Tech --> Hedge fund/trading
Any positive/negative experiences? How to do it/prepare for the switch?
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I want too. Tired of moving records in databases for peanuts
Also if you're in Seattle and serious about this pm me. We can start a once a week Meetup
Something like techies who trade...
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Interested as well
Totally
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It’s pretty hard to get a quant or trader position if you are merely a software engineer in a tech company. Don’t even think about switching from software engineer to quant after you join hedge fund like Two Sigma, most people on their quant core team have PhD in math/physics/financial engineering from MIT, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, etc. The competition is fierce and that is where the real elites are. There is no point to be a software engineer in a non-tech company.
How about trading for yourself
Personal investment is a very different story. There’s no way you can move the market by trading for yourself unless you are Warren Buffet and the like, but companies like those well known hedge funds and other major buy side players can move the market significantly.
Assuming you want to stay a SWE: SWEs will do well at HFT shops, which are basically tech companies anyway. Not a huge growth industry these days though. The SWEs I know at places like Two Sigma are also pretty happy. Again, culturally similar to a tech company. As others have said, it’s difficult to convert to a quant role, if that’s what you actually want. I don’t recommend going to a traditional hedge fund. The level of technical competence tends to be much lower.
Good luck. Let me know what you learn.