I've had experience interning out at a large Silicon Valley company(soon to be two). It's been a blast, and I've had a ton of fun. I've gotten a pretty good feel for how Silicon Valley operates, and I know I'd be happy taking a full-time offer out there. However, part of me wonders what other possibilities there are beyond the Bay Area.<p>One particular area which I'm curious about is finance. My (limited) understanding of software engineering in finance is that developers are treated as second-class citizens, paid comparatively poorly(though not absolutely) to traders, and are expected to put in long hours. The last part doesn't bother me so much, but I am curious about the first two aspects.<p>I'd be interested to hear from people working in finance on the following questions:<p>- Is it true that developers are treated like support staff to traders?<p>- To be blunt: What are typical salaries for software engineers in finance?<p>- For those who have experience working in the Valley as well: how does it compare?
I completed an internship at a large bank this summer in their Technology Analyst program. They basically house all the technical people into technology and it ranges from IT people to developers. Within the world of finance front office > all and are treated like it and treat others like crap. If you're really interested in working in finance as a developer I would look into either doing quant development or working at a respected proprietary trading firm like Susquehanna International Group, Optiver, GETCO, Jane Street, etc. These firms are definitely more quant and your development skills will be utilized here far more than at a large bank. Hope this helps.
tl;dr: at most banks, the traders directly drive pnl. developers are seen as secondary since they treat the process as developers supporting traders. At other places, the developers are the true source of "alpha", and there the developers are treated like rock stars.<p>"developers are treated as second-class citizens" <-- partially true<p>There are two classes of developers: those who drive pnl and tose who don't.<p>To give an example, I built an ultra low latency trading operation. My development [granted, it was only part of my work process] directly resulted in pnl and it could be proven.<p>Some of my friends worked in the IT departments of some investment banks (GS, MS, JPM, etc). Many of them are doing things which do not directly generate pnl, nor could their work be attributed to the revenue of any division.<p>"paid comparatively poorly(though not absolutely) to traders" <-- partially true<p>Traders are paid more because it is easier to attribute pnl to them. Developers in a quantitative shop are paid better than the traders, because in those contexts the developers bring more value to the process than traders.<p>"are expected to put in long hours" <-- partially true<p>I've never had to work outside of 9-6. However, in some places, where they care about headcount, people work longer hours.<p>"- Is it true that developers are treated like support staff to traders?"<p>Depends on the place<p>"- To be blunt: What are typical salaries for software engineers in finance?"<p>For support, salaries are like 70K. At a quant shop, you are looking at like 100-150K. At a hft developer, 200-300K is pretty common (but those jobs are hard to land, mainly because those funds arent doing as well thanks to a low VIX)<p>"- For those who have experience working in the Valley as well: how does it compare?"<p>Cannot say