Quant trading vs AI startup
Hey everyone, I'm having a tough time deciding between two totally different full-time paths and would love some perspective.
I interned at a Mid - Upper trading firm and have been struggling to choose the following options.
The first option is a Junior Quant Trader role at a smaller prop shop. The first year comp is better but I'm a bit worried about getting pigeonholed into trading, and not entirely sure how hard it is to lateral to bigger shops.
The second option is doing ML Eng at an AI startup. They're focused on video generation and VLMs. I find the actual day-to-day work here way more interesting than trading. But the whole vision/video space feels insanely crowded right now and being commoditized. However, I feel like joining this would close doors to trading while being a trader would keep them open.
I'm also more interested in entrepreneurship and taking advantage of the AI wave, but a bit worried about closing doors for the future.
Would appreciate any thoughts!