It's not rocket science...

Mod Note (Andy):Very pleased to introduce our newest blogger, Grizzled Guru. He has a very interesting background and a lot to share with you guys, hope you enjoy.

I never really started out with any intention of being in finance. I was a child of Sputnik. I was going to be a rocket scientist!

I grew up in the 1960's. The space race was on. We were gonna beat the Russkis to the moon! I fell in love with space and built a WAC Corporal model rocket. I was frail and nerdy, so I had no shot at the astronaut corps, but I could be a rocket scientist!

My parents gave me my first computer. It was a 3-bit (yes bit) mechanical marvel called a DigiComp. I loved it and played with it and honed my skills. I watched the moon shots and dreamed of being one of the engineers down at Mission Control.

In high school, I learned to program at McDonnell Douglas Astronautics which was conveniently located a few miles down the road. We used the computer (the entire company had only one mainframe) after hours communicating through a teletype. I was in heaven!

Out of high school, I went to the local university as an Electrical Engineering major. The dream was on track!

Or not. I crashed and burned and dropped out of college.

I ended up enlisting in the Air Force; stationed with a little group at Offutt AFB in Nebraska. I wrote ground systems software for satellites. I earned a Senior Space Badge! One of my friends became an astronaut! I was learning to fly! W00t! Rocket science is awesome!

I finished up my undergrad, went to grad school, and ended up at a Defense Physics lab in a nuclear weapons design group (great work if you can get it!). While it was not rocket science, it was nukes! NUKES!

As a computer scientist, my skills were fungible. I told my weapons physics co-lead that he could only work at two places in the world where he would not be assassinated by Mossad whereas I could sell my skills anywhere. He called me a computational whore.

Fast-forward a decade. I'm now working in New York for an eccentric billionaire building supercomputers (again, nice work if you can get it). I made a habit of interviewing one or two places a year just to see what was out there (and in case the eccentric billionaire moved the project to a tropical island with a volcano powered monorail and made us wear lab coats -- we know how that always turns out).

Through LinkedIn, I got hooked up with a big bank looking for a Python Guru. I wasn't really trying hard, but I burned up the technical interview. So, I make it to the interview with the big MD. He looks at me warily and asks why, after so many years of science work, I wanted to join a bank?

Now, at this stage, you can't just give the Willie Sutton answer. Most people give some bullshit answer about "interesting and challenging problems." Instead, I say that right now I work with physicists and mathematicians and that he works with physicists and mathematicians. He says, "yes, but..." I say that I do Monte Carlo simulations and he does Monte Carlo simulations. He says, "so what."

I lean in across the table and say quietly, "The only difference is that you keep score with money."

At that point, he leaps up, slaps the table with his hand, and says, "That's goddamn right, we keep score with money!"

And that my friends, is the absolutely almost true story of how I joined the 1%.

It may not be rocket science, but it sure looks an awful lot like it!

 
Deo et Patriae:

What games do you enjoy playing in your free time? (Backgammon, Bridge, Chess, Poker, etc.)

I like to play Bridge a lot... I used to play a fair bit of online Poker, but on the free sites, it isn't really the same. I was my college's (the one I dropped out of!) Backgammon champion. Recently, I played a lot of Nethack at alt.org. Nethack is an old school text adventure game. You die a lot (though I've ascended to demigod status a few times).

 
Best Response
Grizzled Guru:
Deo et Patriae:

What games do you enjoy playing in your free time? (Backgammon, Bridge, Chess, Poker, etc.)

I like to play Bridge a lot... I used to play a fair bit of online Poker, but on the free sites, it isn't really the same. I was my college's (the one I dropped out of!) Backgammon champion. Recently, I played a lot of Nethack at alt.org. Nethack is an old school text adventure game. You die a lot (though I've ascended to demigod status a few times).

I also like to play Bridge. I am also a big poker fan (not so much online, mainly house games with friends and the occasional trip down to Atlantic City). In recent years, I have really enjoy playing a Chinese card game that is similar to Bridge called "80 points."

It is supposedly very popular among a select subset in the prop trading community (I was first introduced to the game by a trader at Jane Street Capital).

Are you by any chance familiar with this game? Rules for the game can be found online, but I think this website below is particularly well done.

http://scripts.mit.edu/~zong/wpress/?p=176

 

Haha that was an awesome story. I love it. Goes to show that even if you mess up in college, if you're actually smart and know your shit (as you clearly do), you can still make. Especially doing what you love and are good at. Many, many years ago, I started to learn Python. It was to be the first step of many in a computer science/electrical engineering education and career. Stories like this really make me wish I had followed through.

"When you stop striving for perfection, you might as well be dead."
 

Vitae et voluptatem esse maxime explicabo nemo autem eveniet. Eum doloribus debitis dolorem libero velit nemo qui. Dolorem eos doloremque rerum sint rerum qui fugit enim. Placeat non nobis et et libero impedit.

Accusantium iusto fugit quis. Omnis ut aspernatur voluptatem non assumenda sint molestiae est. Quia ut consectetur quia praesentium omnis. Corporis enim dignissimos tenetur vero velit et. Assumenda est fugiat accusamus.

Ea aut quod eligendi amet dicta beatae. Perspiciatis et vel deleniti iure. Quos quis expedita maxime sit aut praesentium.

Commodi dolores cupiditate sit rem molestiae et. Saepe vel in iusto totam id. Quod non sint voluptas qui voluptatibus voluptatem. Quo temporibus sit consequatur distinctio aut. Cupiditate tenetur rem omnis qui id iste.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”