Software Engineers of High Frequency Trading firms, how was your comp progression like?
I always see high starting salaries for companies like Jane Street, citadel, Two sigma, HRT etc but never see how their salary changes each year. I would like to know your YOE, Salary and Bonus when your started working at the company, progression of your TC each year and also the best thing you like about your company. YOE: 0 TC: 0 (Student)
Second fiddle to traders and ehhh wlb
TC: high at the beginning, gradually falls behind at entry lvl + 2 of tech companies. There is about 10% annual bump w/ no leveling bump. Wlb: no coaching level. Work about 45-55 hrs/week (highly depends on company)
I seriously doubt this tbh, I always thought a 2-3 YOE person at a HFT earns much more than a same person at FAANG
@hjkO62 2-3 YOE person doesn't match entry lvl+2. I was referring to 4-8 YOE person
A lot of this stuff varies by firm. Elsewhere in this thread someone mentioned that Citadel devs often burn out in two years, whereas we only lose <5% of devs each year. As far as my comp progression, I joined with 3 yoe and have gotten 500k/575k/715k since then.
Not sure what the bump was for exactly, but I guess my manager thought so.
Are you a dev? Where were you before joining? Those numbers feel well into trading range I imagine. Seems odd that would be the case based on my limited understanding.
200/250/350/450
Can’t speak for him but I started as a new grad and have had very similar growth in TC
Will there be a cap on how much you can increase your salary or your salary increase by 50-100k almost every year?
Only very few trading firms pay well. Here was my previous tc at a quantitative asset management firm from new grad in manhattan: 130k, 150k, 170k... Not gonna mention its name, but if you search “quantitative asset management firms”, it’s somewhere on the first page of Search.
Well, quant trading firms are very different actually. I would rather not compare "prop" teams like Jane Street, Citadel Securities, XTX, ... with asset gathering operations like AQR. Definitely, a successful prop can pay orders of magnitude than a highly regulated asset gatherer. Also it depends on what extent the firm values technology. There are still firms that see tech as a cost center.
Not all asset management firms pay that badly. Two sigma and citadel have asset management arms and they pay well. PDT partners is also another hedge fund that pays well.
We need numbers from CitSec devs. I’ve seen a few of you here ;p
You last a year or two and move on. That's your progression. Very few stay for longer. But next year bump is usually very good.
Is the job really that stressful or there are some other reasons for this?
Burn and churn?