Re: I hate my career

Nonius · Post by **Nonius** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 4:47 pm

what to do?

Patrik · Post by **Patrik** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 5:48 pm

come up with a spectaculary successful trading strategy involving little manual intervention. then quit your career and start to trade your own account to get food, shelter, etc and focus on the things in life you enjoy (surfing, climbing mountains or whatever you find more rewarding). if only I was smart enough to implement this myself in a foreseable future..

FDAXHunter · Post by **FDAXHunter** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 7:08 pm

Before we start giving advice, maybe you should tell us why you hate your career? I suspect I already know, but I'm making you tell me... hehehe.

Nonius · Post by **Nonius** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 1:16 pm

ok, so, I am paid well. Actually, considering what I actually do every day, I am raping the bank. Fair enough. But, I work for the French. Strike one. I am not politically inclined. Strike two. I hate and do not respect my immediate superior. I normally do not kiss ass to, well, basically, anyone. So, while they leave me along to tinker on highfalutin sheah in my office overlooking a cemetery, I want to put my stamp on the world, and these fuking pricks are not giving me the resources I need to accomplish it. I am proficient in all of the watered down mathematical constructs of finance, I can program, and I can bullshit with people over a beer like there is no tomorrow. but, it is difficult to do all of these things by myself. anyway, I am slightly negatively optimistic that this scheme will fly, but I am trying. Plus, I am in France. Oh, I guess I alluded to that.

LongTheta · Post by **LongTheta** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 2:29 pm

(empty post)

chiral3 · Post by **chiral3** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 5:44 pm

I think that yours' is a particularly common problem for someone coming from the sciences into finance. I find it to be almost manic depressive. While I feel that for the most part I am restrained and not performing at anywhere near my potential and, despite the fact that all of my ideas have made money, I still woul'd say that, for the majority of the time, I am not elated about my station in life. As I have said, it is manic depressive, but the highs don't turn out to be as high as the low's are low.

kr · Post by kr » Thu Apr 01, 2004 5:46 pm

see, for people who were born in the front office, compensation is so ridiculously fat that you could make 8 figures on some great trades or IB work in a reasonable amount of time. I'd say $10MM is the minimum you need to start your own financeco, whether it be a hedgefund or some other dangerous thing. With that amount of capital, you can credibly say that you're at risk, and then you can get other investors to roll in and build you up to a reasonable size. Such people spend a lot more of their time networking and managing too, so it's a natural move.

if you're ex-risk mgmt or quant (or even "developer"), you can be a wicked mechanic in the shop and keep the racecar drivers alive all day long, but filling the warchest is much tougher. So is building and managing the network. It will be much easier to attack the corporate ladder and just do all this stuff internally.

ultimately, I think you have to be comfortable spending most of your time doing relationship management and political levering. It's an acquired taste for me. But I haven't observed any other pathway around the bullshit, and if anyone has, I'd like to hear about it in detail.

Nonius · Post by **Nonius** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 6:31 am

I think you are right about the required networking and coporate ladder manuevering.....what a fuking pain.

kr · Post by kr » Fri Apr 02, 2004 3:49 pm

wouldn't be so bad but FO is overpopulated with dull and uninteresting people

Beavis · Post by **Beavis** » Sat May 08, 2004 8:13 am

It seems that sometimes networking isn't as important as most people think. If you are confident and never take shit from anyone, while at the same time you are regarded as a good worker and keep your private life sealed, then it seems like people will place you a little higher than others in their minds. You might be offered things other people have to ask for. That's what I've observed anyway.