Hi :D I’m working this summer in a top3 AUM fund @ phily as data scientist intern and recently received a return offer. TC: Base+sign on ~110k, performance based bonus 8% up, company based bonus ~11k (and other benefits on 401k that I don’t really understand, take out 4% each year and the company will save in total 18% for you?). Positive things about my summer work: 1. Able to run modelling in ML/NLP instead of SQL/too much backend and frontend 2. Had domain knowledge in finance and trading so was able to work productively with good results 3. Managers and sponsors like my work a lot and made sone connections within the firm. 4. I’m a new grad in finance with 0 YOE and an international student, so great that the company is willing to sponsor me. Things that hesitate me: 1. Probably the general case in non-hedge fund finance but anything over random forest is too complicated and normally wont be used in business/trade. 2. People keep encouraging me to try tech/hedge funds, but I know that I’m not that tech or math savvy. I like finance a lot, but Im also getting advice that I should start in tech and come back to finance after i have ~5YOE in tech. I currently dont have other full time offers, and I dont think I’ll have enough time before the offer expires to interview for more. Meaning I’ll probably have to turn down this offer if I want to keep on interviewing for other firms. So basically, how is the TC? Whats the general expectation for the other finance companies in TC for 0YOE college grads and sponsoring international students? And is it really the case that I should still try my best to switch to tech in my early career even if I want a career doing data science in finance? Any advice/insight will be very appreciated!!!!!
TC seems pretty competitive for Philly. Nerd wallet COL calculator says $130k in Philly is roughly $230k by SF standard. Pretty healthy offer for new grad. If you like your team and reporting chain, don’t take the known quantity of a good work environment for granted. If you and believe you’ll have an opportunity to learn a lot, I would take it. Especially if you want to stay in the States, a locked in employer willing to sponsor you is huge. You can always keep interviewing, but expect to burn bridges if you renege. Be comfortable that it’s worth it if it comes to that.
Thank you KC1!!! This is my first time working in states so I wasn’t so sure what to expect. I like my team esp the data science lead. I’m now inclined to take the offer. 🙏🏻
Don’t worry about going into tech first, you’ll do just fine in finance, especially if you’re in the tech end of the finance world. I manage a Top 20 AUM fund, and almost everyone we hire has minimal tech history (excluding devs and IT). Most of our DS Interns are fresh out of college.
I see. I’m quite comfy/competitive in finance with my tech skills, and I have no interest in becoming more than a data scientist (swe, sde... etc) Since I still have a month or so’s summer vacation, in your opinion, would you recommend me to brush up my tech skills or refresh/learn more about finance from like CFA or else during this time??? Thank you so much!!!
No problem! If you’re comfortable in the position you’re going into, work on whatever you feel you are least confident in. If you’re worried about going back into finance, make that your focus. If you’re worried about your technological skills with your upcoming position, focus on that. I can’t tell you which to do, because I don’t know how you feel about each. But like I said, work on what you feel least confident in, and if you realize you feel less confident because you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, then don’t accept the offer. It’s better to be happy and have slightly smaller comp than to be miserable and have the largest comp.
Just wanted to congratulate on the great offer
Tech Industry
2d
39332
Worried that our top performer is an attrition risk. How do managers handle this?
India
Yesterday
214
Heard congress distributing wealth
Tech Industry
Yesterday
939
I haven’t done shit today!
Tech Industry
Yesterday
2111
I’m Sooo Happy about Biden signing TikTok ban bill today!!
Tech Industry
Yesterday
2896
Avoid teams with only Chinese or Indians especially with a Chinese/Indian manager
What’s your major? What programming languages did you work with in your internship?
Undergrad in finance/Econ and ms in data science. I mostly work with Python and a little bit of JavaScript.