Every fund is managed a different way... You just gotta know what you're getting into and keep in mind what your options and leverage are.
At a multi-manager fund I think life is pretty simple. PM is your boss, you negotiate pay with them like you would with a tiny startup. Make money, you get more capital, lose money get fired.
Some of the really big funds are just like tech companies on the other hand.
Every fund is managed a different way... You just gotta know what you're getting into and keep in mind what your options and leverage are. At a multi-manager fund I think life is pretty simple. PM is your boss, you negotiate pay with them like you would with a tiny startup. Make money, you get more capital, lose money get fired. Some of the really big funds are just like tech companies on the other hand.
I like the analogy to startups. It's a high risk - high reward game. There's a lot of survivorship bias in the HF success stories we hear.
A company like TS or DE Shaw isn't really high risk IMO, but many others are.