Ex-finance guy here, though I went against the grain and didn't go for financial companies, trying to stay close to where you came from is a solid strategy. Especially if you have some sort of business experience and a level of maturity about you, a lot of companies will be quite eager to take you on because you know the field.
But how do you get to the point where you're even attractive to these companies? Without being from a target school or having an insane number of years of experience?
Also the finance companies, you mean a job in the front right? Programming tools or whatever?
I encourage you to reconsider the things you ruled out. I had some pretty odd views about companies before I started work and I don’t think they’re so correct now.
In particular, you’ll probably find parts of finance most culturally familiar to you (eg this link posted today https://puzzles.nigelcoldwell.co.uk/ which doesn’t really capture that much about interviews but does give some indication of some interests of some of the people who work there). Obviously there is also lots of low-level programming that matters in some parts of finance too.
I don’t think I’ll convince you of much in this comment so I will just note that (a) jobs/culture can be quite varied between different kinds of companies (investment banks v hedge funds v hft v companies that sell services instead of trading), (b) companies are quieter and less good at presenting a good brand than eg big tech so online you may get a worse impression. And I would recommend that you try to find some people you know from school who went into careers like that and ask them what they think about them.
There are other ways of thinking of it too, for example by not working in a higher paying job, you are in some sense giving the difference in income to your employer as if they were a charity (ie if you could get $x for your labour but get $y, it’s like you’re giving $(y-x) to your employer) so you may want to feel that is a deal you’re happy with. If you work for a charity then maybe that feels like a good deal to you, and that’s obviously fine too.
Finance means that, probably. Fintech isn't the same ballgame.
Work for a startup and you'll have an embarrassment of riches for learning opportunities. Work in finance and you'll likely need to take some initiative, and earn and deploy some political capital, to make your own.
Right now, though, it's time to be looking for a safe port above all else. If you're young and good, you won't have trouble ending up with a compelling story to tell about your time with BigCo. In the meantime you want to think about how much worrying you'd like to do about where your next check's coming from.
I know most industries want to hire people from the same industry, but based on my experience, finance seems to be the most closed minded (or least flexible in terms of at least entertaining initial phone screening)
Do you speak from experience? I'd be fairly hesitant dealing with anyone who came from finance who I didn't have a pre-existing relationship with, just because the proportion of sharks is much, much higher there, and their political instincts and grasp of the relevant corporate structures are likely to be so much better than yours. They'll be able to screw you over if they decide to, and they're a lot more likely to.
People act like finance is some secret inner sanctum, but it isn't. Finance companies/hedge funds advertise on job boards like any other company. They also often use very aggressive recruiters so finding the recruiting company du jour in your area and talking to them can help.
I spent my first few years out of college working for an investment bank, and feel the same way as the piece author – I have no regrets leaving. Finance can be a great way to start / springboard your career: I sharpened my analytical mind, saw how companies worked under-the-hood, really learned how to work hard and was able to save some money. But as a long-term profession, at least in the area I was in, it's brutal. The job took a huge toll on the people that stayed with the career for 5-10 years. And like the author said, once you're making insanely great money it's hard to give that up.
When my (now wife) and I went to my going away party, she was approached by many of the other banker's wives. They said they were so happy for her that I was leaving the industry, and expressed the difficulties the lifestyle presented to raising a family and relationships. I loved the people I worked with - they were hard working, honest, great people. But only an all-consuming industry could generate this kind of response from the families of my co-workers.
After my stint in banking, I left to start my own company which I've been doing full-time for nearly five years. And while banking provided the initial savings safety net to scale-up the business I couldn't imagine going back. For anyone interested in the full story of my departure from finance, I wrote about it in the post below:
I'm not huge into finance, can you tell me what it's supposed to give me an idea about? It seems like he's talking about his early career in the context of possible advice for people starting out.
Some of it is career advice that would be applicable to other fields too -- talking about education, building connections and networks, getting your foot in the door at a company, etc.
OP here - I agree with this. If you're at an Ivy the banks and consulting firms come to you, then it's just a matter of 1) studying the basic interview questions and being able to speak semi-intelligently about financial topics and 2) interviewing a ton until you find a firm with people similar to you and like your personality.
I left because I was depressed during the job and realized I wanted work with fewer hours that was more intellectually challenging. I saw people 2-3 years ahead of me in their careers leaving for startups and thought I'd skip the 2 years of misery and do that straight away.
Yes and a lot of finance jobs fall into this category including investment banking, hedge funds and VC firms. The more selective ones will typically only consider people from a few schools. It's just a way filter.
Because it's not only a matter of salary, you have to put "all in the balance" when considering a potential move. Personally, I was giving a lot of value to the mobility within the company.
I started as a computer scientist in a bank and became a trader a couple of years later.
Outside of my company, it would not have been possible because I didn't study finance.
I think it's quite common for CS grads to choose finance as a second choice after the big tech companies. Few people see it as an exciting as these banks try to portray themselves. I know several people who took an offer from a big four company to leave from a bank the first chance they got.
> Get the experience you want ASAP, invest as much of your salary as you can, and then job hop.
This works in tech but not necessarily in other white collar fields like finance. In finance, there is an unwritten rule that you are supposed to settle with a firm by ~30-35 and stay there for the rest of your career. Many firms don't hire laterally unless they have no other choice. Professionals like investment bankers and CFAs are recruited straight out of university and groomed to assume leadership positions in the long term.
Money. The amount of Money one can make in finance is the appeal. I graduated with my engineering degree ~8 years ago, if I knew in college what I know today about what any "real world" work environment/income levels are, I would have gone into the finance sector, hands down. Its's not too late for you. Sell out, cash in.
reply