Working for Hedge Fund (NYC)

Hey guys,

I will be getting a job offer today to work with a Hedge Fund in Manhattan. Job itself is Desktop Engineering (application/OS packaging and deployment, patching, etc) + work in AWS/VDI. Company is now completely in the cloud and don't host any physical servers and trying to be on bleeding edge of technology. I have 2-3 years of Desktop Engineering experience, and the reason I was looking to leave is because my company is going through a rough transition period and layoffs are happening.

New job hours are not great though: 6am - 2:30PM, which means I will be waking up at 4am to take the train. Because I'm the only one working this shift, asking for time off may present a challenge (but I'm sure they'll say they'll work around this limitation).

Recruiter I was working with said base salary is around 85K + bonus. Does this sound like fair salary working for Manhattan Hedge Fund? They will send me benefits package soon. EDIT: 401K appears to be really bad (0.20 for each dollar contributed, up to 6% salary) They want to hire fast since person working the early morning shift is unable to come in so early anymore.

Also, would love to hear any experiences working for Hedge Funds and if you think this is worth a move, or if I should keep still for now.

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jdancer

Mind you that NYC has a high cost of living and that base salary seems real low. Did you do your due diligence and research other financial IT salaries?

And if you never worked in a financial industry, you are on call 24x7x365. So, forgot those hours. I use to work every weekend when I worked in the financial industry.

loss4words

Thank you, jdancer. I was thinking the same, and agree with you about low base salary.

I received the offer and they didn't want to budge on offering more than 85K. They did say that they do give out good bonuses at the end of the year. Unfortunately medical benefits and 401k are mediocre at best.

The negatives for me are:
1. Tough schedule waking up really early
2. No promotional opportunities unless I'm able to take on a different role (i.e go from Desktop Engineering to Server Administration)
3. As you mentioned, always on call, but they said they rarely get called outside of working hours.

Their major selling point is that I will be constantly learning with them, doing a lot of cloud stuff, and in 5 years will be able to take my career to the next level.

I'm tempted to decline the offer tomorrow, but just wanted to get everyone's opinion first, in case I'm making a mistake.

EDIT:
I'm making less money now, but with better benefits and better 401K, it more or less evens out. My team is great and supervisors are very good to me. My supervisor says that since I'm the most junior person on the team and make less money than everyone else, if there are layoffs coming I should be safe.

dizzy_kitty

Are you currently employed? If not, take it and keep looking if you're not happy.

If you are employed then the answer depends on the pros and cons of your current position.

-Ignore me. Read way too fast.

soccarplayer29

It sounds like you're on the fence. Since you currently have a job (which I assume would give you some notice about a layoff) which sounds like a good environment I would counter the hedge fund offer.

The opportunity to work with more cloud environments is appealing but the benefits and hours/stress/commute isn't. If you let them know that you're searching for other opportunities because your company is doing layoffs they might have low-balled you.

Do the pros/cons analysis and come up with a salary $ that would get you excited about this position. If the offer was 95k instead of 85k with all the other factors remaining would you jump at that? If there is a salary number in which you would be interested then come back and negotiate to get that. If not, then pass and hunt on!

Edit: Also check out any benefits such as public transit reimbursement, technical trainings, etc.

loss4words

Thanks a lot!

I did tell them why I was looking to leave since I've been with my company for less than a year, and maybe you're right about them low-balling me. My recruiter said their initial offer was 80K and he was able to increase it to 85, but he may have been just trying to make me feel better about the number.

I will think about asking for more again, thanks! I may have some leverage since they really want me to start ASAP. I think 95K may be just enough to get my excited enough to take the risk and jump ship.

TheFORCE

Keep in mind that NYC companies have to provide salary ranges or base salary information for all jobs they post, the new law took effect like 2-3 months ago. Ask them to provide you with that info or look it up yourself. To tell you the truth though based on your experience that is a good offer.

shawnx715

I'd take that offer. Hedge Funds offer pretty good bonuses every year, usually no matter what, and they have good perks too. Plus you'd learn A LOT.

I'm not sure, but i think a lot of companies offer 6% match for 401k.

I'd take if it I were in your shoes.

loss4words

Thanks guys!

The 401k is 0.20 for each dollar contributed up to 6%, so it’s not great. Also, only 5 sick days allowed per year. That sounds too low.

My current job has good perks:
Decent 401k/medical
Allowed remote work from home
Unlimited sick days
More PTO
Very short commute to work

I am still thinking about it but more leaning towards declining the offer at the moment. The schedule, stress of working in a hedge fund environment, being on call 24/7, no promotion opportunities...

I realize the offer is not too bad, but feel like I’m not getting enough to leave just yet.

loss4words

@TheFORCE

Thanks for this! Company doesn’t have any job postings on their website/indeed/Glassdoor. Is there any way to find this information without asking?

Nutsy

Career stagnation is always something to worry about. In addition, if you do get to do a ton of cloud/AWS items that will really beef up your resume. Most likely, you won't have to do it for five years. Cloud is hot, and thus hiring managers are more flexible with experience requirements of a technology. My guess 1-2 years of solid experience and you should double your salary easily.

I would definitely do what TheFORCE is telling you.

Also, what money/comp/perks would make you 100% happy you took the job, and not think about money/comp/perks later down the line? Figure out that number/package is, and negotiate hard for it.

If they have made you an offer, you are in the driver seat. They already indicate that they want to buy, and you don't have to sell. At this point they are in the loss position because if they don't close the deal the company lost out on their time, and recruiter doesn't get a check.

FYI: you are negotiating against the recruiter. They are not your friend.

Remember: ${YOUR_NAME} gots'ta get paid!

TheFORCE

Without actually asking its tough, it would have been better to ask for the range or what the job pays at the beginning of the conversation.

Either way, like others said, Hedge funds do give good bonuses, just make sure to find out what that is. 10% of your salary, 15% of salary etc etc.

Looks like you might be young and early in your career, just an assumption but you need to consider your long term strategy. Working in a cloud environment for 2 years and getting 1 or 2 AWS certificates in those two years will add a lot of value in you and your resume. At the end you will have 5 years of solid experience.

Yes you would have to suffer the early mornings but if you do it, do it with an end goal in mind and with a plan that you wont do this forever and that is a stepping stone to better higher paying jobs.

Besides, the early hours might suck but think about all the free time you will have after 2:30pm, if you have family or kids you could spend time with them or do other stuff, doctor visits or any appointments you wont have to take days off, no one would know what you are doing.

Through my 10+ year career so far I've worked 12pm to 9pm shift and 7am to 3pm shifts. Both had pros and cons, I work 9 to 5 now.

TheFORCE

Just wanted to say something more about the bonus.
Positions offering bonus are like those manager roles, once you get it you csn never go back, now you have another card up your sleeve.
My own experience with this was first 5 years of my career no bonus, 2 different jobs. 3rd job 6k bonus, 4th job 3k bonus but higher salary, 5th job 15% bonus, 6th job 15% bonus.

Like it has been mentioned, you need to think your long term plan, the steps and sacrifices you have to make to get there.

JoJoCal19

loss4words wrote: »

Thanks guys!

The 401k is 0.20 for each dollar contributed up to 6%, so it’s not great. Also, only 5 sick days allowed per year. That sounds too low.

My current job has good perks:
Decent 401k/medical
Allowed remote work from home
Unlimited sick days
More PTO
Very short commute to work

I am still thinking about it but more leaning towards declining the offer at the moment. The schedule, stress of working in a hedge fund environment, being on call 24/7, no promotion opportunities...

I realize the offer is not too bad, but feel like I’m not getting enough to leave just yet.

How close is your current salary to what they are offering? I'd be loathe to give up remote work, lots of PTO, and short commute unless it was a significant bump. And that salary does seem low from what I've seen offered up at hedge funds myself. I've seen plenty of non-HF desktop engineering jobs paying that much. I know specifically on the InfoSec and cloud side I've seen some large numbers being thrown around by recruiters.

What does your current job offer in the way of learning new skills, certs, career growth? TheFORCE is correct, you could gain cloud experience at the new place, knock out some cloud certs, and make a HUGE jump in salary at the next stop. Also, I love early shifts like that. You'll have so much more time to enjoy your days. Even working fully remote I work 6-3 unless I have meetings in the afternoon or a tight deadline.

loss4words

Recruiter mentioned he may stretch the base salary to 95K (or get me a signup bonus of 7.5K). Recruiter is saying the bonus is quite large (10-15K) if I am to believe him. I said I'll let him know in an hour or two.

Unfortunately there is no promotional opportunities within the company. Still very concerned about the hours (my family thinks I won't be able to handle it and are concerned about my health), PTO, stress level.

Based on what you guys are saying I should probably take it. It's a very hard decision to make

Nutsy

Also, make sure that this does align with your personal life/goals. I know that is vague, and on TE we focus more on the comp/career. (Mostly, because personal reasons are too varied between one person and the next.)

Good luck.

loss4words

Me and my girlfriend were planning to go on vacation soon, and we were really looking forward to as we've both been overworked and didn't take much time off, and this will end that conversation.

Thank you!

Nutsy

You can negotiate for time a big layover between gigs. I usually try to get a start date that is four weeks from the non-contingent offer. (IE: all drug tests, and background checks are done.) That way, you give your two weeks, get two weeks to relax, and you can start fresh. HTH.

loss4words

Thanks! Yep, I asked about that and they wanted me to start right after 2-weeks notice period.

Nutsy

You are in a negotiation. Everything is negotiable. Also, on this point if you just say you are burnt out and promised your significant other to go on vacation they will respect that. Most employers do want you to start being charged up.

GettingThereSoon

I'd go for the sign-up bonus, since you never know... if the stock market crashes, there might not be any bonus...

TheFORCE

GettingThereSoon wrote: »

I'd go for the sign-up bonus, since you never know... if the stock market crashes, there might not be any bonus...

LOL The stock market crashes amd bounces back every day amd every week. Just today it dropped triple digits, 250 points decline.

EANx

GettingThereSoon wrote: »

if the stock market crashes, there might not be any bonus...

Thre's a saying about the market: The bulls make money, the bears make money and the pigs get slaughtered. Don't be a pig (aka, don't be greedy). Hedge funds tend to set things up so their exposure to negative risk is limited.

Nutsy

What did you decide?

binargs

loss4words wrote: »

Job itself is Desktop Engineering (application/OS packaging and deployment, patching, etc) + work in AWS/VDI. Company is now completely in the cloud and don't host any physical servers and trying to be on bleeding edge of technology. I have 2-3 years of Desktop Engineering experience.

This sounds more like a system admin job than "desktop engineering". You stated that you have about 2 -3 years of experience which in my book is still a junior position. 85k even in nyc for someone that have 3 years of experience is not a bad deal at all.

Nutsy

binargs wrote: »

This sounds more like a system admin job than "desktop engineering". You stated that you have about 2 -3 years of experience which in my book is still a junior position. 85k even in nyc for someone that have 3 years of experience is not a bad deal at all.

As far as what the OP is "worth" is 100% subjective. Honestly your salary is reflection of what you can sell yourself as, and negotiate for. In the end he sets the price of his skill set when he accepts an offer.