Unclear Path Forward

I’ve recently been struggling with the decision of if this job and industry is worth it for me and would be curious to hear about other people’s experiences who work at hedge funds. 
 

At a very basic level this job is the most interesting job out there - I get paid to learn about businesses, talk to intelligent people who are experts in their field, and make investment decisions based on my work. I work with other intelligent people at a fund that is well regarded and performing okay especially considered how the market has fared this year. 
 

On the other hand, I’ve found that my motivation and fire to really go the extra mile and put in the “work” I think I need to to develop as an investor isn’t there. My specific team doesn’t get that much focus by my PM and the people directly above me seem like the wrong people to learn from. On top of that, my firm’s culture isn’t that great (we work a lot, we’re not particularly collaborative, and frankly it’s just un-inspiring). 

I’m coming up on a year at my fund and am unsure if I’m just burnt out from 6+ years of working at sweaty places or if I’ve reached the point where what I’m playing for isn’t worth the effort despite be enjoying the job at a fundamental level. I recognize a job will always be a job but am curious as to how other people have weighed these issues as I’m sure I’m not the first person to think through this. 

 

It really comes down to: is it you? Or is it because of external factors (sounds like firm, PM and people above you are to blame in your case). 

If it's you, find a new career. If it's external factors, find a new shop. 

 

Sounds like a problem with your shop. I am not very collaborative but my team is. They also respect wlb too much for my liking. Result, I find myself demotivated by the environment. Motivation however is ultimately internal and it's something that you can fix with enough willpower. The question for me was, does the energy needed for keeping myself motivated justify the pros? My answer was yes. I spend significantly more time feeling great because of the pros than I do feeling down because of the cons. I therefore cannot justify throwing everything away when I can just put a little bit more effort into keeping myself motivated. Maybe you need to ask yourself the same question.

 

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