Front Office Roles?

[Den]

Is it easier to get into Front Office after getting Back/Middle Office experience for dev guys? Also what is better HFs or IBs?

[Scrag Meister]

I've done both MO and FO and not had any real knobs in any of them.

As has been said there is the occasional issue that is a tad insane but they have been rare in my experience.

[MyUserName]

They are similar to any other job with a real time system. Sometimes something goes wrong and you have to get in there, we used to have an on call rota for that but sometimes you got a call anyway.

There are issues that can be caused by you being seen as assistants to the traders who are the golden boys but most jobs have potential issues.

Back office is probably easier to get into because there is, usually, less finance knowledge requested (often there is hardly any actually required). Some people move to the front office as there is often more money but competition is pretty fierce.

Unless you are a quant in which case it seems like you can pretty much breeze in, a few months ago I saw quant positions at £1000 a day. However, being a quant is a horrible sacrifice to make for money - apart from at BNPP where one of the quant girls was a goth girl in her mid twenties with tatoos who was absolutely stunning.

[BS1397]

It is the same as most jobs, there are difficult parts and there are easy parts. You tend to be quite low in the food chain and have little authority, the adminisphere loves the traders as they make money for the bank so they are able to throw their weight about (hence the reputation for being like toddlers) and management will back them. A standard scenario would be:

Trader: We need to be able to see the different trade types in different colours. Can you do that by tomorrow?
Programmer: I doubt it, that is actually quite awkward.
Trader: Well if you don't it is going to make trading difficult and the bank will lose money.
*puff of smoke and a manager appears due to the incantation of 'lose money'*
Manager: Hey programmer, what is all this about you not supporting the trade desk? What do you think your job is?
Programmer: Where the hell did you come from? Why the hell has that smoke not set alarms off? Anyway, all I said was that it might not be doable by tomorrow.
Manager: I have no idea how to program or what the feature requested was but I am sure it can be done by tomorrow by any programmer good enough to still be working here tomorrow. Are we clear?
Programmer: *sigh*

Oh you had me laughing in stitches... All I can see is a Dilbert Cartoon with your storyline... Excellent stuff...