

Ask HN: How to break into banking with CS? - cstobanker

	Background: I&#x27;m a Junior in pursuing a B.S. in CS @ a top CS school. I&#x27;ve previously interned at a startup in SV and also a large well-known company in SV. This year, I interviewed for two top investment banks but only for technology internship positions (software development basically).
To me, the startup culture is becoming rather mundane - the banking lifestyle seems appealing (thought it always has). I&#x27;ve been investing for a number of years, and have written some automated trading algorithms, and I&#x27;ve realized that I might want to make a career out of this. I&#x27;m confident I have the skills and dedication to make it in business.<p>So, to any engineers&#x2F;people in finance: how did&#x2F;do you break into banking as a CS major? (And yes, I know how much HN hates bankers.)
======
chatmasta
Do bulge bracket banks recruit at your school? If yes, then obviously through
your school recruiting system is the best way. At Yale, 90% of my friends are
going into banking. I'm sticking with tech (though I did interview with some
banks), but my roommate's dad is a career advisor at the management school, so
I know about this. For us, the way it works is that all the big banks have
info sessions. You go to those, talk to the presenters during the "networking
session," secure a business card, send a follow up email, and then probably
get an interview. At that point it's up to you to impress them with your
interview prep.

If they don't recruit at your school, it's going to be much tougher for you
from what I've heard. Definitely get in touch with a recruiter. The key is to
give them a reason to pull your résumé off the stack. "I know this guy! He
emailed me!" will usually help.

Email me for recruiting contacts. (See profile)

p.s. I assume this is for a Summer Internship. If so, you're asking at the
perfect time, as recruiting is happening now (résumé drop deadline Jan 15) and
interviews in January (shortly after Jan 15). If this is for full time, you're
probably screwed because all the big banks have filled their entry level
positions for this cycle.

p.p.s. Guy who posted below me is hellbanned, but yeah, definitely check out
wallstreetoasis.com if you haven't already. But honestly that place seems
littered with the same kind of dregs of the social ladder that infest college
confidential...

------
lmm
Talk to a recruiter. Banks are large and slow-moving, and have procedures and
policies; someone with experience sending candidates to the same bank will do
better than you could on your own.

It's probably also much easier to get a position aligned with your degree
initially, and then move horizontally within that bank, than to get a position
you're less qualified for off the bat.

~~~
cstobanker
Any idea how easy it is to transfer positions within a i-bank?

It seems that the path for an analyst is pretty set, from summer internship to
analyst to b-school to associate and onwards. Call me naive, but have I missed
out by not studying humanities/finance-related majors?

