Guest comment: My buy-side bliss – you can come to work in a T-shirt, shorts and Crocs
Saw this interesting article below.
"Enough of fiddling with the sell side; I recently decided to join the buy side, a private fund to be specific. Heaven knows when the turmoil with the banks will end, especially with incessant news of job cuts in the press.
My new bosses hail from the once sexy and lucrative world of sales and trading, having worked there for close to 30 years. It is such a joy and privilege for a young twenty-something like me to hear story after story about Wall Street, from the 1980s to the latest financial crisis. Now that they have battled their hearts out in the dealing rooms of various US banks across the globe, they have decided to lead a semi-retired life, managing a small pool of funds for high net worth clients. And what a life, I must say!
Work ends strictly before 7pm and then they go home to spend time with their families, or dogs for that matter. It’s no problem coming into the office in a T-shirt, shorts and Crocs. You can work from home two days a week because money can always be managed from a computer anywhere. Oh, and talk about working anywhere at your own discretion: one of my bosses just returned from a two-week “work-holiday” where he managed money from his iPad by the beach. And I suspect he’s doing the same next month.
Well, at least my bosses have agreed to let me enjoy some of those privileges I’ve mentioned. I wear what I want, which is cool. Work ends strictly before 7pm because the office has to be locked and only my bosses have the keys. We are a small fund managing about US$200m and employ fewer than five staff, so a small cosy office will suffice.
There’s a Nespresso machine in the kitchen, which is such a gem given that my previous pantry in a bank served coffee that tasted worse than the kopitiam downstairs. The fridge stocks Häagen-Dazs ice cream on top of an array of beverages from soft drinks to wine. But no alcohol during office hours. Overall the kitchen falls only just short of the famous Bloomberg pantry.
Life is good now. I have an excellent work-life balance and my bosses are nice. A start-up kind of environment means a flatter hierarchy and less bureaucracy, which is good for me because I can communicate my ideas openly. That said, I may go back to the banks again as the temptation of a mega salary and bonus, together with the glam of working in a bulge bracket, still makes the sell side an attractive proposition. But as of now, I’m happy with where I am until the sell side sorts out its mess.
The author is a financial services professional in Singapore. The views expressed are his and not those of eFinancialCareers."
Taken from http://news.efinancialcareers.com/uk-en/114436/gu…
Hey, this is some bullshit. We have Nespresso machines on the sell side too.
Okay, it's like one machine for eighty people, and they sell the little coffee pucks to us for fifty cents each. But we got one.
Hahahaha. We have four machines on 50 guys and it's free. Got to love the sell side traders
I've always found that 'flat' hierarchies usually mean a vacuum of power. There's the head of the desk and everyone else , no matter with how much exp/PNL is essentially of equal rank. In this environment , people jockey for position by trying to get closer and closer to the boss - and thus this "flat" hierarchy resembles nothing so much as an absolute monarchy. Flat hierarchies are often the worst places to try and get things done , and can be very disorganized.
I'm also incensed by this term since every fucking startup that came to my UG campus tried to use this term to lure me away. I want to dick-punch the next person who thinks this is some highly attractive selling point.
wait, that is a perk, a Nespresso machine?
Yep. That's one of the great perks of being a baller BB IBD analyst. Models, bottles, and Nespresso. Now you know.
But don't diss. I remember when a respectable BB I once worked for installed two Flavia machines on every floor (with 400+ people per floor). They sold the packets for fifty cents (twenty-five cents for the cream packets) and we were all lining up to buy that shit because it was better than the ten-hour warmed over dishwater in the glass carafe and the 2-pound cans of Sysco brand powdered non-dairy creamer.
I even remember the thrill of discovering that if you combined one cream packet, one hot cocoa, and one Italian roast, it tasted a little bit like a Starbucks Cafe Mocha, except kinda watery and half the size.
And yes, it did taste like nectar of the gods at 4 AM.
Oh Flavia. Colombia Roast ftw. But selling the packets for 50 cents is despicable, it tastes amazing when it's free.
Crocs? I never want to work with anyone who wears Crocs!
Condoms: 99% effective The Pill: 99.9% effective Crocs: 100% effective
^ This
The Flavia machine was the reason I shorted GMCR
Nice move, assuming you timed it right.
Tough but fair.
$.50 for a packet is flipping wrong. That said someone needs to run the economics/payback on this model. Somehow I have a feeling the bank is in the money fairly quicktime.
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