Transitioning to finance from tech?
I'm planning to move to Chicago in the next few months for personal reasons and am trying to stay on a good career trajectory in the process. It seems that finance is probably my best bet since there aren't too many tech firms with a strong "center of gravity" in Chicago. In addition to having worked at Google (currently) and Amazon as a software engineer, I also have a PhD in CS from a middle tier Big Ten University. 1.) Would I be able to transition to a quant analyst or researcher role or is my best bet to stay in software engineering? 2) Any companies in particular I should look into or avoid? I've been cold emailed by recruiters at Citadel and DRW. Have a connection to Jump Trading. 3) Anyone make a similar move with either Tech -> Finance or finding a position in Chicago?
Whether or not you can transition to a quant job depends primarily on how good you are at math, and secondarily, on how much time you're willing to spend on brushing up. If you work on something math-heavy in your current job, that helps a lot. If you can't get a quant job, try getting a front-office developer job in a quant trading firm (DRW, Jump, Citadel Securities). You should be able to get that job - depends on how much C++ and multithreading you do today. If you don't do any, then it depends on how much time you're willing to spend relearning low level systems stuff from college/grad school. You will always be able to get a backend SWE job in finance. But that job will suck in terms of quality of colleagues, tech depth of problems, and long term career trajectory. Compensation should beat Google though, especially adjusted for cost of living in Chicago. One advice - find a good independent recruiter. Finance recruiting isn't like tech, external recruiters are the most common channel. Source: I was a quant
Very helpful, thanks!
Why don't you just stay at Google - there's plenty of fiance roles here.
If I stay at Google I'd remain a software engineer. The Chicago engineering office is small and I'm not sure I'd find a team with a good fit. Maybe you missed the part where I said I was moving to Chicago?