HACKER Q&A
📣 finalh

What career path should I take as a student about to graduate?


I currently have 3 fields I could pursue as a student almost about to graduate: SWE at a HFT trading company, big tech, and startups. I want to end up creating my own tech startup in the future. I've heard if I want to do this, I should just start doing startups after college. However, I have a few concerns and thoughts of my own. What I'm saying next is due to my limited understanding of each field, so please correct any blatant mistakes you see me make.

My primary concern with working in startups after college is lack of name brand and unsure of career mobility. I worry that if I spend a long time building startups and failing, I will have very limited opportunities to enter big tech, or be heavily downleveled compared to starting in big tech.

Big tech is kind of the happy medium for me, I was wondering if staying for a few years here for the resume value and learning good software engineering principles would be valuable. Also, with the increased pay relative to startups, I feel myself feeling safer due to being able to build a bigger financial cushion for myself. But the pay is not as good as the HFT company and the skills won't be as direct as working at the startup.

And the last option is HFT. Specifically, one of Jane Street/HRT/Jump Trading. The primary benefits I can think of are the extremely high pay and meeting very intelligent people. Going down this path would mean I would try to earn enough for financial freedom, and then join the startup world without worrying about money at all. In addition, I hope I can convince someone planning to end their quant career to join me in building startups. I also feel it's the easiest to change out of HFT and into either big tech or startups. But my primary concerns is the lack of transferrable skills. I understand that working here will be very different from the vast majority of startup work.

I'm currently leaning towards the HFT route, but am feeling pretty lost and confused towards the entire thing. I'm wondering if I'm making a big mistake, and would really appreciate if anyone had insight into this. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

  👤 hunglee2 Accepted Answer ✓
Honestly.....name brand is important as first employer. It's not decisive, but it will be a door opener for future career openings. In recruiting, there is massive familiarity bias when looking at candidate profiles - those with employers recruiters and hiring managers recognise, gain a huge advantage. This is not the world as it should be, but it is the world as it is. Obviously the role your choose should provide good, challenging work, strong network and fair remuneration, but all things being equal, do the name brand employer first
👤 dieselgate
Money is nice but it doesn’t appear you’ll be lacking it over the course of your career. Early on I personally find it more valuable to learn everything you can from anyone and “make good mistakes” by being willing to take risks and trying different things - but that’s not very actionable. You’re the only person who knows what’s best for your situation, good luck
👤 verdverm
My advice for a new graduate / entry level position is to optimize for mentoring and continued learning. Emphasize this during the interview process. If you can get into a brand name tech company, that can be a resume booster for the next opportunity.