I'm a new grad and I am interviewing with both HFT/prop shops and FAANGs. I am starting to think that the nature of work done at these places is very different: HFT dealing with more latency, low level code optimization, some algo/math etc, while FAANG dealing more with large scale systems and organizations, different technologies etc. They both pay well and I guess both deal with interesting stuff. Even if people here say that you can go from faang to hft and viceversa, it doesn't seem the optimal way to go about it (you wouldn't take advantage of a lot of stuff you worked on before). How does one go about choosing between the two spaces? Which one pays more in the medium/long term? #engineering #software #swe
Most of the people Iโve spoken to at HFT firms donโt think itโs all that different from FAANG in terms of the job. The main difference is that if you want to be a manager you will have a harder time at these firms because the hierarchy is a lot flatter. Also some places have horrible WLB, way worse than FAANG. They pay super well though, especially considering most are in Chicago which is super cheap compared to SF/NY.
In faang I think it's unlikely to care about microseconds optimization, while at these firms it's one of the most important things
Depends on the service. Plenty of interesting (sub-)microsecond-scale optimization work at G! (Both in the network path and to save datacenter resources)
what do you want from your career OP? if you want to chase TC, then dev or (especially) quant at a hedge fund or prop shop is your best bet. if you are interested in the finance domain, I suggest you try hedge funds. If you're more interested in scalability/distributed systems then you will probably get more of that from FAANG. If you want wlb, choose google or two sigma.
I think I would prefer HFT to some extent (smaller size, 'family-like' environment, less bs about changing the world) but I fear that it's a worse career choice. I'm not so convinced that they pay more. Considering also the volatility of your bonus which is not really that dependent to your performance. Faang seems like an easier life: no pressure from traders/finance people, great opportunity to show impact and get promoted, hierarchy which will actually allow for promotion (vs flat structure at prop shops and bonuses system which seems less clear), room to show impact also with non-technical skills (products opinions / management), arguably bigger flexibility in terms of number of companies and locations. What I liked/didn't like about the people I interviewed with so far is: people from HFT seemed more 'hand picked' and it seemed that they knew their stuff and were smart, they also seemed a bit arrogant to some extent; people I interviewed with from faang seemed generally nicer but I would say less impressive on average.
at least at TS, bonus for swe is very stable. Some HFTs are very selective, this is true--the bar will likely be higher than FAANG, especially the two A's, and there will be less variance in talent as the companies are smaller. I think the way the interviewer presents themselves is more of a reflection of the culture of the company than of their specific abilities. I'd say everyone at TS is pretty nice and generally humble, but I personally think HRT and JS are likely more selective. To a certain extent, the people at companies are self-selecting. If you don't want to grind for TC, for example, you probably wouldn't go to Citadel. Since you are early in your career and have some interest in HFT, why not give it a shot? It's an easier transition now than, say, if you're 40 with kids and want to try potentially 60-hour work weeks, and you'll probably make more money than FAANG. My advice is that if you realize you don't like it, try to get out before senior level, since the technical knowledge starts to diverge around that point.
I'm curious what it's like too. Spent the first two years of my career at FB, spent the last year at a startup, looking to join HFT in the next few months.
Dm me for info. I have worked both at a few firms and in tech as well for swe roles
Could you dm me please? I can't start any more chat this month
Why not get the offers first and look at the TC? You might be overthinking about options that you may not even have.
Username checks out
You have js interview?
If you want high TC, then HFT is the answer
Blind is very biased in these polls because many are from tech. I think the right answer is HRT and JSC pay much more than FAANG in long term.
How much? How do you know?
Iโve been searching for the exact answer, but the thing is that variance in TC is very high in finance. In tech, TC can be predicted fairly accurately just with YoE. Thatโs not the case in finance. Recently one JSC employee said that a good quant can reach 1M TC in 5 years. That should give you something to work with.