4 ms·

It's pretty hard to get into these IME. I'm considered a top-performer at the deep tech company I currently work at, and interviewed at a hedge fund awhile back

It's pretty hard to get into these IME. I'm considered a top-performer at the deep tech company I currently work at, and interviewed at a hedge fund awhile back. The process was way less intense than what I would expect a big tech co. interview to be. I made it to the top three candidates, but didn't get it. In hindsight, the role wouldn't have been a good fit, it was "higher up in the stack" than I prefer to be, which is also what they said. I think you need to be a pretty unique individual to succeed in environments like that. Most people I know break down under intense pressure when shit hits the fan, even if they're wildly competent. I can only assume it's that much more intense when tons of money is at stake.

diggan 2y ago
I'm not sure it's enough to experience something once and then assume it looks like that across the industry, it's very context-dependent. While I've done zero attempts to work at any hedge fund, I know plenty of people who both had success when wanting to join one (even though some of them were under-qualified) and people who failed (some who were over-qualified).
- packetlost 2y ago
  Oh most certainly. But that industry has a reputation for a reason, no? I would expect every place to have different culture, interview processes, etc.
ldjkfkdsjnv 2y ago
Alot of getting hired into these roles depends on your upbringing/perceived social class by the people at the fund, the school you went to, how you present yourself, whether they want to work with you, how trustworthy you are, etc. The technical pieces are pretty far behind.
- packetlost 2y ago
  Yup. There's a lot of credentialism and in-group stuff. I work with a ton of PhD physicists currently and it's one of those things that you can never quite forget in an environment like this as someone with "only" a bachelor's degree from a no-name college.
- chollida1 2y ago
  > Alot of getting hired into these roles depends on your upbringing/perceived social class by the people at the fund, the school you went to, how you present yourself, whether they want to work with you, how trustworthy you are, etc. The technical pieces are pretty far behind. I'd disagree about your perceived upbringing mattering at all. I don't know of any fund that hires technical staff like that. I mean we're here to make money, if someone can do that, no one cares what their social upbringing is, I mean like at all. Now the school you went to matters, though it matters about as much as it would at a FAANG company. And as to "how you present yourself, whether they want to work with you, how trustworthy you are, " I would hope that all companies hire based on how someone presents themselves and would we want to work with them. Everyone should base hiring on how the candidate acts and presents themselves, that seems like an incredibly positive step, no? > The technical pieces are pretty far behind. Which specific fund are you referring to here. This seems very uninformed from my experience, but i'm willing to look at your evidence that hedge funds don't really value technical ability.
  - ldjkfkdsjnv 2y ago
    These are for very under the radar hedge funds that chip their programmers 500-2 Million for just writing basic software. I'm not talking about sweat shops like citadel. I'm talking about places that hire very rarely. The fund manager makes 25-150 million. Rest of the employees are in the low millions. Their employees are always a reflection of the firm, and to their outside investors. Its about more than technical ability. Jobs are never posted online, minialist linkedin profiles, no public footprint
    - chollida1 2y ago
      Well I guess because you've presented no evidence to back up your claim we've got no where to go with this conversation. Perhaps if you could name those funds, we could have a talk since I know the industry very well.
- yellowstuff 2y ago
  I've done a fair amount of technical hiring at hedge funds, my experience doesn't support this comment. There is some amount of credentialism/elitism in hedge fund hiring, but I see that more on the fundamental investment side, and much less for technical roles. There are a lot more hedge funds than FAANG companies, and different funds can have very different cultures.
  - ldjkfkdsjnv 2y ago
    I'm talking about traditional small long short funds, private equity, and under the radar very elite hedge funds. Its different for quant shops like citadel or two sigma. Those treat you like a commidity programmer that they pay a 20% premium on over FAANG

diggan 2y ago

I'm not sure it's enough to experience something once and then assume it looks like that across the industry, it's very context-dependent. While I've done zero attempts to work at any hedge fund, I know plenty of people who both had success when wanting to join one (even though some of them were under-qualified) and people who failed (some who were over-qualified).

packetlost 2y ago
Oh most certainly. But that industry has a reputation for a reason, no? I would expect every place to have different culture, interview processes, etc.

ldjkfkdsjnv 2y ago

Alot of getting hired into these roles depends on your upbringing/perceived social class by the people at the fund, the school you went to, how you present yourself, whether they want to work with you, how trustworthy you are, etc. The technical pieces are pretty far behind.

packetlost 2y ago
Yup. There's a lot of credentialism and in-group stuff. I work with a ton of PhD physicists currently and it's one of those things that you can never quite forget in an environment like this as someone with "only" a bachelor's degree from a no-name college.
chollida1 2y ago
> Alot of getting hired into these roles depends on your upbringing/perceived social class by the people at the fund, the school you went to, how you present yourself, whether they want to work with you, how trustworthy you are, etc. The technical pieces are pretty far behind. I'd disagree about your perceived upbringing mattering at all. I don't know of any fund that hires technical staff like that. I mean we're here to make money, if someone can do that, no one cares what their social upbringing is, I mean like at all. Now the school you went to matters, though it matters about as much as it would at a FAANG company. And as to "how you present yourself, whether they want to work with you, how trustworthy you are, " I would hope that all companies hire based on how someone presents themselves and would we want to work with them. Everyone should base hiring on how the candidate acts and presents themselves, that seems like an incredibly positive step, no? > The technical pieces are pretty far behind. Which specific fund are you referring to here. This seems very uninformed from my experience, but i'm willing to look at your evidence that hedge funds don't really value technical ability.
- ldjkfkdsjnv 2y ago
  These are for very under the radar hedge funds that chip their programmers 500-2 Million for just writing basic software. I'm not talking about sweat shops like citadel. I'm talking about places that hire very rarely. The fund manager makes 25-150 million. Rest of the employees are in the low millions. Their employees are always a reflection of the firm, and to their outside investors. Its about more than technical ability. Jobs are never posted online, minialist linkedin profiles, no public footprint
  - chollida1 2y ago
    Well I guess because you've presented no evidence to back up your claim we've got no where to go with this conversation. Perhaps if you could name those funds, we could have a talk since I know the industry very well.
yellowstuff 2y ago
I've done a fair amount of technical hiring at hedge funds, my experience doesn't support this comment. There is some amount of credentialism/elitism in hedge fund hiring, but I see that more on the fundamental investment side, and much less for technical roles. There are a lot more hedge funds than FAANG companies, and different funds can have very different cultures.
- ldjkfkdsjnv 2y ago
  I'm talking about traditional small long short funds, private equity, and under the radar very elite hedge funds. Its different for quant shops like citadel or two sigma. Those treat you like a commidity programmer that they pay a 20% premium on over FAANG