"First tier" vs "Second tier" quant firm
Hi there,
I have a quant internship offer in London. The firm is quite well-known, but would be considered "second tier" by many people (think Point72/Cubist, DRW, SquarePoint, GSA Capital).
I was wondering how much do I miss out on in terms of experience (and long-term benefit for my career) compared to interning at a "first tier" firm (think Citadel, D.E. Shaw, Jump, G-Research). I interviewed at most places mentioned in this post (reaching final round with a few, and smashing most of the interview questions).
I am in penultimate year of my grad program, so in a year's time I'll likely be applying for full-time jobs rather than internships. Will I realistically have a shot at a full-time position at one of the "first tier" places?
As for my previous experience, I have done internships at a bank and at a less known hedge fund. As for my long-term career goal, I would like to spearhead a group of researchers/run my own book.
Thank you very much
Stop thinking about tiers, it doesn’t work that way. The firms you mention are wildly different (as wildly different as you can be in similar industry). You have HF, prop, and some high frequency/market making all lumped together. You also have MM firms with cultures that couldn’t be more different (p72 vs drw vs Jane street will feel extremely different).
All are good places, work toward figuring out where you want to work taking into account the culture, lifestyle, development opportunities, pay, etc whatever you prioritize in life, but please don’t think about tiers.
Thanks a lot for your reply. Yeah I mentioned DRW just as an example of a firm considered "second tier" by some, I understand it is different from a hedge fund like Citadel/p72/Shaw.
So are you saying that for longer-term career development, what I do during the internship would count more than the perceived "tier" of the firm (for the aforementioned firms)? Thank you
What is going to give you the biggest help is working at a place where you enjoy the culture (fit in well, etc), have the right development opportunities and will learn the most. Look for a place you want to work at long term (the people, work, culture, pay, etc), working at a “tier 1” place where you aren’t happy is going to be much worse for your career than working at a place you enjoy.
Absolutely hate students like this, haha. Had someone trying to network with me and I went out of my way to take a call, explain what options market-makers do, talk more about my team, and somehow he slips in "Tiers" of Prop Trading firms and talks about how he's super excited to apply to Citadel and Jane Street earlier this year and assumed the Tier 2 recruiting process would still be open. Definitely do not talk like that or bring this up in person at all. I hung up and then laughed with my colleagues at this guy - didn't tell anyone to blacklist him or anything as it's not my place to do that because I know it wasn't intentional but man... be cognizant of the people you're talking to lol. I know Akuna is a "Tier 2" OMM but the desk I'm on and myself specifically killed it this year and I'm making 2x+ my TC from my 1st-year grad offer this year. So > 500K which I know is definitely higher than some of the new grad offers at the T1 OMM's - IMC/DRW/Optiver.
Thanks a lot for your response, and apologies if I sounded ignorant. I just keep hearing about "tiers" from fellow students, hence decided to ask this question ("tier" of each firm listed is merely opinion of my fellow students).
Hi,
From your experience so far, can you give any advice to a first-year undergraduate looking to beak into Hedge funds/PropTrading/HFT? Like should I start trading or focus more on becoming perfect in coding and solidifying my Mathematical ability?
Thanks .
I see how you feel, having applied to quant firms this year too.
Ultimately, there's not really a point in putting firms into tiers. Sure, Jane Street and Citadel are more well known, hence they attract a higher volume of applications, and compensation might be slightly higher. But in the end, all of these quant firms:
Well done for getting the internship offer, and best of luck trying to convert it :)
Tiering is really in the eyes of the beholder and not really applicable once 3 yrs out of school imo
I was at a tier one (by size, pnl) firm in my space, but it was super bureaucratic and I hated it. Moved to a tier two (smaller, more efficient) and I'm learning a ton.
Point is that it's more important to get on a good team with more legroom than worrying about what company's swag you're gonna rock
GSA capital is 2nd tier? Something is wrong with the ranking.
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