I work as a long/short equity analyst at a large hedge fund. I've been lucky enough to be more than just a model monkey early on in my career, but have also been exposed to the stress of being measured on returns. I primarily cover consumer and TMT names. I went the typical path (target school --> IB --> HF), but have insight for those that have to follow more non-traditional paths.

ps I did one of these last year that you can see here: "Finishing 1st Year as HF Analyst - Ask Anything"

I'm currently an equity prop trader in NYC. Academically, I majored in Finance and graduated towards the top of my class at a semi-target. Hard work and persistence allowed me to get 3 nice job offers (MM S&T Chicago, prop NYC, prop NYC) despite a rough economy. I very systematically analyzed and perfected the job search process, so I think I can speak intelligently on resume / interviews / networking / general thoughts for people still in school.

From a trading perspective, some good areas to ask may be about the mental aspects of the job, what I like/dislike, different strategies, arguments about efficient markets / HFT, industry culture, advice, favorite books, best lessons. And of course since this is an "ask me ANYTHING" I will do my best to also answer any embarrassing, trolling, or unrelated questions provided I stay anonymous and do not discuss anything too stock/strategy specific.

I am currently a physical energy trader at a major firm. I studied business and economics and did various internships through college one was with my current firm in a fundamentals research role, upon graduation in the height of the crisis they had an opening for a new trading analyst role and shortly after graduation I was hired. I have been with the firm for over 3 years now and currently help manage our assets and customer book.

My firm trades both physically and financially but our strength/specialization is the physical market and being able to best manage to get the physical molecule there and taking fundamental views based on our expertise. When I was an intern, energy commodities were booming and in record highs while now we have been in a sustained bear markets with lower volatility also dodd-frank is making the physical energy trading space a lot more difficult these days.

Feel free to ask me anything about trading, energy, internships.

I work as a currency volatility trader and manage one of the bigger G10 blocs in London. I've been lucky enough to get responsibility early in my career. I started off managing a single currency book a few months into the job, and have steadily been granted more responsibility to where I am today. It's hard to say definitively what I do any given day, but usually it involves: constantly evaluating our positions (both in the light of my macroeconomic views and RV analysis), making markets for clients, and trading in the interbank market.

I think the thing I love most about what I do is the satisfaction you receive from getting things right. It's immediate gratification to be able to say each day what your contribution is... which also can make the job psychologically demoralising when you get it wrong; and you will get it wrong from time to time, that's a given.

Happy to answer any questions.

The following is part two of an interview with a Consultant who played D1 football in college (he is also available to answer your questions). See part one here.

Are you a professional and want to do an interview? View our interview template here and then email me your responses to [email protected]

1. Why did you get an MBA? how did the MBA change your career?

   I got my MBA because I needed to change my career path like everyone else. I had this unique background. I had already finished one master, but I had no work experience. If I came out into the work force it would have been at an underwhelming start. Plus I needed time to think. Everyone criticizes football players for focusing on football. But no one criticizes the ballet dancer at Julliard. Point being...there's no way you can make it to an elite level without truly believing that you're destining for greatness.

I am the Head Research Analyst at a regional office of one of the best commercial real estate services firms on the globe. Day to day, I specialize in statistical market research, written analysis, database management, and copywriting/ghostwriting for pitches. I also serve my community on two different non-profit boards, one related to commercial real estate and one more personal. You can read more about my background after the break.

Feel free to ask anything about the various different careers in commercial real estate, day to day tasks, hours, networking into a brand name company from a non-target, with a “soft” major, or with bad grades, or well as back office to front office transitions.

The following is part one of an interview with a Consultant who played D1 football in college (he is also available to answer your questions)

Are you a professional and want to do an interview? View our interview template here and then email me your responses to [email protected]

1. What's a short description of your job title and what you currently do?

Consultant working mostly in customer impact and channel strategy and product innovation within financial services.

2. When did you realize you wanted to do the job you do now?

I think my path towards consulting was the same as a lot of other people. I really didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I wanted a career that would allow me to keep doors open. Before I did my MBA I completed a M.A. in developmental psych. Thought about doing a PhD but knew that there was no coming back from that. It was to narrow, I didn't want to do research...so doing the MBA left me some more time to think/grow. Consulting seemed like a great opp to keep gaining a positive brand and set of skills while keeping doors open.

3. What type of person is best fit for the type of job you do?

The following is Part 2 of an interview with WallStreetPlayboys (he is also available to answer your questions). See Part 1 Here.

General Advice

1. What is the one tip you would give to current students (ugrad and/or grad students) to help them succeed?

   Work hard and get job experience. When a résumé hits an inbox they look at school, GPA and job experience. They also run key word searches on the resume so if you have good experience the software will realize it for example “investment banking analyst” is much better to write on your resume than “corporate finance analyst” if you in fact did an investment banking internship.
   The world is changing fast and we don't want to train an employee as much as previously, so the more relevant experience you have the better you stand at getting a job offer. Banks are becoming risk averse to hiring candidates with no experience.

The following is Part 1 of an interview with WallStreetPlayboys (he is also available to answer your questions)

Are you a professional and want to do an interview? View our interview template.

1. What is your current job title and a one sentence description of your primary job responsibility?

Keeping it short here, Managing Director or Research Analyst.

2. What are previous positions you have held and how many years of experience do you have?

Still keeping it a bit vague, over a decade of experience

Undergrad

3. Did you go to a “target”, “semi target” or “non target”.
   Attended a Target school however I have hired candidates from Non-Target schools as well.
4. What was the most useful thing you learned in ugrad that you apply in your current position?

The following is an interview with an independent trader/consultant (and future WSO Contributing Author) Lone Wolf. He is also available to answer any questions you may have.

Are you a professional and want to do an interview? View our interview template here and then email me your responses to [email protected]

1. What is your job title?

I am currently adjusting my career direction, but would otherwise be considered an independent trader/consultant.

2. What are previous positions you have held and how many years of experience do you have?

I have held several different trading positions including floor trader, liability and proprietary trader as well as Head liability trader and market maker. This spans 17 plus years in all of Canada’s major financial hubs.

Undergrad

3. Did you go to a “target”, “semi target” or “non target”.
   I went to McGill University in Montreal: aka Harvard North.
4. What was the most useful thing you learned in ugrad that you apply in your current position?

The following is an interview with Credit Risk Associate Pirho (he is also available to answer your questions)
See Part 1 Here

Are you a professional and want to do an interview? View our interview template here and then email me your responses to [email protected]

General Advice

1. What is the one tip you would give to current students (ugrad and/or grad students) to help them succeed?

   Work on your presentation and communication skills. I interview so many kids with great resumes that can't say what's on their mind or convey an idea coherently that it's kind of disturbing.

2. What are some tips for moving up and becoming “the boss” (i.e. a department head / managing director / partner)?

   Everyone that I see making it far is generally well-liked and treats people with respect. This doesn't mean that if someone is screwing up that you can't say something, but it's definitely better to offer advice and guidance in that situation than to just tell someone that they suck and need to do better. I would also have to go back again to communication skills. You almost never see a senior executive that isn't awesome at presenting and speaking their mind in general.

3. Any specific cold-emailing or cold-calling tips you can pass on?

The following is an interview with Credit Risk Associate Pirho (he is also available to answer your questions).

Are you a professional and want to do an interview? View our interview template here and then email me your responses to [email protected]

1. What is your current job title and a one sentence description of your primary job responsibility?

I'm a credit risk associate in the financial institutions group at a major US bank. My job is primarily analyzing the creditworthiness of banks in various countries and determining whether or not we want to lend, engage in derivatives transactions, or do other activities with them at entail taking on credit risk.

2. What are previous positions you have held and how many years of experience do you have?


I worked in an operations role for about 2 years before transferring to my current job, which I've been in for almost 2 years. I was brought on at associate level despite not having an MBA or other analyst background because I absolutely crushed my interview. I spent a ton of time on my own developing my accounting knowledge, financial/economic analysis abilities, knowledge of my company, and knowledge of financial markets.

The following is part two of an interview with Deal Team Lead Manager skylinegtr94 (he manages a small team to surface and source deal flow to middle market Private Equity firms). If you would like to do an interview, email me at [email protected]

He is also available to answer any questions you have, ask away!

See Part 1 Here

General Advice

1. What is the one tip you would give to current students (ugrad and/or grad students) to help them succeed?

The following is an interview with Deal Team Lead Manager skylinegtr94 (he is also available to answer your questions).

Are you a professional and want to do an interview? View our interview template here and then email me your responses to [email protected]

1. What is your current job title and a one sentence description of your primary job responsibility?

Deal team lead. I manage a small team to surface and source deal flow to middle market Private Equity firms.

Undergrad

2. Did you go to a “target”, “semi target” or “non target”.
   I went to a non-target state school.
3. What was the most useful thing you learned in ugrad that you apply in your current position?

   I learned to be pretty resourceful early on which has greatly enhanced my career to-date as our firm generally has a “here’s some resources, here’s what we want to do, now go figure it out” mentality. I don’t mean that in a bad way either but it pays to be able to research and coach yourself along the way, especially when someone isn’t there holding your hand or if you’re diving into a new business plan initiative.

The following is an interview with Equity Research Associate IntoTheRain (he is also available to answer your questions)

Are you a professional and want to do an interview? View our interview template here and then email me your responses to [email protected]

General Advice

1. What is the one tip you would give to current students (ugrad and/or grad students) to help them succeed?

   You’ll get a head start if you get involved and make an earnest effort to build relationships while you are still at school.

2. What are some tips for moving up and becoming “the boss” (i.e. a department head / managing director / partner)?

   Work hard and don’t fret over immaterial issues. Make an effort to socialize with others and don’t just bury your head in your excel. There’s no benefit from sulking when you don’t like something. If you consistently just get your shit done without drama, the expected value will be positive in the long run.

3. Any specific cold-emailing or cold-calling tips you can pass on?

The following is an interview with Equity Research Associate IntoTheRain (he is also available to answer your questions)

Are you a professional and want to do an interview? View our interview template here and then email me your responses to [email protected]

1. What is your job title?

Equity Research Associate (Big 5 Cdn Bank, top ranked team/analyst, popular sector)

2. What are previous positions you have held and how many years of experience do you have?

~4-5 Years assurance/advisory at a Big 4 Accounting Firm. Left at Manager level.

Undergrad

3. Did you go to a “target”, “semi target” or “non target”.
   Target for accounting, semi target for finance but somewhat different stream/program
4. What was the most useful thing you learned in ugrad that you apply in your current position?

The following is part two of an interview I did with a Senior Institutional Research Associate See Part 1 Here

General Advice

1. What is the one tip you would give to current students (ugrad and/or grad students) to help them succeed?

   Get better at networking:
   -Fix your elevator pitch,
   -Learn to speak in concise accurate sentences,
   -Figure out how to distill your message into 3-5 key points.

   Join toastmasters or practice on each other if you have to. Also, know your shit when you go to an interview.

2. What are some tips for moving up and becoming “the boss” (i.e. a department head / managing director / partner)?

   Learn to play the politics in an office. You need politics on top of being good at what you’re doing in order to move up.

3. Any specific cold-emailing or cold-calling tips you can pass on?

The following is an interview I did with a Senior Institutional Research Associate, enjoy monkeys! Are you a professional and want to do an interview? Email me at [email protected]

1. What is your job title?

Senior Institutional Research Associate

2. What are previous positions you have held and how many years of experience do you have?

I took a long walk to get into industry, my first shop blew up within months of my arrival when the Managing Partners decided they didn’t like each other anymore.

From there I did some contract consulting, industry sales, Investor Relations, three years corporate finance and then equity research, all told: 5-6 years on this side of the street. I’ve recently accepted a IBD Associate position with a BB.

Undergrad

3. Did you go to a “target”, “semi target” or “non target”.
   My school was definitely non target.
4. What was the most useful thing you learned in ugrad that you apply in your current position?

The following is part two of an interview I did with the Head of Equity Derivatives Sales at a bank in the UK. See Part 1 Here

General Advice

1. What is the one tip you would give to current students (ugrad and/or grad students) to help them succeed?

   You are nothing - do not be an arrogant twat.

2. What are some tips for moving up and becoming “the boss” (i.e. a department head / managing director / partner)?

   Extremely strong work ethic, do NOT under any circumstances slack. Get along with everyone, at least try to. Hardest thing I had to do was becoming the head of some of my co-workers, most people won't see it too kindly. Just keep working hard, and do not let anybody bring you down. Do not antagonise, and answer all mean spirited email with diplomacy. Re-read yourself all the time, put an angry email away for 5 minutes and re-read it.

3. Any specific cold-emailing or cold-calling tips you can pass on?

Launched in January 2012, Roboinvest is a social investing platform that allows anyone to “look over the shoulder” of top investors in real time. The company recently completed its angel round of financing (article linked at bottom of page). Hope those of you in fintech find this interview interesting – feel free to post follow-up questions / discuss below.

Special thanks to Michael for taking the time to help the WSO community!

Can you just give a brief description of your company, Roboinvest? Where did you get the idea?

Roboinvest is combining the proven business of online stock brokerage with social networking to help the world invest together by creating a simplified online brokerage that’s inherently social with a focus on the mobile experience, built on an open platform. It’s a big vision but I think we can get there.

What contributed to me creating the company was an experience in college. My friends knew that I traded every day, and saw that I was making good profits. They kept offering me their money to trade for them. That was one experience that made me think this is a common occurrence in the world and there needed to be a platform around this concept.

What is your career background like, and what experiences would you say have best shaped your ability to be successful as an entrepreneur?

We've had some great interviews and q&a's over the last few months, here's a summary of all of them in cased you missed one.

Interviews:

• In The Flesh:
  "The New Tycoons" author Jason Kelly (PE)

For all the talk of private equity and hedge funds as exit opps here on WSO, one interesting route that often goes overlooked is the non-profit path.

Too often non-profit and charitable work gets lumped into one of two camps:

1. Something for liberal arts students
2. Something you've got to do to round out your b-school apps

Well, I'm here today to obliterate this false dichotomy.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Andrew Myerson, the founder of Haymakers For Hope, a truly awesome charity that combines amateur boxing and the fight to end cancer. He's an ex-Goldman Analyst with a truly unique story to tell. Read on to learn more.

This is the second and final part of my interview with David Daneshgar (See Part 1 here). This time the focus is not on his awesome up and coming business (www.bloomnation.com) but rather on his interesting background as a professional winner.

David won event #52 at the 2008 WSOP ($625,443 prize) , has his own poker website (www.dcdpoker.com), and is willing to teach you how to win for a whole lot of money.

How did you feel the moment you won the tournament at the 2008 WSOP?
It was exhilarating; a surreal moment. There are a few videos of me out there that show how emotional I was.

Andy note: SirTrades' decided to get deeper into the story so we're making it a trilogy. Enjoy part two below, part 3 is coming up next Wednesday, and make sure to check out part one here (which includes his bio) if you haven't already.

Importance of Gaining Relevant Experience vs. Brand
One of the biggest fears that people have is looking stupid. This causes all sorts of strange behavior.

The first relates to the old adage, "nobody got fired for buying IBM" which was used by purchasing managers many years ago to justify their sub-optimal purchases of computer equipment, but helped the buyer protect their position in the firm. The same mindset is prevalent in the investment business.

Some portfolio managers will buy the same security as most other portfolio managers because they know it will be harder to criticize them if the security depreciates ("hey, everybody else owned it") and easier to criticize them for not owning a winner. These managers are closet indexers and it is the dominant strategy in mutual funds. Unfortunately, doing what everyone else is doing is rarely a winning strategy.

Entrepreneurially-inclined readers take note - I've got a fantastic interview for you today with the Founder, President, and CEO of Open Air Publishing, Jon Feldman.

Open Air Publishing is a publisher of interactive books that feature high-quality video, slideshows, intuitive navigation, interactive features, and traditional text. It is currently focused on how-to books, all of which are 100% original, developed in-house, and feature subject matter experts. Its books are available for the iPad and iPhone.

For any gamblers on the site with a knack for playing black jack, check out Blackjack Domination, Open Air's interactive guide to learning the strategies guaranteed to help you dominate the tables the next time you're in Vegas. We'll be running an interview with one of the book's authors, Derek Sutta, later this month.

Read on to learn about Jon's background and education (which includes an MBA from Wharton), his interesting work experience (including a stint at College Humor), and what led him to found Open Air Publishing.

Andy note: BIG thanks to SirTradesaLot for doing a Q&A with me and offering up his advice for the WSO community - "One of my greatest joys is helping young, ambitious people." He has worked in the finance industry for almost 15 years in a variety of roles at global investment banks and asset managers. A few years ago, he left a senior management position in the equities division of a large asset manager to start a hedge fund/asset management firm with former colleagues.

My background

DrPeterVenkman presents: An interesting interview with Frieds. Questions came from myself and other WSO contributing authors. This interview will be a little different because being the social guy that he is, Frieds wished to videochat through Skype.

Frieds is one of the top WSO users and contributing authors: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/karma/top
He has worked in Asset Management. I will let you find out more about the man after the click:

mod note: this was originally posted on 9/4/12

I thought I'd switch things up a bit today. Rather than delve into a note-worthy news item or another Facebook discussion, I'd like to welcome everyone back from Labor Day Weekend with an awesome interview.

WSO tends to be heavy on content for banking, PE, and value-oriented hedge funds. I know there are a ton of aspiring traders reading the site, so I reached out to a good friend of mine who's spent the last 5+ years as a fixed income trader at a major bank.

If you're interested in a career in trading or just want to learn more about an interesting career path and the people in it, then read on for an in-depth and informative look into the life of a fixed income trader.