Hi there, I have a Bloomberg offer for their financial dev team (after doing an internship, not going to be too specific) lined up for me when I graduate. I am currently in my final year (undergrad) studying financial quant data science with a double in computer science. I am meant to graduate with just the data science (end of 2022) and start working for bbg (start of 2023) without the computer science but I don't know if I should sacrifice not finishing my compsci portion (which would only take an extra year) to just start working. My dream has always been to end up in quant trading/hft or any algo/trade desk in a BB bank. I would not mind working for a fund doing quant dev work as well. I am no math genius, but am I really hard worker who has always been super interested in this area. So far I've done 3 internships: data analyst at AM firm, sellside ER analyst and financial Dev team at BBG. Anyways, I think bbg is a fkn amazing company, pay is okay (not trading or FAANG level) and benefits are great. However - I feel as if early on in my career I want to be taking risks, chasing my interests and I feel as if bbg is more of a I'm 30-40 settling and having kids kind of job. The people are great, the wlb is great and but I want to aim for more while I'm young. I would never want to work in FAANG, but as I said any prop Shop or algo/trading desk in a BB bank would make me really happy. Should I stay in uni, finish another year in comp sci and now look to start applying to trading/markets internships? More specifically, do I give up a BBG return offer and hence a first year salary into a really niche team for a chance to get rejected at another bank/trading firm... However, if I straight grad with one degree, go to BBG I feel as if I don't have the technical knowledge to pivot anywhere else. I can code in python, R, C just really basic comp subjects I've taken, but by not doing compsci, I don't get to learn C++, ML and all that jazz. So what do I do, do I straight up apply for these banking/trading grad roles with my single degree and take the BBG offer if it doesn't work out, OR extend my degree l, get my compsci and apply AGAIN for banking/trading internships (have been rejected in the past, but my CV is way more beefy now). I feel as if me going to BBG will impact my career later unless I do a master's of some sort there. Anyways, I'm super lost and have no one to talk to about this so someone please shed some advice.
Why don't you just apply to some props and see if you can get an offer? Your background seems decent for quant trading roles. Some companies also have specific data science positions (e.g. optiver). You never know if you can get an offer if you don't try it at least once. I'm also not from a very prestigious background and managed to get a new grad swe position at one prop shop.
Thanks for the reply, I think I'll try apply for some of the prop Shop intern positions as opposed to grad - to see if I can hit anything good (and I think getting an intern position is easier?)
Prop shops recruit a lot of their new grads from their interns. The technical bar is pretty much the same from what I have heard. The hardest part for me was to get into the interview loops. I just applied to new grad positions but my situation is also different from yours.
TL;DR
Good flex
Good samples
If you don’t want to do SWE work stay and apply for internship positions at those firms. It gets very hard to make the jump from SWE to quant trading That said if you want to do SWE work but at those firms then BBG is a great first step. I had interviews and offers from many of them on front office teams.
I work at a quant fund. We tend to not interview SWEs as quants because we pigeonhole them into dev only roles (not that I agree with this but it's just how it happens). Some firms are probably more flexible about this but I think that it would be hard for you to get a job as a quant trader coming from SWE at Bloomberg. Citadel Securities and Jump might be more flexible about this? But if you really want to get into quant research / quant trading, then I would try my best to get an internship rather than hoping to get in after working at BBG. That being said, if you are okay with quant dev rather than quant research/trading then definitely take the BBG offer - you will easily be able to get a Citadel offer after that (I know at least 2-3 people who've done this).
This guy quants
Stay away from BBG. Every trader and HF manager views BBG as a vendor and has little respect for the people their IMO. First job is most important. You should stick it out for a year and get the degree then do everything possible to get into the best BB bank you can. Buy side will be harder to get into at first so I’d target banks first.
^ this
Bloomberg is a software company. You still build software products there, which means developing methodologies that are widely known and accepted. There isn't a lot of incentive to do a lot of ground breaking financial stuff. The incentives are aligned around building scalable products that add transparency where there wasn't any before. It doesn't sound like that's what you want to do.
Take the bbg job, finish 2nd degree at night (maybe over 2 years), leave bbg after you graduate to do what you want but have 2 degrees and 2 YOE
I would highly recommend finishing up your second degree as well! I’m a few years out of undergrad and I learned the hard way that my “dream” role wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped. Your dream roles, companies, and industries will change over the years. Also, based on your experience, you can get a very similar offer a year after as well. Just network and stay in contact with members of the team.
This. Helped someone get a quant role at UBS since that was their “dream” role. They ended up hating that career path and leaving in 6 months.
What's the tc?
Quant trading at a HFT is very different from a trading desk at a BB bank. I sense a lot of confusion in this post, what exactly are you trying to do? What's your ideal role in 5 years? And I would stay away from Bloomberg. Very hard to go from Bloomberg to a great front-office team in either HFT or BB.
The last statement is completely incorrect. I came from BBG and know many others who did. (At Citadel and other firms)
What was the path you took ? How did Citadel front office teams hire from BBG ? What skills / roles did they look for ?