There is certainly much variance between the firms, especially the sign-on IME. People I know have turned down HRT core dev for big tech because their offers were unimpressive.
I think an interesting target for comparison with big tech is Jane Street, since their culture and WLB are good, so the main QoL drawbacks of finance don't apply. A new grad will get ~300k at Jane Street, though probably not with this large a sign-on.
This is interesting, didn't know this about HRT Core Dev where offers were below FAANG. My understanding is that core devs are basically the folks who work on all the low latency stuff, so they'd be pretty well.
Jane Street, from what I recall, is 300K (base + bonus) and 125K sign-on, and also it is non-negotiable. No idea what their numbers are like for experienced hires from competitors.
