Banker trying to break into SWE
Seeing you all post these crazy TC have me wanting to switch careers. Tips anyone? TC: 105k YOE: 4 years Currently at Goldman Sachs as a fund manager
For SWE specifically, bootcamp at the very least, formal grad school if you want to really grow down the line. As much as folks here might make it seem like doing a few LC problems is all it takes, most of them have CS backgrounds. It also really matters, knowing the fundamentals and not just the syntax. If you want to get into adjacent careers that pay well but not as much as SWE, data science and analytics is your best bet. Much easier to break into as long as you have at least some sort of quantitative background and can do some coding.
I appreciate this! Thank you for giving a quality answer and not trolling
No problem. I personally made a switch into analytics. I love it. You’ll see a lot of comments here telling you to give it time and/or how some find manager somewhere makes 1m or some shit. Three points: 1. Outliers make that much in finance, as you must know. Randos in tech make >150k. Often close to 200k 2. Real killer is the hours worked. Unless you’re in horrible teams at certain companies, you’re masking these salaries for working 40hrs a week at most. Often less. I worked 2 hours today 3. Who is more valuable in 2021, a finance person or a finance person who knows technology?
I thought fund managers make more than that? One of the bank fund managers in my gym makes 800k Also do you have six months of free time to study 13 hours everyday? Or 5k hours to spend on studying ? Followed by another six months of just doing algorithms ? Some people who did this dont even make that much TC because of selection bias
Prior to being a fund manager, I was in audit so they got me for cheap. Also I’ve only been in this role for 6 months. Also, I’m in Dallas.
Also remember you never hear about the boot camp grads who never got a SWE job
Found Manager has more upside in my opinion. Stick to what you are good at and grow.
I think medium to long term it ought to pay more in banking. Some exclusions apply, e.g director level at Facebook, some successful startups or some of these startups recently turned public. But in tech the upside is limited because it's not commission based.
Breaking into IT is possible and doable but don’t break in because of TC because this will be your day to day job at least make sure you like it. So I’d recommend to join a bootcamp. Since you’re in Dallas, check SMU and Oklahoma Uni they have good bootcamps for beginners.
FYI, IT != software engineering
Why not just get some financial certs? CFP? CPA? Etc… Those guys make serious cash too, and your experience is relevant.
an experienced CFA makes senior SWE FAANG money in LCOL area, just give it time
Top fund managers rake $$$. Just don't be average. If you have the skills to beat the market returns reliably in a risk adjusted manner, Wall Street can reward you with unfathomable amount of money.
For a second I read it as - SWE trying to break into a bank
Sounds like a nightmare
it's doable, but it really does depend on their security systems.