I am curious. Hypothetically if you had 2 offers as a Software Engineer from a quant firm (HRT, Jane Street, Two Sigma, etc..) or FAANG (Google, Meta, Microsoft, etc...) Which would you choose given the prestige, salaries, WLB, the type of work done there, etc...?
What the heck Quant means
OP means trading firms who employ quants and SWEs. The quants apply math, stats, and cs to trade or research opportunities.
Depends on the FAANG and the quant firm, was in this position recently- chose FAANG
Big difference between HRT/JS and two sigma
How so? Just higher comp?
Quant at trading firm > SWE at FAANG > SWE at trading firm SWE in trading firms have limited progression even with the higher initial pay, and what they do don't seem very transferrable. FAANG SWEs comp catches and overtaken about 5 years in
This is false
Yup, this is incorrect. I left FAANG for trading firm
If I was young, I would take a trading firm. It's easier to try it out and move to FAANG afterward than the other way around. But I'm old, so f Trading firms.
Why does age matter
Cause you shouldn't probably experiment with different career paths/verticals when you are mid-career and you have kids to take care of.