Has anyone made the jump from Facebook or Google to Two Sigma as a SWE? (not a quant) Or vice versa? For those experienced with both sides, how do they compare in terms of engineering practices, learning/growth, work life balance, and the general culture? Was it worth the jump for you?
What is two sigma ?
Def worth it. You get a comparable TC all in cash at Two Sigma
WLB?
I haven’t made this move, but know people who have gone both ways and also people who have gone to one and then come back. I then general TS is pretty comparable to G is most of the ways you mention, but smaller. This has pros and cons, which you’ll like better depends on what is important to you.
Is the tooling and infrastructure around the same level as Google's as well? I've read a comment before that went something like "the build system is a mass of interlocking dependencies that's broken half the time.", but that was a few years ago. Also when you say WLB is good, how many hours per week does the average engineer usually work?
40 hours. Build tools is one of the cons, it’s not as good. A pro is you can make a bigger impact there and advance quicker. I think both of these are probably related to them being a smaller company then G/FB but still mid-size and established.
Two sigma is most close to Google of kind, unlike the traditional ones, such as citadel...
Don't have much to add other than 2S having worse WLB is fake news.
Is there anything you don't like about it or would advise someone to think about before making the switch from FB/G?
WLB good; Bonus good (cash, top in the market, and doesn’t fluctuate); but as other finance firms, quant position is the best job. TS does not treat engineers as second class citizens like Citadel, but you will realize quants make a lot more money.
Thinking about the same thing. Would also greatly appreciate some input from those who had the experience