HF or Tech
Hi All, Currently 5.5 YOE with 330 TC, L5a basically guarunteed this cycle. Recruiting firms for Citadel, Millenium, AQR, Two Sigma keep reaching out and I’ve started to entertain. They are saying I can get first two years 500-600 Comp. Which is obviously enticing. FB, Amzn, LinkedIn can all get 400+ for SD3, so HF would have to beat by 20% at least. For those that have done both tech and HF, what is the difference and is there really 20-30% more comp than FB/L/A etc? I’ve heard WLB is terrible at HF 8-6 + some weekend work, so work per hour is way might be less than tech, but maybe worth it while im young (planning to have kids 4 years from now). I’m also ok moving to Chicago, so maybe worth it because of the COL/Taxes savings. Currently in NYC. I am pretty happy at Uber but 330 to 550 would be stupid to not try.
Curious as well regarding wlb
Chicago and taxes savings are mutually exclusive. Good thing though if you get into citadel in NY, and then move to Chicago, they won't prorate your salary. Regarding wlb it is worse on avarage but also team dependent.
I went from HF to Goog. My personal WLB was fine before (~45 hours) but stress levels were higher. Comp can definitely beat tech. In my experience there are much fewer limits on what HFs can pay if they want you. OTOH I got a big grant when I started here (to basically match my HF comp) and stock growth made year 4 comp at Google much higher than I ever got at a HF. The cliff will hurt, though.
Thank you for the reply. Wouldn’t 4 more years at HF probably have come close to G with stock growth? Unfortunately I can’t predict which company will have the most growth, I believe in Uber but not to triple in the next couple of years, which would need to happen to match HF comp growth it seems.
How was the engineering rigor (design specs, code, testing) in HF?
What is HF? High Finance? High frequency trading?
Hedge funds!
Can you share the Technology Stack you are working on and skills you have to get that kind of pay, thanks in advance!
I don’t think I have any particular tech stack, but I do have a masters in ML that I have never used (linear regression != ML). I think companies like that I’ve worked for places and got stuff done and have a resume to show for it.
work for shiny brand name tech companies or quant finance shops, forget tech stack.
HFs will pay that money, but is much more risky than big tech. Entire teams, funds, and firms can collapse within 12 months. So you could be paid 700k one year and be jobless the next.
That's 500-600 TC per annum, for the first two years? Or total of 2 years TC?
You seem pretty young, you should definitely try. NYC is expensive, but great for young people if you can get in HRT of sort. GL!
if you can get 2S, go