are on the complete opposite side of a deal. I feel bad for you, to be honest. You’re literally back office, you don’t even generate revenue or interact with clients. You literally are in a support role for the people who generate revenue
This is saddest come back I've ever read in my life. 🤢
Tge*
Reject soy tech social justice modernity
RETVRN to Wall Street cocaine & day drinking at lunch TRADITION
Id have to disagree about the women part of it. Who would look better and have a better attitude, a girl who just had a 100 hour week or a girl who had a 35 hour week?
I meant you attract women (outside of either industry) easier when in finance
Lol this was the cope I was looking for. Broke personal trainers/yoga instructors get way more ass in a week than a finance bro will get in his whole entire analyst stint. Hope of the copium will ya?
Huh? That literally plays a tiny role in looks. It's literally all genetics and wealth (which rich white girls that land seats because of nepotism have).
Tech women are absolute lumps of pale fat, on the other hand.
You'd think that would be the case, but it just... isn't 😂
What is even the point of contemplating this? Like whatever you do, just be a good person regardless of potential comp differences - no one at all but you will care.
But I thought tech has more ultra billionaires than any other industry, including finance?
It's almost impossible to achieve billionaire status in finance there days; the ones that exist predominantly made their money between 1985-2007, the so-called "golden era". Even if you can make it big in finance, we're talking $1-10 billion, at most.
Compare that with Musk, Zuckerberg, Gates, etc. who are each worth $110 billion+ and started their companies as coders at first and at heart. New billionaires in tech are being minted constantly (and IPOs are just for liquidity btw).
The economics of tech is just too lucrative because of the scaleability and margins. This naturally trickles down to even low-level and entry-level jobs. In finance, dinner is expensed because you're still technically on the clock (techbros are long done by then).
When my friend was an intern at Google 10+ years ago, the company not only served free gourmet lunch to employees daily, but also paid for his rent in Mountain View, CA. He earned $10K a month for 3 months (way more than any other internship, and when some internships were still unpaid), and Google's HQ campus is pretty decked out. The earliest you ever have to be at work is 9am and the day is effectively over by 2-3pm with a 2 hour lunch in between.
Upon college graduation (from a top state school for C/S), that same friend turned down an offer from Facebook going instead for Airbnb due to pre-IPO stock. Even if the the IPO didn't pan out (which it did), his base alone was $150K starting and Airbnb was a VERY well funded startup when my friend joined. Today he is a millionaire, has been for a few years now, and he's only 31/32.
All this is unheard of in finance, and it does make me a little jealous, but at least finance is a close second. But if you think that only SWE in tech have big money potential, then you should look at comp of software sales.
Even after all that, many (but not all) tech companies are still cash cows with massive barriers to entry and barely any regulations.
We’re talking about careers, such as being in IB vs software engineering. Starting a business and scaling it to be the biggest in the world is closer to finance anyway
No..."starting a business and scaling it to be the biggest in the world" is not closer to finance, that's called entrepreneurship.
My point is that tech entrepreneurship has exponentially more upside than finance entrepreneurship does. Did you even read my last post? Technology can be so profitable, that there's often plenty of money to go around even for the "little people" (as compared to the little people in finance).
Don't know about these days, but reason people used to like tech entrepreneurship was because it was common to have humble/underdog beginnings (e.g. some dude in his parents' garage/basement bootstrapping the whole thing while eating ramen). Often money was the not primary motive.
How long can you go without the security of a cushy job and steady paycheck before you get a severe case of diarrhea from the stress/anxiety? Entrepreneurship isn't for everybody (and quite frankly, it's not for most people).
Numbers don't lie and finance is not the one. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Could always do both.
These things are silly.
I know people who went from IB to the finance careers in big tech and make a ton.
Not everything that pays well is IB/PE/HF.
I have friends at portcos making bank
There is tons of opportunities with both and smart people leverage both of these fields.
Tell me you’re insecure without telling me you’re insecure
This is so fucking dumb and subjective. There are so many people out there who think finance guys are cucks and douchelords no matter what. We let ourselves get defined by our job too often when sometimes it’s just not what people care about
Who cares, aren't we all just trying to make greens and get laid? Some of you finance bros have a big chip on your shoulder
Tech>>
.
All in all, I’d say tech is better because of the WLB factor… but it’s close.
Comp - about the same in “high finance” vs FAANG all things considered, but need to work much harder for it in finance
People - Finance people are more normal/cool/attractive, lots of unattractive and socially awkward people in tech. If this doesn’t matter to you, great.
Work - depends on what you like. I couldn’t stand coding and if I had to choose something it would be finance, but different strokes for different folks.
WLB - this is what takes the cake for tech. Work 4 hours per day and make 200-300k after a few years. You can do this in finance/PE too but it’s a grind.
Overall seems like tech is going through a golden age now the way finance did in the 1980s, but it will probably pull back in the coming years. Lots of FOMO out there and people throwing money at garbage companies. But for now, it’s easy to rake in funding, even with a crap business, if you know how to code.
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