How working at Goldman Sachs is different from a hedge fund job

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors' chief investment officer, Ryan Tolkin, used to work at Goldman Sachs and explains how the bank is different from working at a hedge fund. Following is a transcript of the video.

The biggest thing is obviously the size of the firm and at Goldman you are, sort of, a cog in a much bigger wheel. And so, while you can make some very important decisions, ultimately, each of those decisions has less of an impact on the success of the overall firm. 

When you're working at a smaller place each decision contributes to the bottom line in a much greater fashion. And so I would say the importance of each decision is much more at a smaller firm than at Goldman. Generally speaking, there's more politics involved at working at a bigger place and you need to think about some of those politics as you maneuver your career through a bigger bank like Goldman where as at a smaller firm, we've tried to create a culture that lacks politics.