Well to be clear software engineer isn't the high man on the totem poll in most trading firms. I think the outside population has a skewed view of what the tec

Well to be clear software engineer isn't the high man on the totem poll in most trading firms. I think the outside population has a skewed view of what the technology looks like in a typical hedge fund due to all the stories about highly technical funds. Many hedge funds dont' have that great of computer technology and the technology that they have is applied to back office processing rather than trading. In these types of firms, which I'd say make up the majority of funds, tech is viewed like marketing would be viewed in a techology company, a necessary evil but not a core part of the team. Most funds buy their technology and build out to fill the missing pieces. Some funds do build out sophisticated tech, and in these funds tech is valued and paid accordingly, but they are not the majority of funds.