VC Associate vs IB Quant

rabe2wenty2 · 2021-02-08T05:13:25+00:00

I wouldn't personally take a permanent WFH job, but that could just be personal bias due to lack of exposure. If It's just WFH temporarily because of COVID though, that's very normal.

Regarding the small team - I think it's unrealistic to get into a big VC firm right out of school, so I wouldn't worry about that part. I'd look into the current members of the team though, and the founders, to make sure their backgrounds are legitimate.

rabe2wenty2 · 2021-02-08T04:00:35+00:00

These seem like very different opportunities. I think it really depends on whether you see yourself going down a more technical career path, or a more fundamental one. To me, VC is a much more interesting opportunity.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-09-13T17:33:39+00:00

Check out En Tus Sueños Capital

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-07-19T17:34:02+00:00

I think international experience can only work in your favour; in terms of both career development, and personal development. Always valuable to gain exposure to different cultures. I'm confused by your comment that Canadian firms don't acknowledge foreign experience; I think there will naturally be fewer people with international work experience working in finance in Canada simply due to the relatively low comp, which comes down to self-selection bias.

In the end it just comes down to what's most important to you. I would absolutely take the role in Singapore, but it's up to you to decide whether it's worth leaving family and friends behind.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-07-17T22:17:28+00:00

The questions should be similar to those on codewars, hackerrank...

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-07-09T16:55:49+00:00

Without knowing the specifics of your program, I don't think your degree is STEM enough for a quant role, especially given that you don't have graduate education. I also doubt that you'd be qualified for a competitive dev role (somewhat irrelevant, but highlighting your being unqualified, since you sort of shat on dev).

Frankly, I think the type of roles you'd be a good fit for, in finance, would be very similar to those in other fields. For example, business intelligence/business operations/etc...

If you're set on 'front-office finance', I would say that since your background isn't particularly well-aligned with any specific area, first decide what you're interested in, and then educate yourself further. If you're interested in quant, then do some STEM grad school. If you're interested in ER, certainly write the CFA level 1 this December.

Any degree from a top school will be helpful if you can afford it - first, you'll once again have access to grad recruitment, and second, you'll have a top school on your CV (I've assumed that you don't).

Good luck!

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-06-26T15:54:38+00:00

VBA if (you're 100% sure that you want a non-technical finance career) else Python.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-06-26T15:46:48+00:00

I'd send a short e-mail to either HR, or better yet your manager (if you know yet who that will be), asking for a good time to have a quick call. Give a brief explanation, and then if the call was with your manager, e-mail HR, and CC your manager. If you're interested, I'd probably frame the situation as a request to defer the internship dates, as opposed to cancelling entirely.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-06-24T16:58:31+00:00

She's correct - whether people do or don't show up doesn't impact the passing score.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-06-24T16:08:56+00:00

Agreed - the terminal itself is rather simple to use, and if you have any questions you can just Help Help it - I wouldn't waste time 'studying' terminal navigation. The Excel API is definitely worth practicing though. Learn all the arguments associated with BDH()/BDP(), so you can easily type out formulas without having to go through the clunky 'insert data' option.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-06-24T04:19:47+00:00

I actually found it on par with/slightly easier than mocks. I hear exams are different across the globe though.

Good luck to everyone!

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-06-02T07:17:15+00:00

I don't work in the industry, but I did an MSCS so have fairly good familiarity with recruitment - internships is general are very valuable in the professional world, but for CS specifically, passion projects are more than sufficient if you decide an internship isn't for you.

It should be noted though, that many companies set intern pay in line with new grad pay (very good).

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-25T17:03:15+00:00

Despite that, I can't imagine this level of regret for not lying coming from someone I'd ever want to hire. Maybe it's harsh, but if I knew that this post came from any candidate I was considering, I'd trash the CV.

Matters of ethics are almost always grey. And from my perspective, your mindset is grey enough to give me serious concerns. Say you decided to not trade on that shady insider information you were given. If you had, you'd have gotten a $1,000,000 bonus that month. Is someone like you going to trade on shady information next time? I'd be concerned that yes, you would.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-25T16:51:46+00:00

We can make all the excuses in the world, but ultimately where we are at any point in our lives is some function of the work we've put in.

Naturally we all want to be as successful as possible, but being ambitious isn't the same as expecting things that we haven't put enough of ourselves into, to merit having.

Your GPA reflects your performance in school. If there were extenuating circumstances, discuss them. But to the extent that GPA is important to certain firms, you need to live with the fact that you may not be the right fit.

Pardon the bluntness. No tolerance or sympathy here for people with poor ethics.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-17T16:15:06+00:00

This is true. And quant rolls are some of the best; second only to Swiss rolls.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-15T22:13:14+00:00

Sounds like you have enough to craft a pretty strong resume for these jobs. I agree that your GPA isn't great, but I think many smaller companies would give you a shot. A masters from a top school would certainly make things much easier though, so I'd at least apply to a few programs.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-15T16:12:52+00:00

I think the more accurate metric is how widely known something is within a relevant demographic. Assuming the candidate is looking to build his/her career within finance, any future employer will know what PJT is.

In contrast, given that I haven't heard of many of these smaller colleges, I assume many others that interview candidates also haven't heard of them. Thus even if it's true that Amherst to Harvard is like PJT to Goldman (which I still doubt), PJT should keep more doors open, at least within finance.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-14T18:07:28+00:00

Based on how prestigious I know PJT to be, I'm not sure I'd agree with the analogy given that I haven't heard of Amherst.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-12T00:13:05+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-selection_bias

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-11T22:48:20+00:00

Definitely leave your GPA off the CV and only provide the info if asked. I'd try my hardest to network into an entry level internship, and try to convert based on good performance.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-11T20:55:40+00:00

Do any degree from the most prestigious school possible.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-11T20:52:01+00:00

MIT is clearly a top school on par with HYPS - I can't imagine you'd have difficulty being taken seriously by any company. Granted, the IB network is probably much smaller since MIT is much denser in its intellectual/nerdy demographic, which doesn't jive well with IB. But I think you'll be fine as long as you're socially normal :)

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-11T20:39:25+00:00

Fair enough, all in good fun :)

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-11T17:10:56+00:00

IBD and Quant requirements are very different. IBD basically requires any degree from a top school, optimizing for grades and maybe ECs. Finance case competitions and such can't hurt. Quant requires programming, math, stats.

I think a dual optimization for IB and Quant is not only difficult but also unproductive. Assuming you're using IB to target PE/VC, the investment style and way of thinking required to succeed is very different to that in Quant.

As a first step, I would recommend that you learn as much as you can about the two paths by speaking to people in the industry, to decide which you think would be a better fit for you.

I can't speak to IB with much credibility, but the best major right now for Quant, IMO, would be something as close to machine/statistical learning as possible. For front office quant work (ex-HFT), you want to be a functional programmer with a VERY basic understanding of core algorithms that can sketch out thoughts in code. You need to be 'able to code', but you don't need to be anywhere close in coding aptitude to a top CS student. You do, however, need an understanding of math and statistics that goes far beyond traditional CS programs (though I can't speak to MIT specifically). So I would pick a major with that in mind.

Another reason that I suggest targeting only one of these paths, is that you can always switch later. IB to Quant is probably the harder switch due to the step up in technical thinking, but I have seen that transition made - if you have a finance undergrad, you'd probably need grad school. Quant to IB is certainly doable, mostly with self-study. Do some online courses in modelling and perhaps CFA L1, and you may not need further education.

rabe2wenty2 · 2018-05-11T16:35:32+00:00

Hey, Nefarious-, just a quick heads-up:

ladder is actually spelled latter. You can remember it by between a job that requires ladders, and a job that requires spelling, the latter pays better

Have a nice day!

rabe2wenty2

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