Hedge fund technology jobs are a nightmare: "You're better off at a mutual fund"

If you're a software developer with fantasies about moving to a hedge fund in pursuit of the big money, then some of your predecessors who had similar sensations, have a warning for you: hedge fund technology jobs may not be what you think. The pay is high for a reason.

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"Many developers fantasize that they're going to land a $350k job at a big multistrategy fund, but they don't realise how stressful that will be," says one senior technologist who's worked across the industry. "When I worked for a major macro fund in London, there was usually at least one situation a week when I thought I would be fired," he tells us. "And there are only two days' work from home; they're called Saturdays and Sundays."

Working in technology for a hedge fund is a "young person's game," says another senior US developer who worked for one of the top funds in the industry, before leaving for a start-up. "I never knew when I would come home," he tells us. "We had a town hall where a former Olympic rower who was working there stood up and said it was like he was rowing the hardest he'd rowed in his life, and that he looked around and saw everyone doing the same."

It's like working in the special forces or the marine corps, he adds: "That's just what it's like there. It's ok - if you don't have a family."

It's not just the working conditions, though. We spoke to multiple technologists who've worked for major hedge funds, each of whom spoke off the record. They all said the same thing: the technology stacks at big hedge funds are a challenge. 

"The legacy code problem is pretty bad for many of the established funds," says one senior figure who has run technology operations for some of the top hedge fund names. "Many of these funds are 20-30 years old and there are some fairly old parts of their tech stack."

Banks have legacy code issues too, but the problems can be worse in hedge funds. The senior US developer says funds historically had an attitude of "if you get money, you can have crazy shit behind the scenes" and that this means both that the code base is a mess and that no one bothered leaving comments to explain it. "The priority is getting shit done," he says. "You get this code that works in weird ways where one guy knew how it worked, and left a few years ago. You're expected to pick it up."

The head of technology operations at a major fund confirms that this issue is endemic in the industry. "There's a lot of old tech with poor documentation," he says. "In many cases, whoever created it is gone, and some poor guy needs to figure it out or rewrite it. But then it's not modular, and you have spaghetti infra with everything tangled together."

Couple this with the need to ensure the systems are functioning 24/7, and it's evident why people leave. "The shouting is better than it used to be," says the US developer. " - Quants aren't yellers and screamers, but there's still at a lot of stress. We had a rule that you could shout about the system, but not about the individuals." 

If you're thinking of moving into hedge fund tech, some areas of the stack may be better than others. The COO says the back and middle office stacks are often the most laden with impenetrable and ancient code. "I think equities tech and trading tech is a nice place to be," he reflects.

However, there may be better options. The London-based developer we spoke to now works for a mutual fund and says his life is greatly improved. "I earn a good salary at a mutual fund and can work 10am to 5pm 4 days at home," he says.

The US developer now works for a start-up. "After 15-20 years of seeing the outcome of previous bad decisions, it's nice to be building something from the bottom-up." 

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