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Seeking advice: Is it possible for Data engineer in a retail bank to pursue a desk quant career after getting a related master degree?

  • Thread starter Thread starter zeuzzz
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zeuzzz

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1/15/23
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Me (F @ later 20s) now in middle office as analyst for risk, having 2 job offers with career dilemma , seeking for advice from people in field , hoping to collect enough data points for career decision.

little back story :
I came from a mechanical engineering (BEng) background, spent 4 years in engineering then switch career to finance 3 year ago when covid hit. Always want to pursue a quant path. Now in progress of application for a master in Applied statistic (local part time) and some limited financial engineering master(online part time )
- first 2 years -> data analyst in a risk consultancy: doing all the automation, building database and automation data pipeline
- currently -> doing same thing as risk analyst for a small Investment bank

now have 2 job offers:
1) data engineer from a retailed bank with 29% pay raise , will be doing similar things as my first 2 job.
2) junior trader from a swiss asset management with pay cut (-15%) , as no front office experience

Question:
1) I like money , would love to take offer 1 , but I have concern with screwing up my CV (moving from middle office to data engineer, from Investment back back to retail bank).
May i know whether switching to data engineer would throw me off the path of being in potential candidate (quant) pool, after i completed my master ?

2) would getting offer 2 paycut be pathing a better track record for my future when i completed my master?
 
1) I don't think data engineer will help you that much in eventually landing a desk quant position
2) Yes, performing well as a junior trader and having a decent track record there will most likely help your profile a lot more than a data engineer position in terms of eventually landing a desk quant position.

On a side note, it might be useful to be aware that typically online part-time masters are not treated the same by employers as in-person full time masters programs.
 
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