I have an offer from a tier 1 trading firm and amazon (aws). The work at the trading firm seems more interesting, but since it’s somewhat of a different world, I have some questions 1) Is the non compete enforced if you want to leave to go to FAANG or any other non trading firm? 2) How easy is the transition back to FAANG? 3) how reliable are the discretionary bonuses at HFTs. Since the bonus is only guaranteed for the first year, I am curious about how it factors in after that assuming an average to well performing swe 4) the HFT comp doesn’t seem to be high enough for me to make the jump, thoughts? Amazon TC - 450 HFT TC - 250 base + 225 bonus (pro rate) + 100 sign on Current TC: 300 YOE: 6
HFT bonus seems low. Would probably go Amazon
What level are you currently at in Intel ? 300k tc with 6 yoe seems surprisingly good.
From someone who worked on Wall Street and now in tech , Wall Street is boring , especially HFT . You are not delivering any new products or services , just tuning the machine . The PhD are the ones inventing the algo. And all you are doing is trying to see how you can squeeze an extra half penny on each trade
Well not very different from building new services. Folks in Ads are trying to squeeze every piece of attention and make more n more money from ads for eg. In fact many have said that Wall Street had more interesting and directly impactful work
Directly impactful to what ? An ad is interacting with people selling services , helping to build businesses. HFT is literally moving money back and forth , really , really fast
I dont see how hft is more lucrative? Ask for more
What is the name of the HFT ?
High Frequency Trading
I meant which HFT ?
What do you mean “pro rate”? Is it guaranteed for the first year or not?
Since I’d likely be joining in august, and the bonus payout is in December, I would get guaranteed 5/12th of the bonus.
Hft sounds like two sigma L4 offer. Dm me for team info
I also just picked an HFT (HRT, Jane Street, Jump) over a similar AWS offer (as well as an E5 Meta offer). 1. It varies company-to-company. Some will automatically enforce no matter what, so you can easily go to FAANG while also getting paid consideration. Others will wait to see if you have real competitive intent (e.g. another trading firm offer in-hand as proof) before deciding to enforce, to save on paying consideration. A bit "sketchy", IMO, but it's all a legal grey area, anyway... 2. You'll have no problem getting IC interviews at FAANG with a T1 HFT on your resume as your technical skills won't be in question. The main issue would be moving into senior leadership roles at large companies as it's a very different skillset. 3. I spent months finding more data points for discretionary comp and my conclusion is just that it varies way too much between firms, individuals, and years for you to get any kind of straightforward answer. You'll have to take a bit of a leap of faith here that your abilities will get you more at an HFT than grinding the promo ladder at FAANG. 4. Again, you'll have to take a leap of faith here that growth will outpace FAANG. Something that convinced me was that the T1 HFTs I listed have ridiculously high retention and you don't see them complaining or talking much on the internet -- an indicator that they're happy with both the work and comp. Also, specifically with Amazon your comp is going to drop after the first 2 cash years (you'll start vesting more stock, but in the current climate we all know the uncertainty of equity comp).
Thanks a lot for the details answers!
Senior offer?
SDE II at amazon. HFT firm doesn’t seem to have any level, so just - software engineer
What city?