Hipsters in Finance
Moderator Note (Andy): Best of WSO - this post originally went up April 2012 and we thought it deserved to go back on the homepage for those who may have never seen it.
Fellow monkeys, I have a confession to make:
I am a hipster who wants to be an investment banker.
As I have lurked through these very boards, I've noticed that the hipster investment banker is a mythical creature that few of you have ever seen, or even spoken of. Some have argued that a few of WSO's most active members tend toward the obscure, but to call them hipsters would be a mode of extremeness that even the most trollish members of our community might not tolerate.
I am not, however, a full-blown hipster. I enjoy early-90s hip hop, the indie music scene in general, neo-noir movies, and intellectual conversations that always run in circles and never amount to much of anything. If available, I'll always choose an independent coffee shop instead of a Starbucks, not because I am a coffee snob (I don't even drink it often), but because the atmosphere is more appealing to me. I am infinitely more attracted to hipster girls than I am to sorority girls, and I wouldn't even utter "finance girls" in the same breath. I wear jeans that fit normally, casual dress shoes (think oxfords), and a non-plaid button down routinely, so I suppose that is another point of difference.
I'm a huge social liberal, but the classic hipster and I diverge on all issues economic, for good reasons (they're just wrong in the absolute sense). I'm not an Occupier, and I'm not a supporter of what liberal economic policies have become. I am also not here to start a political debate, so I'll leave that aspect of this post here.
Are there people like me out there in the finance world? If I had to pick my crowd, I'd much rather hang around a bunch of people who drink PBR and talk about random, sometimes geeky, shit than around your prototypical "models and bottles" investment bankers. Is this social lifestyle sustainable in IB (not a trick question, I know social lives go out the window anyway), or will the other folks just ostracize me as soon as they pin me as a closet hipster?






In b4 IP asks you on a date.
In b4 IP asks you on a date.
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Yes, there are people like
Yes, there are people like you out there : Flake
He's from Romania.
I think you have an
I think you have an oversimplified view of what it means to be a financier and you assume a lot of things about this archetypal "finance-bro" which I really have yet to observe in such a one-dimensional fashion.
Abdel wrote: Yes, there are
Yes, there are people like you out there : Flake
He's from Romania.
LMFAO u beat me to Flake. first thing that popped in my mind when i read the title.
Nouveau Richie wrote: I think
I think you have an oversimplified view of what it means to be a financier and you assume a lot of things about this archetypal "finance-bro" which I really have yet to observe in such a one-dimensional fashion.
I would completely agree with you, and my ulterior-motive for this thread was to have someone dispute the fact that the "finance-bro" is really the dominant dude in the show.
"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
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oldmansacks wrote: Abdel
Yes, there are people like you out there : Flake
He's from Romania.
LMFAO u beat me to Flake. first thing that popped in my mind when i read the title.
If you guys think Flake is a hipster, it only means you have absolutely no idea what a hipster is.
You certainly don't sound
You certainly don't sound like a hipster, frankly.
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if you described a good portion of the less visible IB folks, no?
"When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is."
- Oscar Wilde
"Seriously, psychology is for those with two x chromosomes."
- RagnarDanneskjold
You sound like you're in the
You sound like you're in the middle of the continuum between hipster douche and frat bro douche. Congratulations, you might be about as close to normal as anyone in finance gets.
FWIW, most financiers don't constantly talk about models and bottles, only the ones who don't get it touched.
Wanna be hipster + wanna be
Wanna be hipster + wanna be banker. Nothing wrong with that.
There are plenty of
There are plenty of traditional geeks and nerds with whom you would might identify. The kind of kids who probably stayed up late arguing about Marcel Proust or something.
In the book The Quants, one of the big quant traders liked to play guitar in subway stations and things like that. A lot of smart people have very eclectic interests.
In fact, I'd say that someone who is actually cool in the traditional sense (good looking, funny) and in finance is relatively rare.
That said, divisions like "hipster" and "bro" are a lot less evident out of college. I sat next to and thus befriended people who were not at all like my friends in college.
Flake would be a homo before
Flake would be a homo before a hipster.
Follow the shit your fellow monkeys say @shitWSOsays
I've always thought that if
I've always thought that if you call yourself a hipster, you're not really a hipster.
If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough.
"There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.
Nouveau Richie
Yes, there are people like you out there : Flake
He's from Romania.
LMFAO u beat me to Flake. first thing that popped in my mind when i read the title.
If you guys think Flake is a hipster, it only means you have absolutely no idea what a hipster is.
o really, u4e told me that Flake was a gypsy
i saw this really, really
i saw this really, really pretty hispter girl on the train the other day. I asked myself, "swagon, why does this perfectly hot - gorgeous, honestly - girl WANT to be part of some idiotic culture? Why doesn't she turn her swag on and be a normal hot girl?" She had the most outrageous 1960's glasses you can imagine and an outrageously conspicuous weird-ass poof in the front of her hair...swagon was saddened, but also confused because swagon thought the whole point of subculture is that you don't have what it takes to succeed in the mainstream so you join a bunch of losers in a subculture? But this girl was naturally beautiful? wtf?
Jeans that fit normally?!?
Jeans that fit normally?!? Then no worries, you're no hipster.
Series 6 license
swagon wrote: i saw this
chris_g wrote: Jeans that fit
Abdel wrote: swagon wrote: i
Quote: I enjoy early-90s hip
swagon wrote: Abdel
john2 wrote: Quote: I enjoy
"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
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john2 wrote: Quote: I enjoy
Man. I hate hipsters. One of
Angus Macgyver wrote: Man. I
first reaction upon reading
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swagon wrote: i saw this
This post blew the fuck up
wallstreetballa
Shave that beard. Make sure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
swagon wrote: Angus Macgyver
You don't sound like a
What cut of Urban Outfitters
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald
hipsters scares me
ST Monkey wrote: hipsters
If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough.
"There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.
Vontropnats
If you take a job in banking,
A very presumptuous
__________
SaucyBacon85 wrote: A very
i remember seeing a UK
Seeing as hipsters don't
gamenumbers wrote: Also a
"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Check out my blog!
swagon wrote: SaucyBacon85
__________
she_monkey wrote: first
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
You aren't really hipster,
anaismalcolm wrote: You
"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Check out my blog!
http://www.youtube.com/embed/
"I am the hero of the story. I don't need to be saved."
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From trading equities to slanging wine in Latin America
A ship is safe in harbor, but that is not what a ship i
Short, I'm not a tried and
"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Check out my blog!
Vontropnats wrote: Short, I'm
The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee
WSO is not your personal search function.