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Comment by chops | Hacker News Reader

From what I understand about the hedge fund market (a friend of mine is the CTO of a hedge fund who worked his way up as a programmer), especially for NYC, is to expect a low salary, and make it up with the end of year bonus.

No idea how much things have changed since he told me this (a couple years ago), but that's what I got.

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Thanks for the feedback. I won't be involved in the investment decisions, but will be developing tools for the traders. There is a bonus, but I'm not sure what the typical size is for the developers. I'm wondering if the bonus is on par with what developers at Google/Facebook, etc take home.

But you're right, it is something I will consider when evaluating the package.

From what I understand (again, heresay), in the heavy-investment locations like NYC, it was something like over 70% of your income was in the form of a bonus, perhaps more, ie, you might take a $30k salary, but if performance of the company is good, you may end up with a $100k bonus.

Some people (particularly senior folk) on Wall St do in fact get significant bonuses like you describe. And many companies like to attract employees by talking about bonuses. But, unless a bonus is specifically stipulated in your contract, I wouldn't count on it. Your bosses can always come up with some excuse for not giving you the bonus -- especially if you're a junior employee. As such, you are quite disposable and replaceable.

Some developers who were previously making ~$90-$110,000 would take positions to $70 - $90,000 for a large financial conglomerate with "bonus" potential as a carrot. Those bonuses trended towards $20,000 (so, a loss, and working 70 hours a week (on the Operations side of the Dev time, see below)).

For a Jr at a hedge fund, you should be aiming for $70,000 minimum, then, provide enough value for a $40,000 bonus (hedge fund'esque).

You don't go Around your third-party recruiter, because he is representing you. Could cause problems (am I wrong in this? I've negotiated (upwards typically) salaries at financial / ecomm firms, the companies Expect part of the fee is not dealing with the headache of "back and forth" between a candidate). On the other hand, I've had candidates I don't represent ask advice on negotiations (when they have gone on their own to a firm).

Anyway, most of your comp will be in the form of bonus, but, you shouldn't be taking a horrendous (what, $40, $50k) base salary just because you were previously making such. The fact that you are in offer stage means they are Interested.

It also depends on the "side" of the business you are on (support (or Operations) vs revenue). If you are building tools for the traders, you are higher value.

Cheers!

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