Just looking a bit of advice regarding my current situation. I've finished a phd in a computational chemistry and am looking to get into quantitative finance. My C++ skills are adequate to any task Ive ever been set, but nothing to boast about and Ive spent the last few months studying from the usuals whilst patiently waiting on the banks to respond to my applications. After several months Ive only gotten interviews with one major US investment bank, had a phone interview and a couple of rounds in office went ok but didnt get an offer in the end (so Im not a lost cause). But at this stage Im beginning to despair. Recruiters I've found to be almost uniformly useless, they tell me yeah everything looks great on paper then never ring me back. My situation is that I now may have an offer of a quant position in the banking equivalent of Accrington Stanley or a quant position at a software company. The bank is terrible but would give me an opportunity to learn (and get paid) whilst applying to investment banks. The software company might be good, would give good exposure to clients who would be quants but worryingly doesn't involve any programming. Which option would be best to ultimately get into a quant position in a big bank?Regards,James T

You should have drank more milk!Seriously though, imo experience in the relevant job will be more important even if it is at a lesser regarded bank. It would be easier to move to another quant job having experience of doing quant work rather than not doing quant work and only speaking to quants.

What kind of software company is it, what are their product, who are the clients? I agree with plus that the any quant experience will look better than nothing, but ultimately if you want to move elsewhere afterwards I'd assume what you are going to be working on will matter most.