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Traditional analyst position or full-stack developer from ground zero?

Joined
7/30/12
Messages
14
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13
Hi. I just got a job offer from a place that I actually wanted to work at. It is an investment firm, and I'll be working as a junior analyst, where I'll just be an Excel monkey. However, I've talked to the two senior associates who had started in my position, and they say that the job does get better as I gain more experience and earn my CFA certification, which is expected of me as a junior analyst.

However, the problem is that I've taken a job at a start up doing some Excel work and hopefully being a MEAN stack developer for the same company in the future. I've been at this position for two weeks, and the start up culture is not bad. It's very flexible and laid back, but I'm not sure if I'll be up to scratch. I have zero experience programming. I've done R and MATLAB as a math major, but nothing like web development and database architecture, which is what my position will be in this start-up. As a young 22 year old, there is no better time for me to learn all these programming skills, but at the same time so much of my undergraduate career has been towards a financial career.

To be honest, I don't have a burning desire to work in the financial industry. I'm just a guy who liked math, and now that it's time for me to start looking for a job it didn't hurt me to take a few classes in investing and apply to those positions. I've never had an internship in the area nor do I know many people in this industry. The only thing that is more attractive for me for the analyst position is that it's the devil that I know. This whole programming position I have now presents a lot of opportunities for growth in the future, but I am starting from square zero.

TL;DR: here are the main questions
  1. Should I select a more traditional junior analyst role in a rather rigid, traditional office setting, or attempt to be a full stack developer without any experience whatsoever?
  2. If i do select the junior analyst role, any advice on quitting a job after only 2 weeks?
Thank you
 
Last edited:
its important to know what that investment firm is...
imho web development and database architecture r not the sexiest it job out there...
 
Wilshire associates.

I'm not particularly interested in the sexiness of the job, as both are entry level jobs. During my interview with Wilshire, I learned that I won't be doing much besides creating reports on Excel.
 
santa monica? skip wilshire... i interviewed there, and they didnt even validate parking
 
The question you ought to ask is "what career do I want?" If you were to look 10 years ahead in the future, at 32 what do you want to be? A quant developer? A software engineer at Google? A data scientist for a genetics laboratory? A portfolio manager at a hedge fund? If you want to be a quant, you're in the right place and there are many people and resources for you here. If you want to work at Google, you'll need to try a different forum (though there may be a few people here that can advise). If you want to be a portfolio manager, then wall street oasis is full of budding analysist that will give you the 411 on how to land a coveted gig at a bulge bracket.

Once you know what career you want and what you'd like to achieve professionally, you can start figuring out what you should do today (stay at your startup or leave).
 
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