How does quality of life compare as a SWE somewhere like Hudson River Trading vs Google? Pay, perks, workplace culture, etc? I like the idea of working on something like HFT, both for the money and for the technical challenge. I assume it's mostly the same kind of work as a Google serving system, but with cash more directly correlated with software performance. Does anyone have experience at both?
Life is just as good, tech is worse than Google.. but where is that not the case? I've heard bad things about some other firms culture, but haven't seen it first hand.
Same pay, slightly worse wlb, no free food. Google seems better and most people in our channel think so as well. Here's a poll in our channel.
For HRT specifically there’s a good chance your work will have more visibility and you’ll have more autonomy because of its size. This is less true for the bigger firms like Citadel/SIG/TS.
FWIW HRT has been growing a lot recently (doubled over ~two years) and that visibility is definitely possible but needs to be sought after, especially as a Dev/non-quant
The impression I got from my interview was devs at HRT were happier than devs at any other firm I interviewed with in general (was interviewing for core). Is the possibility of moving from core to algo or algo eng a generally open (if qualified obviously) thing or is it just something floated by recruiters like most firms?
It's pretty similar overall from what I understand. I've never worked at Google but we've hired a bunch of people from there and a bunch of people have also left for Google. Perks are pretty good, they have company vacations annually, ranging in extravegence from Lake George to Bermuda and Mexico. Otherwise culture is pretty similar from what I reckon. A lot of smart people but that comes with a few string personalities. Pay is industry average, maybe on the low end due to our bonus being paid over two years, so you'll get a pitch about your TC being X, but what hits your bank account will be less
How does the bonus grow? They are pitching it grows significantly over time and I saw one comment w growing 10% each q. How have it worked for you?
Mine was growing rapidly at initially, but it started of pretty low (2k first quarter) It's been starting to stagnate though, at low tens of thousands I would definitely push for a minimum Bonus for your first X quarters though
Tag the firms
No Hudson River Trading apparently. Tagged some others.