[alephnerd]

The total number of PropTrading engineers in the US is most definitely in the low to mid thousands at most. Most PropTrading firms are tiny from a headcount perspective

For example, Citadel has around 600-700 engineers globally and Jane Street only has around 400-500 globally. Both of these firms are actual behemoths headcount wise, and most other trading firms tend to be way smaller (total headcount in the high double digits or low 100s if lucky).

Meanwhile, Microsoft alone has around 70-75,000 engineers. PropTrading gets a lot of mindshare among TC chasers but is a very small industry.

Also, salaries are definetly comparable when factoring in hours worked, exit opportunities (PM/SE/EM/Entrepreneurship while working in Trading you deal with forced garden leave/potential litigation when job switching within Trading), and even the base salary itself. I remember IMC was offering around 100k base in Chicago in the early/mid-2010s when you could earn 90k-110k base at Groupon or JPMC as a SWE while working 30-40 hour weeks.

[ladberg]

FWIW I switched from FAANG to trading last year and got a pretty big comp increase. I was entertaining an offer from another FAANG at the same time and it was still nothing compared to my offers in trading.

[Infinitesimus]

Wanna share some ballpark numbers? It'll bolster your statement a bit and grounds the claim from others with similar experiences

[ladberg]

Won't give my current salary because this isn't anonymous, but my 2021 TC was ~150. Another FAANG offered ~200, and trading firms all offered numbers way higher.

[erhaetherth]

TC should have been over 200 w/ stock unless you're straight out of college.

[ladberg]

I graduated in 2020, so not far off!

[alephnerd]

That makes sense! I was giving early career ranges in Chicago in the mid-2010s (without factoring in bonus). NYC PropTrading salaries are (unsurprisingly) higher.

That said, mid-career (5-7 YoE) tech in the Bay Area at least reaches around $170-250k base with an additional $100-400k in stock+bonus over the 4 year vest.

Factoring in hours worked it seemed more competitive than around $200-300k TC for SWEs at the larger PropTrading firms in Chicago at least.

[gloryjulio]

From my understanding it doubles.