Trying to chose between Uber new grad SWE and Harvard Masters in CSE, with a goal of getting into quant. Uber new grad package is ~200k TC. What option should I take?
Uber senior makes more than quants right now
Uber will get your further in your career + the 200k will set you up for a good start to adulthood
Uber will get you more money earlier, which means earlier retirement. Harvard will be something you’ll be proud of you’re entire life, but you will forgo a lot of money by paying tuition and retirement will likely take much longer, and extra 200-500k can be worth a million pretty quickly even at a young age
Uber. The uber experience is going to enhance your profile, so getting admitted by Harvard again should not be a problem. On the other hand, Harvard degree might not increase your chance of getting hired again by Uber due to the fluctuation of the tech industry
Is it possible to do both?
Don't think so, both would be full-time.
you would hit sr uber swe (500k+) in about the same time, and TC will continue to go up. obv a harvard degree is great, and quant get paid well. As you start in rhe hole due to tuition debt and lost opportunity cost, it’s important to calculate when you catch up, and see if it aligns to your personal goals and timeline
you can hit sr at uber in two years?
Harvard has more weight than Uber on resume You can get into Uber anytime. In fact become director in the future. If it was any other school than Harvard/Stanford I would have voted for Uber But Harvard is no joke. It’s the best in class university and more selective. Uber isn’t hard to get interview or get into
Money in the hand today is worth more in the future. Uber is incredible value on your resume, and your college degree won’t matter after a few years anyway. Experience will always beat credentials, especially since many companies don’t consider internship experience as actual experience. Couple that with the massive amount of student loan debt you’d be taking on when signing up for Harvard, and it’s going to be a hard sell, especially in an economy that is massively rough for new grads. I would take the Uber NG role and run with it. TC: 105K
Uber will be better for your resume in the short term
Uber to quant is more likely than Harvard to quant
eh, to be honest if your undergrad school isn't that good harvard might look better. Uber likely won't mean much to quant firms. Its not like you're working on anything relevant to quant (no C++, no low latency systems, maybe some dist systems?, definitely no math/research related stuff). For early career quant, the best way to get interviews is through pedigree or by being an obvious technical fit for the role. With Uber alone you arguably won't hit either criteria, unless OP is already from a top school in which case spending $ at harvard might have diminishing returns. Being at Google or Meta infra would be far better imo. To be clear harvard wont guarantee anything either, but I would say Uber to quant is not >> more likely than harvard to quant.
Harvard looks way better than Uber to prestige-obsessed quant firms.