Banker vs Programmer before MFE

[hnsc]

Although I'm a CS major, and my internship will be in that area this summer, I also know a managing director at a well-regarded boutique investment bank.

Is investment banking experience relevant at all before quantitative finance? I'm curious because there is a high chance that I may not be able to land a programmer-type role in the financial sector, and maybe gaining familiarity with finance through investment banking might be viewed favorably by employers.

Your thoughts are very well appreciated - I promise to start contributing to this forum once I get experience under my belt. Thanks!

 

[Ken Abbott]

IB experience is very relevant. A weakness that many MS job candidates have is that they know little or nothing about the business of banking and trading. For every trader, there are probably 10 people in support roles. Working in a non-quant role will make you a much better candidate later on.

 

[hnsc]

That's excellent, and thank you Mr. Abbot. So are you saying that working in M&A or even Restructuring could be viewed favorably? Could you please recommend which business unit I should perhaps AVOID if I were to choose the investment banking route?

Since most of my programming coursework for the next two semesters will be in C/C++ (Operating Systems, scientific computing, computer networks, etc.), I'm hoping that a 2~3 year gap of no programming won't hurt my chances too much when applying for MFEs... And I asked this question because MFEs seemed to care most about mathematics and computer science above all else.

 

[Ken Abbott]

And I asked this question because MFEs seemed to care most about mathematics and computer science above all else.

Quants may care, but I can assure you the people for whom they work will look beyond pure quant skills.

I can't think of anything to be avoided, per se.