Currently L5 SDE at Amazon TC 200 yoe 8. Thinking about trying to get into one of the HFT firms in NYC. Im 35. Would they even be interested in an older candidate who does not have finance/ trading background?
My recommendation - don’t. Several friends of mine tried but it did not work out. You are better off building your career as an SDE in FANG. Ignore other comments about being old. I was hired as an SDE-2 when I was 39. Eight years later I became a PE. OK, I am boomer - what now?
Thanks for this. I’m 28, hardware engineer at Boeing, studying to start a SWE career and constantly asking myself if I’m too late in the game
Curious why it didn’t work out for your friends? Was it due to WLB issues, compensation, or was it that HFT companies just weren’t interested?
5 is too old
No it's not, but you have to have a very good story and inspire confidence that you know what you're doing. Also, you might have to do a similar job before actually trading. No one will give you free money to trade if you don't know about risk management, markets, etc.
Finance or Trading background is desirable but not a must. As long as you are good with writing code to deal with latency and high volume transactions, you are in. Some of the firms do pay bonuses up to two times your salary. However, it is ever changing and the new ML/AI interfaces are automating a lot of this work. Also, you may not be allowed to take enough risk or given the freedom to try something new compared to companies like Amazon. So you might not like some of these HFT firms. Ensure you ask about the details on the work before you take the offer.
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Do you really think Amazon is that bad
What were you doing before 27? If PhD, I don’t think your candidacy is unattractive anywhere
Asking about 7 years ago won't help his future career.