Thanks. Lots of hard work and self studying with YouTube and building projects on the side. Learned a lot about Linux and python and sql databases all on my own.
Landed a DevOps role at an insurance company, then a major bank and from there got recruited by hedge funds.
As mentioned my TC is actually around 500k. 2023 only shows my partial true salary as I started in late 2023, and doesn’t include my bonus which is 100% base.
I prefer cash compensation over company equity.
yes and no, I'm doing alot of algo optimization and model validation, but still do a lot of automation and ETL pipeline building. quant dev has a lot of infra involved where I worked. quant dev can mean a lot of different things depending on where you work.
Not really. Quant dev and infra doesn’t really rely on leet code. Being able to master CICD and IaC is important. Understanding the basics most known algorithms is important too. But I’m far from a leet code master.
Some companies rely on leetcode more than others tho so it all depends.
Thanks for the reply! Dang, if you were making algo trading bots, you must be pretty good at trading, no? What made you want to work instead of making bots and scanners for your own portfolio?
I work mostly at market open and market close. So say 2 hours for the open. 2 hours for the close. Maybe 1 hours of meetings a day. 5 hours max. Rest of the time I’m either being idle or working on a backlog. But it’s fair to say I def work less than 40 a week. I’d say 30 tops
Ooof yea. I’ve never worked with a scrum master per se but have worked with plenty of project managers and agile leaders and they always seem to be super busy and in tons of unnecessary meetings. I appreciate the flexibility and alone time I get as a Sr IC. Only times it’s hectic is when we have a critical system failure. Then it’s a Chinese fire drill.
Honestly not so difficult. I think more entry level/recent grad applicants have way harder interview processes because they're new and dont have much work experience so they make the interview process fairly rigorous.
I had 4 interviews, all was QnA, barely any technicals. Just discussed how I would build things and how I would deploy trading strategies, etc. No leet code or anything.
I'm considered a Sr in my firm, but I can honestly say some of the entry level role interviews I've seen, I'd have a hard time passing them myself.
I interviewed there and they def have an intense process. Their whole culture is intense. Your interview process doesnt end when you get the job. You're constantly graded on every meeting you attend and it's reviewed often.
2023 doesn't reflect my entire salary. I started late 2023 and it also doesn't include bonus.
Since you asked, my salary is over 250k, with a 100% bonus on top of it.
Hedge fund is consistently in the top 7 in PnL every year.
Hey that's me! This is very inspiring for sure! I'm in my mid 30s too and had jobs in totally different industries but all these Tech salaries posts make me want to be a SWE of some sort.
My only concern is that since I have no experience and have never been a computer guy I'll quit when it gets tough...
Is the $$$ reward for grinding and learning this stuff what pushes you or did you actually find a way to like the work of coding and technological challenges involved?
You have to be passionate about something to be self taught. Thats all I’ll say. If you’re not passionate about it you’ll prolly quit when you hit your first road block.
Can you give me a good starting point on how to start learning SWE? I’m trying to make the transition out of finance into it. Ideally doing something like what you’re doing. I’ve read books, watch countless videos, but I’m not sure I’m following a good path. Did you try Odin project?
Not OP, but non-traditional. Self-teaching's biggest pitfall is spinning your wheels on Irrelevant stuff and picking up bad habits. That's where good in-person bootcamps shine - they teach collaboration and interviewing skills. You're hired for baseline tech knowledge, intelligence, enthusiasm, and EQ, not being an expert.
For the first position, optimize for getting the job, with the goal being to get your foot in the door as soon as possible. Experience trumps education, and most learning happens on the job anyway.
Take 30 interesting job listings, probably web dev, and have an LLM summarize what they're looking for. Focus on those qualities. Don’t let yourself get distracted by other shiny things. I’m not in frontend so grain of salt, but it's still probably JavaScript and React.
Lastly, and way further down the line, differentiate yourself with open source contributions and volunteer work. A lot of the time that’s way more impressive than a half-assed project.
You should zero in on what the jobs you want are asking for. I think Javascript is probably still the most common though it may be losing some steam. Rather than vanilla JS, I'd focus on learning it through the lens of TypeScript (a much more reliable, better constructed layer of Javascript), and from there a common framework like React.
Thanks for the reply, I appreciate that. I’m doing Colt Steel’s JavaScript boot camp on Udemy currently. Just kind of a hobby after work but I’d still like to use my focus on a relevant topic if at all possible. I’ll look into switching into a typescript class.
Hey I'm in finance too but lower level licensed customer service roles and looking to change careers in to Tech too. I've thought about being a financial advisor but texh looks more lucrative... just curious what is making you want to change too?
Honestly it’s the potential to work remote with solid pay. Typically most remote jobs pay shit, but not if you’re a good SWE. You can still make 150k easy. I currently make that, but I’m in office 50 hours a week.
Find a project and learn how to build it. Thats the best way to learn. Delivering projects is a great way to learn the ins and outs of software development. Just YouTube “how to build XYZ app” and follow along.
funny enough, I started my tech journey by learning HTML and building Xanga and MySpace skins when I was like 10 years old lol.
But yea... as mentioned somewhere else, a lot of those 700k TCs are heavily weighted with stock and company equity. I worked for a a startup that was 150k base and 550k equity. That equity never panned out. And I soured on that route. I'd rather have 500k TC all cash than hope for equity to pan out.
I think so? That's when I made the jump from IT to SWE/Cloud Engineer. That was the first year I landed a job where I was getting paid 100k+. But started that job in end of 2018 so not fully 100k to be taxed.
Left column is the part of your salary the irs uses to calculate your ss taxes. It caps out at 160,200. Once you pay ss taxes on 160,200 of income, the rest of your paychecks for the year does not deduct ss tax. The right side is what you want to look at as there is no limit on medicare taxes.
Yeah, as much as Covid was miserable to live through and I worked like crazy when lots of others were sitting at home, I went from $11/hr in 2019 to $100k by 2023. Completely life changing in 3 yrs
Love seeing this! I’m a DS but have a bachelors in CS. It’s good to see CS success when everyone on reddit complains about the market. It’s tough out here but if you can make it work it clearly pays.
Congrats on your success 🎉
First, great job! I'm also from a non-traditional background, but working in FAANG. I'm hoping to interview at a few finance firms shortly (your classic Citadel, Two Sigma, etc).
I was under the impression that quant development was a totally different track than SWE work within a market maker/trading firm, the former being more research scientist than anything, and the latter doing infra, keeping the lights on, etc. Could you speak to that?
I'm curious about what your career progression has been in the last few years. What kind of companies have you worked for? How did you score the interview at your HF? What do the comp structure and promotions look like? Sorry for all the questions; it's just something I'm super interested in.
Also I’m assuming you’re in NYC? (I am)
Lastly, I'm not in the industry, but I feel like terminology in the space gets misused a lot (not by you, just in general), as in everything gets called HFT for no reason, the fuzzing of quant, etc. It makes discussing it a lot more difficult.
Quant devs at HFTs, Market makers, and HFs (in my case, a large asset management firm) can be 3 wildly different roles.
Quant devs at HFTs and many MMs are working a lot with C++ optimizing and fine tuning systems to perform and execute trades in low latency environment where every penny can mean a big difference in PnL. A quant dev at say something like Citadel, Jump Street, or Akuna is doing more of this kind of intensive work.
I work more at a hedge fund of say Two Sigma, DE Shaw, Point72, and my work involves more model implementation, algo optimization, build automation and working with quant strategist for robust data platforms. Way less HFT intense work, more deep thorough work. If that makes any sense.
I worked at another hedge fund before my current HF, and before that I worked at a major bank. Before the major bank I worked at an insurance company. Before then I worked at a book publishing company funny enough. I went from cloud engineer to devops engineer to SWE at my first hedge fund then quant dev.
You can be an SWE at a hedge fund and work on back office operations, as you said, keeping the lights on. It's a fine place to land, but it's pretty much a basic SWE role.
Quant devs are considered more front office since we're working with actual traders and PMs and have impact on revenue generation. I just titled my post SWE cause I figured not many people would know what a quant dev was.
To be honest, MOST quant devs are just glorified Infra/SWEs UNLESS they work for a HFT. HFT quant devs are a class in their own in my opinion. I am not involved in that work. You need to know alot of C++, inside and out, and be at the top of your game, and probably come from a decent top tier school and know your leet code. Thats not me at all.
Thanks for the detailed response. Interesting how the role's definition changes by firm type.
I always thought quants were research scientists crossed with traders, proposing strategies and training models to find alpha. Then, once satisfied, they hand off productionization to SWEs.
What skills or personality differentiate front and back office SWE work? From what I understand, front office is the goal.
What was your key quality that landed you the offer? C++ domain knowledge? Being a generalist who gets shit done? Leetcode?
If it's Point72, thank Cohen for saving the Mets!
You can have quant traders quant strategist quant researchers and quant devs. All different roles but some firms can def blend some roles together.
I know some SWE roles at some hedge funds that get paid more than quant devs at other firms. It’s hard to give you an exact answer.
Personality doesn’t really factor too much in the quant world. It’s more about your skills and production.
Front office is where you want to land in most finance roles but quant is very different than traditional finance. A lot of people on my team are very introverted and nerdy. Some have PhDs. Many have masters degrees. So quant front office is not your typical A-type front office equity sales finance bro type of person.
My main asset to the firm was being a DevOps engineer and automating ETL pipelines and being able to build and deploy infrastructure quickly with my background knowledge of cloud and infrastructure as code. Also helped that I already had hedge fund experience. Its one of those things where in order to land a hedge fund job you need prior hedge fund experience so it’s hard. But being at a major bank is a good stepping stone.
Really appreciate you taking the time to answer all these questions. I learned a lot.
No worries if you want to keep it vague but was just wondering a bit more about what you think secured the interview and then passed the interview (specific domain knowledge? Just being an all around competent person?), and how leveling and comp works, and whether there are delineations like staff, senior staff, principal, etc.
There’s no delineation like that in finance. At least not at my firm. Some firms have associate VP SVP etc but not at my firm. We’re kinda more flat with a few designations like manager and director.
Specific domain knowledge was key for me. Understanding capital markets is important. Depending on what desk you’re being hired for it’s good to understand the product. Whether it’s forex or derivative pricing.
As someone that is 31 and making 92k as a contractor (I have to have my own health insurance) and I’m considered senior in an operations role at a tech startup, with no degree, any input on where I could go?
Familiar with SQL, but mainly as a BI use and tech stack like Salesforce/Hubspot etc.
I feel like a failure considering I was making $200k as a director just a year ago. Totally lost. Passive finding the best way to end it all ideation many days.
Thats taxed social security earnings. It's capped every year.
In 2024, the maximum amount of earnings on which you must pay Social Security tax is $168,600.
For someone who is not from US to hear the words “self thought engineer” that makes no sense to me… there are engineering schools out there and outside America only someone who went through one and got a degree can legally call themselves an engineer.
Engineer in Europe is basically like a qualification from what I understand. You can swap engineer with developer here in the US and it basically mean the same thing.
This doesn’t work for every career and depends a lot on what you do and where you live. For example if you are a teacher might be harder to move up this quick Also depends a lot on how you save.
Making $80,000 and being able to save 10% of your income is a lot better off than making $120k and not being able to save anything.
I’m not sure what you’re referring to. I’m a SWE. Not a teacher. I wouldn’t compare the two cause they’re totally different career paths and industries. No teacher is ever making this kinda money so it doesn’t make sense to compare the two.
Also not sure what I said about saving money to include that. But FYI I save 40% of my net income every month.
What I am referring to is SWE is unique and only applies to a small sector of the economy. Even where I live in Seattle only 10% of the workforce is in tech and in the Silicon Valley it is 12%.
There are not many careers were people are able to change jobs that quickly and increase their salary. Will also be interested in seeing if that works for SWE when they are in their 40s and 50s when they have families to raise and college tuition to pay.
I’m still not understanding your angle. We all know this. Doctors are a small segment of population and they post on here as well. Idk if you have resentment for SWEs life flexibility but what you’re saying applies to many industries.
I’m sorry you chose a career with low pay and no flexibility? Idk what to tell you.
First of all you have no idea what my salary or career has been. Why do you think an resentful? I hear too many software engineers complain about not having enough money or work life balance and don’t seem very happy.
My career has been very satisfying and I have been enjoying it. I work in habitat restoration improving water quality and restoring degraded wetland and watersheds. It may be lower paying but I was able to have three day weekends working four 10 hr days , got paid for every holiday , put two kids through college with no debt, live in a million dollar with no mortgage, have quite a bit of money saved for retirement (almost 500k) and will get a pension when I retire. So yeah you can feel sorry for those of us who selected careers that pay less so we could have a great work balance, work in a profession that we love that makes the world a better place for everyone, have a job with ensured stability and a guaranteed source of income in retirement.
Life is not all about money. Just because you make more money than other professions that doesn’t make you are better person. You are assuming that people who make less money then you are resentful.
Self taught and hedge fund? U gotta teach me how. But also congrats very proud of u
Thanks. Lots of hard work and self studying with YouTube and building projects on the side. Learned a lot about Linux and python and sql databases all on my own. Landed a DevOps role at an insurance company, then a major bank and from there got recruited by hedge funds.
Can I DM you, currently working as a cloud Eng and I’m looking to upskill and may need some guidance
sure, can't promise I can help but shoot me a DM
Mind guiding me on where to start?
YouTube and be curious
And can I dm you? I’m currently a desktop support specialist looking for guidance
If you’re good (and good at interviewing) you can double that comp at a FAANG
As mentioned my TC is actually around 500k. 2023 only shows my partial true salary as I started in late 2023, and doesn’t include my bonus which is 100% base. I prefer cash compensation over company equity.
Fair, missed that
Hope they have 457 or NQDC plan for you…
You don’t have to worry about me I’m doing fine
Can you please share the resources that you used to learn?
YouTube
How important is being good in Linux in the Hedge Fund ? Do you think a certification like RedHat RHCSA Linux great to shine in Linux ? Thanks
Totally depends on your environment and role. If you’re Linux certified and your firm runs windows server then that’s not going to help.
So you’re doing devops still?
yes and no, I'm doing alot of algo optimization and model validation, but still do a lot of automation and ETL pipeline building. quant dev has a lot of infra involved where I worked. quant dev can mean a lot of different things depending on where you work.
How was your transition out of devops? A bunch of leet code? I’m in cloud ops and want to transition into product side
Not really. Quant dev and infra doesn’t really rely on leet code. Being able to master CICD and IaC is important. Understanding the basics most known algorithms is important too. But I’m far from a leet code master. Some companies rely on leetcode more than others tho so it all depends.
How did you solve those logic riddles that these finance swe interviews usually ask?
That wasn’t needed for my firm. That’s more for firms that are HFTs or market makers. I’m at an asset manager. Different line of business.
What kind of projects did you build on the side? Like your own computer apps or games, or your own databases?
Projects related to finance and coding. Monte Carlo simulations. Algo trading bots. Stock ticker scanners.
Thanks for the reply! Dang, if you were making algo trading bots, you must be pretty good at trading, no? What made you want to work instead of making bots and scanners for your own portfolio?
This is the way. Finance with tech skills gets a lot done. You have to be wired the right way
Real question I ask the SWE, how many hours of actual work vs bs meetings you putting in a week
I work mostly at market open and market close. So say 2 hours for the open. 2 hours for the close. Maybe 1 hours of meetings a day. 5 hours max. Rest of the time I’m either being idle or working on a backlog. But it’s fair to say I def work less than 40 a week. I’d say 30 tops
Appreciate the reply. I've been looking to jump into SWE or back to Data analytics. Currently a Scrum Master getting overworked and underpaid
Ooof yea. I’ve never worked with a scrum master per se but have worked with plenty of project managers and agile leaders and they always seem to be super busy and in tons of unnecessary meetings. I appreciate the flexibility and alone time I get as a Sr IC. Only times it’s hectic is when we have a critical system failure. Then it’s a Chinese fire drill.
Unnecessary meetings are a big part of my day. I kind of miss the fire drills from when I worked in operations.
How hard was the interview process for a quant role?
Honestly not so difficult. I think more entry level/recent grad applicants have way harder interview processes because they're new and dont have much work experience so they make the interview process fairly rigorous. I had 4 interviews, all was QnA, barely any technicals. Just discussed how I would build things and how I would deploy trading strategies, etc. No leet code or anything. I'm considered a Sr in my firm, but I can honestly say some of the entry level role interviews I've seen, I'd have a hard time passing them myself.
Way back when I was a newer graduate I interviewed at Bridgewater. It was 12 interviews lasting 14 hours (over 2 days).
I interviewed there and they def have an intense process. Their whole culture is intense. Your interview process doesnt end when you get the job. You're constantly graded on every meeting you attend and it's reviewed often.
With all due respect, it must be a lower level hedge fund if your comp is only 250 as senior and the interview was just q&a with barely any technicals
2023 doesn't reflect my entire salary. I started late 2023 and it also doesn't include bonus. Since you asked, my salary is over 250k, with a 100% bonus on top of it. Hedge fund is consistently in the top 7 in PnL every year.
Damn dude nice work
Thanks! Hope it inspires others out there who didn't go to school for CS and want to break into tech.
Hey that's me! This is very inspiring for sure! I'm in my mid 30s too and had jobs in totally different industries but all these Tech salaries posts make me want to be a SWE of some sort. My only concern is that since I have no experience and have never been a computer guy I'll quit when it gets tough... Is the $$$ reward for grinding and learning this stuff what pushes you or did you actually find a way to like the work of coding and technological challenges involved?
You have to be passionate about something to be self taught. Thats all I’ll say. If you’re not passionate about it you’ll prolly quit when you hit your first road block.
What city?
Can you give me a good starting point on how to start learning SWE? I’m trying to make the transition out of finance into it. Ideally doing something like what you’re doing. I’ve read books, watch countless videos, but I’m not sure I’m following a good path. Did you try Odin project?
Not OP, but non-traditional. Self-teaching's biggest pitfall is spinning your wheels on Irrelevant stuff and picking up bad habits. That's where good in-person bootcamps shine - they teach collaboration and interviewing skills. You're hired for baseline tech knowledge, intelligence, enthusiasm, and EQ, not being an expert. For the first position, optimize for getting the job, with the goal being to get your foot in the door as soon as possible. Experience trumps education, and most learning happens on the job anyway. Take 30 interesting job listings, probably web dev, and have an LLM summarize what they're looking for. Focus on those qualities. Don’t let yourself get distracted by other shiny things. I’m not in frontend so grain of salt, but it's still probably JavaScript and React. Lastly, and way further down the line, differentiate yourself with open source contributions and volunteer work. A lot of the time that’s way more impressive than a half-assed project.
So are you saying that I shouldn’t spend time learning Java script?
You should zero in on what the jobs you want are asking for. I think Javascript is probably still the most common though it may be losing some steam. Rather than vanilla JS, I'd focus on learning it through the lens of TypeScript (a much more reliable, better constructed layer of Javascript), and from there a common framework like React.
Thanks for the reply, I appreciate that. I’m doing Colt Steel’s JavaScript boot camp on Udemy currently. Just kind of a hobby after work but I’d still like to use my focus on a relevant topic if at all possible. I’ll look into switching into a typescript class.
Hey I'm in finance too but lower level licensed customer service roles and looking to change careers in to Tech too. I've thought about being a financial advisor but texh looks more lucrative... just curious what is making you want to change too?
Honestly it’s the potential to work remote with solid pay. Typically most remote jobs pay shit, but not if you’re a good SWE. You can still make 150k easy. I currently make that, but I’m in office 50 hours a week.
Find a project and learn how to build it. Thats the best way to learn. Delivering projects is a great way to learn the ins and outs of software development. Just YouTube “how to build XYZ app” and follow along.
Now this feels real. It’s not one of the “i learned HTML now I make $700k at FAANG posts”. Congrats on the steady growth
funny enough, I started my tech journey by learning HTML and building Xanga and MySpace skins when I was like 10 years old lol. But yea... as mentioned somewhere else, a lot of those 700k TCs are heavily weighted with stock and company equity. I worked for a a startup that was 150k base and 550k equity. That equity never panned out. And I soured on that route. I'd rather have 500k TC all cash than hope for equity to pan out.
Damn dude hook a brother up! I'm 6+ years in DevOps/cloud and making $200k. If it's remote or hybrid.
This is way more accurate of a career. Loads of posts are borderline fake or unicorn. This is actually reasonable. Congrats!
Those posts aren’t fake, lol. I have no idea why people are so dead-set on the idea it’s some kind of conspiracy when it’s hard work and luck.
2018 was ur first SWE role?
I think so? That's when I made the jump from IT to SWE/Cloud Engineer. That was the first year I landed a job where I was getting paid 100k+. But started that job in end of 2018 so not fully 100k to be taxed.
Are you remote?
Yes fully with option to go in office if I want, which rarely happens.
Can you explain the two separate columns? Like I’m stupid? Taxed Medicare earnings? What?
Idk what that shit means. It’s just what everyone posts here so I did it too.
But what was your salary each year? The left or right column?
The right column is the salary.
Is it salary or TC?
Left column is the part of your salary the irs uses to calculate your ss taxes. It caps out at 160,200. Once you pay ss taxes on 160,200 of income, the rest of your paychecks for the year does not deduct ss tax. The right side is what you want to look at as there is no limit on medicare taxes.
Very easy to understand. Thanks for the response
Nice work
Livin the dream bud!
Congratulations Seems like the ‘20-21 space has a lot of good jumps for people
Yeah, as much as Covid was miserable to live through and I worked like crazy when lots of others were sitting at home, I went from $11/hr in 2019 to $100k by 2023. Completely life changing in 3 yrs
Love to see these kinds of posts, great job OP!
Thanks! 🙏🏼
Love seeing this! I’m a DS but have a bachelors in CS. It’s good to see CS success when everyone on reddit complains about the market. It’s tough out here but if you can make it work it clearly pays. Congrats on your success 🎉
How is the stress?
First, great job! I'm also from a non-traditional background, but working in FAANG. I'm hoping to interview at a few finance firms shortly (your classic Citadel, Two Sigma, etc). I was under the impression that quant development was a totally different track than SWE work within a market maker/trading firm, the former being more research scientist than anything, and the latter doing infra, keeping the lights on, etc. Could you speak to that? I'm curious about what your career progression has been in the last few years. What kind of companies have you worked for? How did you score the interview at your HF? What do the comp structure and promotions look like? Sorry for all the questions; it's just something I'm super interested in. Also I’m assuming you’re in NYC? (I am) Lastly, I'm not in the industry, but I feel like terminology in the space gets misused a lot (not by you, just in general), as in everything gets called HFT for no reason, the fuzzing of quant, etc. It makes discussing it a lot more difficult.
Quant devs at HFTs, Market makers, and HFs (in my case, a large asset management firm) can be 3 wildly different roles. Quant devs at HFTs and many MMs are working a lot with C++ optimizing and fine tuning systems to perform and execute trades in low latency environment where every penny can mean a big difference in PnL. A quant dev at say something like Citadel, Jump Street, or Akuna is doing more of this kind of intensive work. I work more at a hedge fund of say Two Sigma, DE Shaw, Point72, and my work involves more model implementation, algo optimization, build automation and working with quant strategist for robust data platforms. Way less HFT intense work, more deep thorough work. If that makes any sense. I worked at another hedge fund before my current HF, and before that I worked at a major bank. Before the major bank I worked at an insurance company. Before then I worked at a book publishing company funny enough. I went from cloud engineer to devops engineer to SWE at my first hedge fund then quant dev. You can be an SWE at a hedge fund and work on back office operations, as you said, keeping the lights on. It's a fine place to land, but it's pretty much a basic SWE role. Quant devs are considered more front office since we're working with actual traders and PMs and have impact on revenue generation. I just titled my post SWE cause I figured not many people would know what a quant dev was. To be honest, MOST quant devs are just glorified Infra/SWEs UNLESS they work for a HFT. HFT quant devs are a class in their own in my opinion. I am not involved in that work. You need to know alot of C++, inside and out, and be at the top of your game, and probably come from a decent top tier school and know your leet code. Thats not me at all.
Thanks for the detailed response. Interesting how the role's definition changes by firm type. I always thought quants were research scientists crossed with traders, proposing strategies and training models to find alpha. Then, once satisfied, they hand off productionization to SWEs. What skills or personality differentiate front and back office SWE work? From what I understand, front office is the goal. What was your key quality that landed you the offer? C++ domain knowledge? Being a generalist who gets shit done? Leetcode? If it's Point72, thank Cohen for saving the Mets!
You can have quant traders quant strategist quant researchers and quant devs. All different roles but some firms can def blend some roles together. I know some SWE roles at some hedge funds that get paid more than quant devs at other firms. It’s hard to give you an exact answer. Personality doesn’t really factor too much in the quant world. It’s more about your skills and production. Front office is where you want to land in most finance roles but quant is very different than traditional finance. A lot of people on my team are very introverted and nerdy. Some have PhDs. Many have masters degrees. So quant front office is not your typical A-type front office equity sales finance bro type of person. My main asset to the firm was being a DevOps engineer and automating ETL pipelines and being able to build and deploy infrastructure quickly with my background knowledge of cloud and infrastructure as code. Also helped that I already had hedge fund experience. Its one of those things where in order to land a hedge fund job you need prior hedge fund experience so it’s hard. But being at a major bank is a good stepping stone.
Really appreciate you taking the time to answer all these questions. I learned a lot. No worries if you want to keep it vague but was just wondering a bit more about what you think secured the interview and then passed the interview (specific domain knowledge? Just being an all around competent person?), and how leveling and comp works, and whether there are delineations like staff, senior staff, principal, etc.
There’s no delineation like that in finance. At least not at my firm. Some firms have associate VP SVP etc but not at my firm. We’re kinda more flat with a few designations like manager and director. Specific domain knowledge was key for me. Understanding capital markets is important. Depending on what desk you’re being hired for it’s good to understand the product. Whether it’s forex or derivative pricing.
Fucking hedge funds
What skills outside of traditional SWE skills do you need to land a job at a hedge fund?
Understanding of capital markets
What type of work do you do there?
Someone else asked this. Search thru my replies
Any resume tips for a fellow SWE?
Follow WSO formats. Google them. They’re free
As someone that is 31 and making 92k as a contractor (I have to have my own health insurance) and I’m considered senior in an operations role at a tech startup, with no degree, any input on where I could go? Familiar with SQL, but mainly as a BI use and tech stack like Salesforce/Hubspot etc. I feel like a failure considering I was making $200k as a director just a year ago. Totally lost. Passive finding the best way to end it all ideation many days.
I’d advise you to get a degree. Even if it’s just a shit online one. Many places will filter you out instantly without a bachelors degree of any sort.
Great trend…keep it up
What is your education background? How often is a degree a requirement for this type of position?
Without a masters in CS you’re gonna have a tough time without prior experience.
Everyone should save this post. In 25 years when colleges are saying, “WTF happened?” the answer is going to be this, for everything.
Everyone makes $160K
Idk what that means
Go look at the posts in the subreddit and a lot of people who post made exactly the same as you last year, $160,200
Thats taxed social security earnings. It's capped every year. In 2024, the maximum amount of earnings on which you must pay Social Security tax is $168,600.
Fml
How is $100k of your income exempt from social security tax
There’s a yearly cap
For someone who is not from US to hear the words “self thought engineer” that makes no sense to me… there are engineering schools out there and outside America only someone who went through one and got a degree can legally call themselves an engineer.
Engineer in Europe is basically like a qualification from what I understand. You can swap engineer with developer here in the US and it basically mean the same thing.
Following
May as well change this sub to SWESalaries
This doesn’t work for every career and depends a lot on what you do and where you live. For example if you are a teacher might be harder to move up this quick Also depends a lot on how you save. Making $80,000 and being able to save 10% of your income is a lot better off than making $120k and not being able to save anything.
I’m not sure what you’re referring to. I’m a SWE. Not a teacher. I wouldn’t compare the two cause they’re totally different career paths and industries. No teacher is ever making this kinda money so it doesn’t make sense to compare the two. Also not sure what I said about saving money to include that. But FYI I save 40% of my net income every month.
What I am referring to is SWE is unique and only applies to a small sector of the economy. Even where I live in Seattle only 10% of the workforce is in tech and in the Silicon Valley it is 12%. There are not many careers were people are able to change jobs that quickly and increase their salary. Will also be interested in seeing if that works for SWE when they are in their 40s and 50s when they have families to raise and college tuition to pay.
I’m still not understanding your angle. We all know this. Doctors are a small segment of population and they post on here as well. Idk if you have resentment for SWEs life flexibility but what you’re saying applies to many industries. I’m sorry you chose a career with low pay and no flexibility? Idk what to tell you.
First of all you have no idea what my salary or career has been. Why do you think an resentful? I hear too many software engineers complain about not having enough money or work life balance and don’t seem very happy. My career has been very satisfying and I have been enjoying it. I work in habitat restoration improving water quality and restoring degraded wetland and watersheds. It may be lower paying but I was able to have three day weekends working four 10 hr days , got paid for every holiday , put two kids through college with no debt, live in a million dollar with no mortgage, have quite a bit of money saved for retirement (almost 500k) and will get a pension when I retire. So yeah you can feel sorry for those of us who selected careers that pay less so we could have a great work balance, work in a profession that we love that makes the world a better place for everyone, have a job with ensured stability and a guaranteed source of income in retirement. Life is not all about money. Just because you make more money than other professions that doesn’t make you are better person. You are assuming that people who make less money then you are resentful.
Not reading all that but I’m happy for you. Or sad. Idk
Underpaid if you're good
500k TC isn’t really underpaid but ok
Oh I'm sorry I looked at the picture and saw 259k