Citadel Operations? What to Expect?
Hi everyone, new to the forum here. I'm a rising senior at an Ivy League institution, and earlier this year, I accepted an internship at Citadel as an Operations Intern. As a student who favors data science and programming over pure finance, I thought this would be a good opportunity. I was drawn in by the brand name of the firm as well as the compensation and amenities for this internship. However, recently I've begun to experience second thoughts since I am unsure of what to expect from an operations role and confused about whether such a role truly aligns with my long-term interests in data science, statistical analysis, etc. I'm a fairly math-inclined individual, and my studies have not been focused on the pure-play finance focused pursuits of my IB/PE peers. I'm somewhat uncertain upon what I want in terms of my future career growth, but I know I want to be in data science and to be at the intersection between business and tech.
I'm posting in the IB forum since I expect you all to have strong engagement and responses.
What does an operations role entail at Citadel? Is it as prestigious and well-regarded, not in terms of image (I don't care about that), but in terms of exit opportunities, brand name, and future career growth opportunities as, say, a pure-play investment banking summer analyst role? I am unsure whether this job suits my aspirations or whether I made a mistake in accepting it, as advisors in my career development center have mentioned that this role, while having a good brand name, is comparable to a sort of "Equities in Dallas" role at Citadel, in the sense that it is a mid-tier role at a solid company.
I would love to hear any insights you all have. Thank you in advance, everyone.
Bump.
Bump, in a similar situation
Bump, hoping this gains more traction.
Stop over thinking it! If nothing else, the citadel name brand will carry you early on in your career. I think you should be more worried about how your experience in operations at citadel will provide you with a basis to build on for a data science career... What kind of work will you be doing? Are you going to be manually entering data into a spreadsheet (not ideal) or will you be working on ML scripts to automate and improve operational processes (ideal.) I imagine at citadel you will be doing the latter... For the meantime, enjoy the comp and amenities you mentioned for this summer and try to learn as much as you can. Regardless of what division you work in at citadel, there will be tons of opportunity to learn and develop your skills. At the end of the day, be grateful (I heard citadel's intern acceptance rate was <1% this year, and that includes operations.)
Also, all it took was a quick search in linkedin to find where previous operations interns at citadel ended up. Former interns are going everywhere from wells fargo, bofa, and citi to HFs. I don't think you have to worry to much about being pigeon-holed early in your career. The case would be different if you were ops at a IB firm, but Citadel's reputation outweighs any negative connotation of operations.
If you are really interested in a career in ds, consider pursuing a MS degree after graduation. Most of the good ds jobs these days prefer applicants have a grad degree anyways... In this case, the Citadel name will help you even more.
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