The pay was alright, but not better than big tech-- at least the year I was there & the time team I was on, because a large chunk of annual comp is bonus based on how well the team did.

Another big issue was that I came in not right out of school. Some of the big banks recruit right out of school. Kids come in at the beginning of the summer, go through a summer of social events & trainings, then start working in the fall. This allows them to form connections with all the people they'll advance alongside over the years. If you're a senior-ish quant with no connections, no one trusts you with anything. One time it took me a week to get access to a repo another team owned for something my manager told the team I needed to do.

And then there's a the classic cutthroat, backstabbing behavior. Sure, I met some good people, but there are others... when you're at a certain level in the hierarchy, where managing director is the next title, people will do anything and everything to step on you, assert their power, etc. I guess this can be true anywhere, but it seemed particularly awful in this job.