I've gotten verbal offers for both JS and Optiver, not sure which one to choose. WLB and non-toxic culture is important to me, TC not so much since any HFT salary is far by enough for me to live on. JS seems to have good WLB and culture + pretty chill place. Hearing mixed reviews about Optiver - does the WLB/culture depend on the office? Would appreciate any input on either JS or Optiver, thanks! YOE: NG #tech #janestreet #janestreetcapital #optiver #newgrad #tech
JS not even a question. How was your on-site? I’m going for it soon.
Why JS? Onsite was one of the most challenging interviews I’ve had, difficult questions but not LC style, more of design. Super friendly interviewers too
I also have an upcoming technical interview. Regarding the design part, do you mean something like designing thread-safe or networking code?
How long was your process from first call to offer at js?
Just here to say congrats. You made it.
jane pays way better, optiver for learning and opportunities to make impact and grow.
This is not true. First year TC is better at js but comp growth in optiver is very good (especially for traders)
first year at jane is more than double optiver. this is tagged tech in the post, so i thinj my point stands. one will get paid better at jane, but there will be less interesting opportunities for growth both financially and in skills/knowledge sense. if youre able to make a lot of impact optiver will be competitive in pay after a few years. eventually there is potential for pay at optiver to be higher than jane. if you arent amazing, a few years longer, than that to reach parity. if you just want to coast, youre not going to last 5 years.
Congrats buddy. I really enjoy my time here at optiver and can recommend it but js is definitely a great place to work as well. Wlb is pretty good and culture is nice as well. Which company did you like more during the interviews? Also keep in mind the different tech stack (c++ vs ocamel).
JS had better culture, better WLB and better first year TC. But I’d say the growth at Optiver is better and there will be more exit opportunities. I’d still choose JS though
Why do you think optiver growth or exit opportunities are better?
Just personal opinion Optiver has a kind of clear level system and every SWE can get a cut from pnl (which is rly unique in the industry) e.g. I know some SWE at Optiver breaks 1M in the last two years, and fewer JS SWE breaks 1M Optiver is known for heavy C++ and clean codebase, the experience will be valued
Jane Street easily. WLB, TC, location, comp growth, tech culture are all better (arguably the best firm overall).
hi!! congrats on the offers! May i DM to ask about your interview experiences with optiver?
I'd chose JS. 1. Culture is better if you are a more academic kind of person 2. NYC 3. First year comp blows Optiver out of the water 4. Progression is kinda a blackbox for any firm not named Optiver, but Jane Street is one of the top market makers in the world with a somewhat comparable headcount to Optiver golbally (and they make a ton). You will make a lot of money as you progress, even compared to optiver + marbles. This is not completely writing off Optiver, but imo if you wanted a true technology first trading firm that focuses on C/C++ I'd look at HRT (meh progression but cool culture) or Jump, or even CitSec if you want to sell your soul. The final point I'll say is that the people at Optiver are smart, but I have not met smarter people than the friends I have at Jane Street. They have insane raw talent that is basically uncomparable to Optiver.
Incoming optiver grad here, are there any pros to working at optiver then?
Its fine, I just think Jane Street is better is all. Optiver progression with marbles is solid and there is a lot of room for growth. When I was there, they didn't really consider themselves a technology first firm which irked me the wrong way. They have recently changed their stance on this in an effort to get more swe talent. If you just want to make money and enjoy finance its a cool place to be, but if your interests are in software, I'd probably go to a good tech firm or a more tech focused/culture HFT firm like HRT or Jump.
Sir maam how big is yr package ?? Kindly awaiting yr reply on the same. Thx