Being a Geek and Banking

there are geeks at the analyst level but they will never make it far as you cannot teach personality

this is why they say the best analysts don't always make the best associates.

but you can't teach intelligence either. and no, I don't watch anime or play world of warcraft. haha.

You can be a nerd or a geek and still make it up the food chain. It's all about balance. If you can balance your geek proclivities with being sociable and hard-working, you should be fine. Some times its the odd things that make you connect with your coworkers and clients even more than being "aggresive and personable". While I don't think WoW and anime are some of the more common threads shared between geekdom and bankerdom, there are certainly bankers into both of them. I just think it's more of a matter of your geekiness being mainstream as opposed to being dedicated to an offshoot area. Don't get me wrong, more and more people are turning to anime and WoW has the largest subscriber base out there of any game, but it still isn't as acceptable as other areas to geek over, like movies.

Cause I am pretty bad ass at that...I know there are some fellow Halo players on here, I am sure I fragged a few...

I would say there are ton of geeky analysts out there rocking brown shoes with black slacks...

that picture is great

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"its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."

i beat that kid up in high school

At the more "traditional" places, yeah, no one really plays videogames or watches anime or anything. Or if they do they keep it a secret.

That said, it's relatively easy to be an analyst and be a nerd because you don't really deal with clients directly and are pretty much just creating work product for most of your day.

Banking is definitely not dominated by "type-A ultra-aggressive and personable guys" - there are definitely some senior guys who are not at all personable. And a lot of guys in banking, despite their appearances, are actually quite timid.

Sure, the people are going to be generally more outgoing and personable than what you'd find at a tech company (I know, broad generalization, don't mean to offend), but you'll find all types.

As with anything, just use your judgment and be careful when talking openly about these hobbies. You're not going to "get in trouble" or anything but you may be labeled as a geek, and it's important to make a good first impression.

Analysts don't have time to watch anime or play WOW, even if they were a nerd. That being said, there are plenty of very geeky people in banking. In order to succeed though, you need to have interpersonal skills. The higher up you are in the firm the more the job is about management and client relationships. The truly geeky ones do better at hedge funds and whatnot.

That being said, I do watch anime, but don't play WOW.

I was just thinking about this very topic today. A lot of people say that the world of work sucks, and enjoy your youth while you can. Although I'm not geeky with regard to playing WOW (although Halo was pretty fun in high school) or watching anime, I do spend an inordinate amount of time in the library/studying in general, and I rarely go out to drink or hang out with friends. I think when I start banking, I will probably go out more than I do now. Is this common?

personable banker = sector/coverage banker

nerdy banker = M&A banker

ccc7 - please explain. How is a nerdy banker an M&A banker? What makes a sector/coverage banker not nerdy? Can anyone explain that?

I was under the impression that ALL 3.5+ GPA Ivy kids were type-A, ultra-aggressive, personable guys?

F9, I think he was trying to say that since coverage bankers usually source deals and are more involved in client management and relationships, they are more likely to be personable.

Whereas, m&a is a product group so the bankers there do mainly execution. Its an over simplification though i'm sure.

I think every campus - Ivy or not - has all sorts of personalities: non-conformist chick with red hair and tattoos, jock prick with huge ego, studious prude with pale skin, etc. I don't think that just because it's an Ivy school that the personality type is concentrated. I posed the question of left-leaning bankers earlier and I was told my question was inane. Bankers can be left or right, nerds or type-A kids.

dude your comment earlier is depressing. you are in college where you have all the free time in the world. honestly spend less time in the library and more time getting drunk and chasing tail. as cliche as it is you will regret it later i promise you.

i spent my last yr in college doing the bare minimum and going out all the time and i turned out ok.

when you start banking you will be working 80+ hrs a week dont forget that.

but I gotta tell ya...if anyone of my co-workers started talking to me about WoW or dropping some obscure reference to anime in our conversations I would just laugh in their face. I know its rude, but seriously? Ha Ha. I mean, Im just saying... Of course you can do whatever interests you on your own free time, but please understand that IS NOT typical of the culture. Dont expect to be exchanging cheat codes and top 5s at the office. Do be prepared to stand ridicule and defend yourself. Not to worry though, your embarrassment will be short lived. Someone should scream "Get Your @ss Back To Work" fairly quickly.

So if there are 20 analysts, does that mean that 40 of them play WOW and watch anime?

Or does it mean a banker nerd can play two hours of WOW in the time it takes a non-banker nerd to play one hour of WOW? Damn, banker nerds are fucking efficient.

While you may have time to play WoW before you work in banking, you will never play it again once you start.

Most of my friends inside the banking industry are Type A personality, I think that the amount of geeks inside this industry is limited. Banking requires a lot of social skills unless you are working on quants or stuff behind a desk with limited client relationships. Thats what attracts me the most to banking, the fact that it is an industry almost unreacheable to the common nerd.

They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fucking smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby.

KKB: how many friends do you have within the industry? A grand total of 1, 2 or 3? Get a clue please. The best analysts I've worked with are not your type A who goes around socializing and acting cool when he should be working his ass off, but the types that get the numbers right for me, and on time. I don't give a shit whether or not he's social or type A, but I do care whether or not he's a dumb ass. Oh good luck to your job search. I'd love to see how far that fucking smile on your face can take you.

Banana Milkshake

That last line was Ben Affleck's quote from Boiler Room

"Those who say money is the root of all evil don't fucking have any"

KKB you stupid kid. Good luck even finding an internship.

the big necked ultra aggressive over achiever stereotype was largely a US thing, and largely a fable. Certainly do not get that loads of that sort in London, or in our Moscow office when I visited there.

Lol, everyone think for a moment. We all have 100+ posts on a message board about investment banking. If that doesn't cry geek/nerd, I don't know what is.

Not to mention that most of you come from ivy leagues/targets and have 3.7+ GPA, 1400+ SAT scores. You obviously didn't get those marks partying every night and using your persuasive "type A" personality to convince your professors for a higher grade.