How to swap from Big Tech to HFT? And is it worth it? /u/Ok-Cartographer-5544 CSCQ protests reddit

I have 1 YoE, working at a well known, big tech company. My current plan is to jump to an HFT company in the next year and work in that space over the long term.

Why?

1. I like the cities where these jobs are located. I prefer Chicago and NYC over SF and Seattle for a variety of reasons.

2. I like finance, and see it as an ideal industry to apply my skillset to and grow over time.

Potential cons that I can see are WLB (I’ve heard that some companies run like sweatshops, which most big tech companies are fairly relaxed). I could also see a weakness in being too specialized if the industry has some sort of downturn in the future. But at least for now, it is doing incredibly well.

My thoughts on how to jump are basically brushing up on C++ and seeking out more low-level work at my current job. Aside from building a trading bot, I’m not sure what else could be done.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

I have 1 YoE, working at a well known, big tech company. My current plan is to jump to an HFT company in the next year and work in that space over the long term.

Why?

1. I like the cities where these jobs are located. I prefer Chicago and NYC over SF and Seattle for a variety of reasons.

2. I like finance, and see it as an ideal industry to apply my skillset to and grow over time.

Potential cons that I can see are WLB (I’ve heard that some companies run like sweatshops, which most big tech companies are fairly relaxed). I could also see a weakness in being too specialized if the industry has some sort of downturn in the future. But at least for now, it is doing incredibly well.

My thoughts on how to jump are basically brushing up on C++ and seeking out more low-level work at my current job. Aside from building a trading bot, I’m not sure what else could be done.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.