The other side to my HONEST and COMPREHENSIVE opinion that you need to read! I separated it into 3 parts for your liking:
Job Scope:
- it is not finance-related, yet the team leaders there have somehow brainwashed themselves (or are good at acting) that it is. It's not.
- people are right - you copy data from the news and paste it to the terminal. I was so sad that the this was the actual job and that people here were right.
- think about it... Our clients analyze the data. If we were to analyze the data for them, we would be taking their jobs. What position does that leave us to do... Except copy and paste it and make sure that it's correct (by checking online or somewhere). Even the "equity research roles" can't give their opinions because it will be taking their clients jobs (sell side research analysts who use the terminal).
- there is also no data analytics involved - forget about using R or Python to visualize and analyze the data. Read the point above - What is there left to analyze?
- everything is a "project". Writing a manual on how the work flow to my daily work is a "project". The lack of... Intensity and analytical work makes everything a project.
Management:
- my team leader (TL) was a... pain. The TL I had somehow lied to herself into believing that this job was awesome (FYI everyone on the floor hates this job but most don't leave due to the security and pay it offers - yes, moral is low and management knows this).
- they can't be trusted. It's funny how every TL sounds similar in their answers to their team. Make sure you ask questions - a lot of people would say they came from wealth management firms and that working in Bloomberg is better. Ask more --> most of them worked in the back end office of these companies. No wonder bloomberg is better - it's moreso the same job with better pay.
- they pride in having a university atmosphere. First hearing this I was happy and excited. If you think about it... It's not really. A bunch of adults acting like kids and the TLs being the frat that everyone needs to suck up to in order to become one of them in the future.
- sounds nice, doesn't it, to tell people that you make your career your own in Bloomberg? Think again. Management uses that as a reason and excuse to cover their own mistakes. "Boss what should I do?" -> "Idk. This is your career to make here in Bloomberg". Think about what a great excuse that is and how they could use it against anything... And they do!
- a personal rant - I told my TL I was leaving and didn't like this position and felt like I was lied to about the job scope. TL replied by saying "you said you like finance in the interview? You said you managing data?" Seriously?! if you think this is finance and managing data means copy and pasting numbers, then sorry i must be wrong about liking either! (Im in finance still btw lol).
Exit Opportunities:
- this is the biggest point for me. I'd take hell if there were decent exit ops. There aren't. For those who think it only sucks in the first year - people who have stayed 5 years tell me it doesn't get better and you are stuck copy and pasting data.
- look on LinkedIn and check the career paths of these people. No one stayed long if they eventually entered a somewhat prestigious finance or consulting role - all left within a year. The reasons to why were already listed.
- managers would say "person x left to Mckinsey or Credit Suisse." Ask again - they stayed for 6-8 months in my office before leaving, knowing they deserved better.
- my colleague made a good point (been there for several years and regrets not leaving earlier). Said "people in the finance industry knows what we do... And they know that it isn't finance. We go to them to train them and sell our products and they go to our offices for training and meetings. They know very well that we just copy and paste data. It's sad." So lying your job scope into the finance industry is not an option.
- the longer you stay, the worst it is. You will get pigeon holed as a data analyst. Forget trying to get a front end job. Many people left to prestigious financial firms - if you look closer, they are in the back end team. Also, if you want to do backend, I'm not against it - but at least do engineering work and not copy and paste data...
- in my office, no one internally transferred to another team from the global data department because no one wanted to take us in... Sad.
Conclusion: if you're driven or want a career thats not boring, dont come here. I felt bad for one of my colleagues. This was the persons first job and i asked if the person liked the job. Said "idk. Are all jobs like this? (in a sad and lost tone) i answered the person by saying "no. You can do better". And thats my advice to you all. If you worked hard for a good career, you deserve better than what they offer.
