Pros
Note - I work as a Research Analyst at Cubist and below is my personal experience 1. Senior management at Cubist is very open to your thoughts/ambitions and take sincere interest in furthering your career 2. My job is to find Alpha . No time is wasted on client requests/meetings and I get to spend 90% of my time on Research/Trading. The firm provides more resources than most places to help you be successful 3. The firm is run by adept PMs and the opportunity to leverage their thoughts and experience is invaluable 4. The fund has a flat structure and growth can be exponential for people with new ideas/strategies 5. The "family office" work culture is a welcome change with some very humble, extremely successful PMs / Managers running the show 6. Pay is fair/competitive
Cons
The prop trading environment has its own set of downsides. 1. Extremely secretive with not much color at times on what your own team is doing 2. Can be over bearing for people without prior research/ trading experience