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Ask HN: Jump from quant finance into tech startup

5 points by brianchandbound ↗ HN
Hi Hacker news! I am considering leaving my career in quantitative finance (2+ yes) to join a tech startup (none in mind ATM).

Has anyone in the community made a similar jump?

Did you find it difficult or realize any considerations in terms of skill set reqiired, lifestyle, and/or compensation ?

Thanks all for the tips or advice!

7 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 19.9 ms ] thread
calcsam
When you say quant finance, do you mean you're an Excel ninja? Or that you do your work in code? That will make a big difference.
brianchandbound
Thanks--that would certainly be good to clarify.

I work at a major hf in C++/R and do a large amount of data analysis and signal generation research. A bit of excel too :)

calcsam
Well, one idea if you're interested -- you could email me at samb@zenefits.com and I can put you in for an engineering role here :) A lot of the other engineers here actually came from similar roles at, ie, GS and DE Shaw.

More generally, I would look in places where your financial services experience will be appreciated. Financial tech, for sure, but really any enterprise SaaS company will appreciate people with programming skills and business sensibilities.

_random_
"...compensation..."

Trading a high probability of a decent bonus for a low probability of a half-decent equity payout (I guess, also no unicorns).

akg_67
With questions like this, 2015 hype cycle has started to look like 1999 hype cycle.

I will encourage OP to read this Quora thread before considering such a move.

What was Silicon Valley like after the bubble burst in the early 2000s?

http://qr.ae/BgEva

Are you unhappy with your job and the domain you work in and want to make a career switch? Do you want to make this move mainly because tech startup is right now hot and you think you can roll the dice and get rich quick? You may want to read up on what happen to people who made such moves during last hype cycles.

yetanotheracc
From the Quora thread: "Then I took a real job for 18 horrible months and banked enough to go independent again.

Those years left a permanent impression on me."

God, have mercy...