First job advice

[siphenx]

Hello,

I just got a position as a backend engineer at a tech start-up and for some reason they're asking me to make up my mind in just three days. I'm also interviewing with a few finance firms where I don't know how big my chance is at any of them. I want to get into finance and have experience working at a capital management firm as an intern. I also know that in this day and age, quants are basically overpaid programmers. So if I have some years of experience at a tech company writing software, it's probably not gonna be hard for me to switch into finance down the road. The downside is that the start-up offered paltry pay and has nothing to do with finance whatsoever. Should I take the engineer job and end all the on-going interviews? Please help.

 

[Jordan Platts]

I also know that in this day and age, quants are basically overpaid programmers. .

I disagree. I graduated with a degree in CS and now work at an Asset management firm. I also had an offer at a tech firm when I graduated from college. I can tell you first hand that top tech firms will pay there programmers more out of college. I also have several friends in both industries and the story is usually the same.

Programmers aren't quants but quants are programmers. I work directly with a quant and his knowledge of stats, math specific to finance (black scholes, etc.), and economics isn't anything you would get from CS. Now mind you he is one type of quant and I only have a bachelors, but even if I had a masters in CS with a focus on machine learning I still think I would be lacking important financial related knowledge.

As far your job offer goes, don't let the start up bully you into a job. Take your time.

 

[findev]

This is going to be my first contribution after lurking this forum for so long. I hope it adds some value.

Please bear in mind, I'm seeing things from my role as a software developer.

Programmers aren't quants but quants are programmers. I work directly with a quant and his knowledge of stats, math specific to finance (black scholes, etc.), and economics isn't anything you would get from CS. Now mind you he is one type of quant and I only have a bachelors, but even if I had a masters in CS with a focus on machine learning I still think I would be lacking important financial related knowledge.

I definitely agree with this.

Having been in a similar position, it's not difficult to move as a software developer from any particular industry to a similar role in the financial industry as your software development skills will be what's evaluated. I can't speak to whether it's possible to move to a quant / strategist position from a software developer position in an unrelated industry. I imagine that if it's possible that it cannot be easy. I've seen a few software developers in the financial industry move on to become a quant/strategist but that was after completing their MS in Comp Finance / MFE degrees. However, I've met many more with such degrees who remained or were hired into technology.

To directly address the problem at hand, can't you accept the offer and continue on with your interviews? I think there will only be a possible personal ethical dilemma if you do decide to take another offer. You'll definitely run into more of this sort of cornering when you start working with some HHs further down in your career.

 

[Ken Abbott]

Programmers aren't quants but quants are programmers. I work directly with a quant and his knowledge of stats, math specific to finance (black scholes, etc.), and economics isn't anything you would get from CS. Now mind you he is one type of quant and I only have a bachelors, but even if I had a masters in CS with a focus on machine learning I still think I would be lacking important financial related knowledge.

I disagree. While most quants can code, I wouldn'let a quant anywhere near my production code.

 

[mhy]

However, I've met many more with such degrees who remained or were hired into technology.

Makes me scared for what'll happen after my MFE.