If my goal is Eng Manager do I bother with HFT?

Bloomberg / Eng
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Go to company page Bloomberg Eng

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Sep 21, 2021 16 Comments

Currently <1 YoE. I have interviews with Jane Street and HRT officially lined up, looking for others.

Wondering if it’s smart to join these firms if I know at the end of the day my goal is engineering manager as I’m not too keen on using the majority of my time to code.

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  • Join Jane Street and HRT, and become a manager/lead there? No? Why not? At the end of the 10 years or 20 years, you will be richer and among very top rare talent, there are already thousands of engineering managers in the market, what will be the difference between you and them?

    Most of the engineering managers earn less than you will at HRT/Jane Street.
    Sep 21, 2021 2
  • Google
    Fbkb88

    Go to company page Google

    Fbkb88
    (Relatively) smaller, high talent companies actually tend to have more management opportunities due to growth, so having some management experience (leading 1-3 people) after 2-3 years is achievable. On the flip side, the processes are being build up and changed all the time, and the quality of existing management is worse (again, because growth and many young new managers, many of whom only ever worked in the same company). So if you want to learn by doing it may be a good choice, if you want to learn from good managers larger tech orgs may be a better fit.

    Oh and yeah, pure management is much more rare - usually it would be some balance between people and tech work.
    Sep 22, 2021 0
  • You're probably gonna need at least 5 years of engineering experience before becoming a manager. A lot can happen in these 5 years. I don't see how being an engineer at HFT is any worse than working at big tech
    Sep 21, 2021 2
    • Bloomberg / Eng
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      Go to company page Bloomberg Eng

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      OP
      Not saying it’s worse in any regard, simply different. There’s substantially less opportunities to lead due to the structure of these firms.
      Sep 21, 2021
    • Don't think that's true. You lead with your technical chops which can be done anywhere. Only then do they look at your interpersonal skills, which can always be improved later on (you can always change companies, no one says you need to be stuck at one)
      Sep 21, 2021
  • Engineering Manager needs to be a good Engineer first to be made a manager.
    Sep 21, 2021 2
  • New
    vgjG33

    New

    vgjG33
    I also have interviews lined up with them. We can pair up and do prep together!
    Sep 28, 2021 4