With the new legislation in New York City requiring companies with 4+ employees to disclose salary ranges in job postings, the compensation packages of various high-paying jobs like investment banking, management consulting, technology, etc. are made more transparent. This brings opportunities for software engineers looking to switch to these fields for higher salaries. However, one should also be prepared for the higher work intensities in jobs like investment banking. When considering such switches, assessing both monetary and non-monetary factors is important.
Investment bankers in New York at banks like JPMorgan and Citi can earn over $200K
According to the disclosed salary ranges, an Investment Sales Lead at Citi in New York can make $200K to $300K in base pay. Similarly a Quantitative Analyst role has a base pay ranging from $150K to $225K. At JPMorgan, a Private Client Advisor role has a lower base pay of $58,500 while a CCB-Quant Analytics Associate role pays between $80,750 to $120,000. So clearly investment banking jobs, especially front office roles, pay very lucratively in a city like New York.
However, tech jobs also pay well with Software Engineering roles at Google NYC paying over $90K
Google has disclosed salary ranges for various New York based job openings. For a Software Engineer role, the base pay is $90K to $110K for undergraduate degree holders and $95K to $113K for graduate degree holders. So top technology firms also pay handsomely and provide good opportunities for software engineers to develop their technical skills.
Work life balance is better in tech whereas banking jobs entail higher stress
While both tech and banking jobs pay well, there is a difference when it comes to work life balance. Software engineering roles tend to provide good work life integration with adequate time for leisure and self development. However, investment banking is infamous for extremely long hours with average work weeks easily going over 80 hours. Bankers also suffer from tremendous stress from continuous client servicing, tight deadlines, and extreme competition. Hence software engineers looking for a switch should assess their priorities regarding compensation versus quality of life.
While investment banking jobs pay very lucratively, software engineers looking for a switch should also weigh factors like quality of life and interest in the field itself. Banking involves higher stress and more hectic lifestyles but provides opportunities to work on complex business deals and large transactions.