Need Advice (MSFT or Hedge Fund)
I got two new-grad FT offers both as a SWE. One is a hedge fund in NYC (TC ~ 220K) and another at MSFT in Seattle (TC ~ 145K). Just wanted advice on which one I should take. Basically everything (location, pay, interesting work?, etc) points to NYC company but I think it might be wiser long-term to have the MSFT name on the resume. Plus dressing up / commuting for NYC is kind of annoying I guess. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated. Also happy to answer any questions to clarify or about the interview processes
If you want a career in eng and you're junior, getting a big tech brand will help every subsequent move. I went the finance/quant equity/algo interest rate trading -> tech route and found that to be very difficult (tech really looks for tech backgrounds, whereas finance also looks for tech backgrounds). If you want to transition to quant finance or something, MW maybe better, but only if that's what you want to do. TL;DR: The TC difference isn't going to be meaningful 3 yrs from now while brand will be as it is an information shortcut every recruiter uses.
If it's possible definitely hedge
Go where you will learn and do the most in your early career. Everything else will follow
Hedge fund. You can go anywhere after spending time in HFT
Hedge Fund != HFT
I definitely cannot go anywhere.
In response to all the folks talking about getting to HFT: Unless you learn how to write code that runs co-located on bare metal and learn about all the routing tricks and order types across regular and dark venues, HFTs could care less. The HF -> HFT route is not a straight line, and MW doesn't do things close to HFT.
Go for a hedge fund offer now, later it will be a cakewalk for you in HFT firms 🤌🏻 💰