If you're determined to stay in finance, you'll probably have to stick to this model. But for a finance professional, there are many opportunities in other lines of business.
Most finance roles don't anymore. There's a large supply of candidates looking for roles across finance in e.g. NYC, but the industry is also shrinking in many areas, leading to compensation compression. I'm particularly thinking of sell-side roles.
You're quite right. He didn't leave finance, you often see traders leave banks and set up broker houses or hedge funds. Same stuff, different building.
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.
I'm not so sure this is the case. Even though finance is usually an easier environment (e.g. the markets aren't open 24/7 so the apps usually don't have high availability) the people hiring there think that if you haven't worked in finance you can't work in finance.
I wonder if there are additional restrictions based on being in financial services. It may require different licenses, registrations, insurance and employer regulations (e.g. different collective bargaining agreement) compared to traditional industries.
There is actually a wellspring: quantitative finance.
There were many people drawn by the allure of finance back in 2006-2008 and are now thinking of leaving. Generally people have enough money to carry themselves for some time on a low salary, have the risk tolerance (after all, they can cover themeselves), and can work at all hours.
> One advantage people don't often talk about with finance industry jobs is their incredibly lax moonlighting clauses.
Interesting. My first programming job was in a finance company who had a "we own everything you make, here or at home" policy. My manager said most finance companies would rather pay people more than have them working on things outside of work, which I took at face value. Knowing that was how I enjoy learning most, it was a big factor in my leaving.
> I initially discarded financial as I assumed it would be long hours and legacy code (and I don't dig suits) but a recent oconversation mention that it may be normal hours (37.5h/week), very decent pay and benefits and interesting technology. Is that true?
You can end up in finance doing SAP integration, spending most of your day thinking about the quickest way to get fired... or, you can end up in finance writing distributed real-time software for high-frequency trading, solving cutting edge technical problems while also raking in cash. The choice is yours.
(I mention this only because I once applied for a London based job. The description was almost exactly what I just wrote, with a salary of 150,000 GBP annually. Unfortunately I didn't get the job, but hey, worth a shot :)
If you're looking to work in finance, try switching directly into a finance job before putting down the money for a MBA or MSF. You'd be surprised how receptive the finance community is towards programmers.
Working in finance or banking will severly restrict your ability to do this. Definitely review your contract if you work in or plan to work in these areas.
It is very common. But the money is good, isn't it? :) If it isn't then you are missing out on the only real benefit of working in the finance industry.
If you're determined to stay in finance, you'll probably have to stick to this model. But for a finance professional, there are many opportunities in other lines of business.
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