I have been offered a position as Quantitative Analyst in a big energy company. I am very much interested in the energy markets, and the role seems very well suited since it includes several tasks such as valuation and hedging (mainly for the purpose of real assets as well as structured products coming from the origination desk), modelling, strategies and there is a lot of interaction with the traders. So it seems that I will learn a lot, and the opportunity came really at the right time!I would like to ask what are the potential future perspectives? i.e. quant/structuring is what I look in the long run, but I do not want to restrict myself to one asset class and also the companies I can work for in the future (such as Investment Banks).

The four main places to be an energy quant are an energy company, a bank, a hedge fund, or a consultancy. They each have pros and cons.An energy company is highly unlikely to move out of the energy business, which gives a bit of stability. The pay tends to be lower, and the work can be less dynamic than in a bank or hedge fund. There seem to be more bad jobs in energy within an energy business (at worst you could be reconciling customer accounts!), but there are good jobs in energy companies that I'd be perfectly happy taking. There is lots of flow from big energy companies to banks, hedge funds and consultancies, but not many people seem to go straight from an energy company into other asset classes. Within a bank, it is a lot more common to move from energy to other asset classes. There is nothing stopping you moving from an energy company to the energy section of a bank, to another section, though if there is an Enron style meltdown in energy markets, you might be competing with loads of other people.

Thank you very much gjlipman. Your commnet is very helpful.