I recently graduated from a MSFE program, and I also recently started negotiating offer-terms for 2 companies in Chicago. I am hung on choosing between these 2 positions, so I was hoping to get insight from people here. I will also share some insights I've obtained through my job-search so far. Details on the specific jobs:
1. prop shop:
- Quant development work in C# or C++, and quant research on R.
- Mid frequency strategy trading in many different asset classes.
- There are 200 people in the firm, but the desk only has 1 trader (6 years exp.), a trading assistant, and me (quant) if I accept.
- The trader said while the base salary will not be high, but with commissions I have a good chance at breaking 6 figures if the desk does well.
2. consulting firm:
- A lot of CCAR stuff with risk management.
- Model validation, derivatives valuation, and some predictive analytics.
- They also want do do machine learning for anti-money laundering stuff.
- About 10% travel.
I'm expecting both positions to pay about 70~80k, but pay for the prop shop could be more volatile because of the commission structure. I'm having trouble deciding because I think both of these positions are quite solid, and I think my decision here could diverge my future career. After visiting a prop shop for the first time, I realized what a lonely career it actually is, with no opportunities to network. In a couple of years, I am also considering getting a phd in statistics or machine learning. In light of all of this, which one should I choose? I could also continue applying for more positions...
Also, I wanted to add that so far my job search in Chicago has been fairly easy, which leads me to believe that the job market is liquid for quants. Top-tier prop shops are still very hard to get into and try to bring in recruits from top universities. However, there are a lot of positions at start-up data analytics firms and mid-sized prop shops (not very well-known). Overall, I am noticing that employers value me more for getting an FE degree, and just wanted to share that I'm feeling more confident that it was a good investment. Contrary to how some people say that FE is a dying discipline, I don't think that is true.
(Btw, the trader at the prop shop said he interviewed some U-Chicago students too recently, and was disappointed haha.)
1. prop shop:
- Quant development work in C# or C++, and quant research on R.
- Mid frequency strategy trading in many different asset classes.
- There are 200 people in the firm, but the desk only has 1 trader (6 years exp.), a trading assistant, and me (quant) if I accept.
- The trader said while the base salary will not be high, but with commissions I have a good chance at breaking 6 figures if the desk does well.
2. consulting firm:
- A lot of CCAR stuff with risk management.
- Model validation, derivatives valuation, and some predictive analytics.
- They also want do do machine learning for anti-money laundering stuff.
- About 10% travel.
I'm expecting both positions to pay about 70~80k, but pay for the prop shop could be more volatile because of the commission structure. I'm having trouble deciding because I think both of these positions are quite solid, and I think my decision here could diverge my future career. After visiting a prop shop for the first time, I realized what a lonely career it actually is, with no opportunities to network. In a couple of years, I am also considering getting a phd in statistics or machine learning. In light of all of this, which one should I choose? I could also continue applying for more positions...
Also, I wanted to add that so far my job search in Chicago has been fairly easy, which leads me to believe that the job market is liquid for quants. Top-tier prop shops are still very hard to get into and try to bring in recruits from top universities. However, there are a lot of positions at start-up data analytics firms and mid-sized prop shops (not very well-known). Overall, I am noticing that employers value me more for getting an FE degree, and just wanted to share that I'm feeling more confident that it was a good investment. Contrary to how some people say that FE is a dying discipline, I don't think that is true.
(Btw, the trader at the prop shop said he interviewed some U-Chicago students too recently, and was disappointed haha.)
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