<p>I am currently a senior and will be graduating next year so I'm looking into full time positions. My major is Computer Engineering. I live in the NY/NJ area so a lot of banks from wall street come to my school for recruiting for their technology divisions. My questions is: what are the differences between working as a application developer or technology analyst for a bank (like citi or GS) versus working for a technology firm such as Google or Microsoft (or even smaller tech firms)? What is the better career option?</p>
<p>My wife did a couple of consulting gigs in big bank IT. The work is usually regulated, there’s all kinds of background checks that may be needed, and very little opportunity to show creativity and exceptional work. Mind you, her work was IT work, not Quantitative Analysis work, so that should make a big difference.</p>
<p>If we’re talking Citibank as in, change the font of the credit card statement fine print to size 4 Mouse Italic, versus Citibank as in, analyze hedge fund X vs Y in real time… things could be different.</p>