<p>I'm a high school senior who's been offered an unpaid summer job as an IB analyst at a boutique bank. The bank has three offices worldwide (including one in NYC) and focuses on tech and emerging market companies (I can PM you the name of the bank if you're interested). The other analysts are college students (mainly sophomores and juniors) so I'll be the only high school student there during the summer. I've also been offered a chance to work as a paid software developer at the company that I worked at last summer. During my previous stint at the company, I was working in essentially the same role as a paid intern (for a marginally lower salary).</p>
<p>Although I like computer science, I'm planning to work in the finance industry as either a trader, quant, or investment banker. I have no finance connections whatsoever in my network (I've looked really hard to find any) so the unpaid job will help me gain some finance contacts. In addition, if I do well during my stint at the bank, there's a decent chance that they'll hire me as a paid analyst for the following summer. Which option do you think is better for an aspiring finance person?</p>