One of my ex-coworkers/now-friend is what I call a master networker. His network casts wide across the tech departments of a huge number of small hedge funds in

One of my ex-coworkers/now-friend is what I call a master networker. His network casts wide across the tech departments of a huge number of small hedge funds in NYC. If he wants a job, he can just call up any of his friends/ex-colleagues at these places and odds are several of them will simply just give him a job at their firm. If an opening doesn't exist, sometimes they'll literally create an opening for him. The downside is that he has to be very un-picky on what the role entails whether it be working with some super unsexy legacy technology (Excel VBA! Legacy ASP.NET webforms!) or doing devops or even helpdesk duty too. Hedge funds being hedge funds, small as they are, they all pay pretty well, though not at the level of a top tech company. It's a combination of these places being pretty small shops and having friends there in high places. Including, from what I hear, a billionaire hedge fund exec or two.