Why is “the dream” Top FAANGS, and not Trading firms like Jane Street/HRT

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GojoSensey

New

GojoSensey
Aug 19, 2021 61 Comments

So it’s common knowledge that “the dream” is FAANG. Most Facebook/Google.

It takes a ridiculous amount of work and interview prep for the average person to make it there, and pay is almost 200k for new grads.

What I am curious about is, if there are companies like Jane Street/Citadel/HRT, that are paying new grads up to 400k, then why isn’t “the dream” considered those places?

Yes, interviews at those trading firms are hard, but not that far off from FAANG as far as prep goes. If you can do one, you can do the other.

Genuinely curious. Is it the work life balance? Other factors?

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    • Apple / Eng
      HypeOS

      Go to company page Apple Eng

       HypeOS
      That but also finance is finance and tech is tech. No matter how much they try to brand themselves are cool and geeky. Impact is absolutely different.
      Aug 20, 2021
    • Citadel
      WaET76

      Go to company page Citadel

      WaET76
      @apple I mean that’s kind of like saying Uber/Amazon/AirBnB/Netflix aren’t tech companies either because the tech is only the means to their goal/impact.

      Market makers are creating tech infra to support the entire us trading markets. They face all the same latency, scale, security, efficiency, etc problems in doing so, and hire a lot of software engineers to do it. The majority of eng at these firms were poached from Google/Fb/etc
      Aug 25, 2021
  • New
    WNQe82

    New

    WNQe82
    It's crappy work. Top tech companies drive society (for better or worse) and SWE roles are at the heart of that. Trading just sits in the background of a broken financial system collecting checks.
    Aug 19, 2021 5
    • Amazon
      ldsa

      Go to company page Amazon

      ldsa
      @apple the effects of hedge funds aren't as direct and "user-facing", but providing liquidity in the market and making sure stocks are accurately priced for their value is important. Sure, the average person like you and I wouldn't care, but the ramifications to the market would definitely be harmful and it's naive to ignore it.
      Aug 23, 2021
    • Apple / Eng
      HypeOS

      Go to company page Apple Eng

       HypeOS
      I understand that very well, however, most of the firms have grown to not care about accurate pricing or price discovery as usualy called, quite the opposite. Greed is the root of great evil.
      Aug 23, 2021
  • Google / Eng
    Edo7h

    Go to company page Google Eng

     Edo7h
    I just have 0 interest in working at those places 🤷‍♂️
    Aug 19, 2021 0
  • My dream is to retire at 30.
    Everyone has different dreams.
    Aug 20, 2021 5
  • Apple
    tacdn

    Go to company page Apple

    tacdn
    Bad WLB, less job security, no requirements on ivy college, not as liberal as FAANG (dress code, etc.)
    Aug 19, 2021 1