1- You talk about being "Alpha" when, in fact, you are most likely Charlie or Bravo at best.
2- Rather than question societal norms, you do exactly what people expect of you...and in the best possible way.
3- You take pride in your GPA, and love to talk about it. Ugh.
4- You have been shaped by your parents and classmates more then you will ever shape yourself.
5- You take pride in being called a "Monkey".
6- Nobody actually cares where you went to school, or where you are from...this isn't the Hunger Games.
7- You are extremely talented, but you don't care. It's too scary to use your gifts, so keep smashing spreadsheets.
8- You look for opportunities to bring up what your Dad does, because you have little to no self-worth.
9- You take pride in being "smart", yet 90% of humans could do your job (whatever it is)- other things being equal.
10- You were excited to point out that I only mentioned 9 things while promising 10. Sorry to beat you to it
11 - You're a pointless list making slap dick.
Don't worry, reading this list already ruined my day.
OP sounds butt hurt. Keep dreaming about that green startup you're going to start TOMORROW or NEXT WEEK.
No startups here, and my butt is fine. I'm actually in the industry and doing quite well. I just want us to realize that we act like utter cheesedicks.
"OP must be butt hurt" implying that I'm jealous, and not as successful as you are. "Keep dreaming about that green startup you'll start next week" implying that I'm some sort of hippy who can't accomplish goals.
Very defensive
Strong irony.
This has little to do with this post really, but I feel like trying to put this into words somewhere...
The reason I hate most people in finance is very simple: they're usually very smart, but only in the context of what's generally used to measure intelligence, which leads to very few of them deviating from the previously set and commonly accepted "path" that's been laid out for them... and therefore never having to actually be tested for actual creative intelligence.
Study pointless bullshit very hard but ultimately learn very little, get good GPA which in reality signifies nothing, go be an investment banker, move to PE or HF through headhunter network that literally wipes your ass for you, follow template of pushing quasi-logical alpha-generating ideas or things that fit well in an lbo model that nobody can really blame you for endorsing, and never be put in a position to employ critical thinking that would put you out on an limb for better or worse, rinse and repeat.
The reason the most recent few generations suck so bad is because they're deathly terrified of having to take actual responsibility for anything. The game is all about having someone else to blame for your potential incompetence. And that's more than fine with the few people who are actually willing to do something unique and take ownership of it.
Do you ever wish you had gone back and studied something different or taken a different career path?
Not even for a second. But I do think the answer to this question is yes more often in finance than any other career path.
From a purely factual stand point, this is perhaps the greatest post in WSO history.
from a "purely factual standpoint"? and who are you?
This is the kind of conversation I wanted to start with my post, but I framed it terribly. I don't mean to piss anybody off, but if we can't laugh at ourselves then we suffer from some serious LDS.
My biggest issue is that the "path" that has been laid out for most....has nothing to do with them at all. Yet people take credit as if they worked so hard. Unless you overcame some serious obstacles, you really just did what was "expected" of you. Granted, you did it well. I'm absolutely generalizing but I think it's worth a thought.
I'm probably just bitter. I had zero direction and to get from A to B felt like carving through stone at times. I have met plenty of people along the way who are exponentially smarter and more capable than people I've met in the industry...but since they weren't pointed in a direction and given the resources they needed- they have no chance. It sucks.
No. The MOST annoying type of person ever is both an annoying finance/consulting/startup douchebag AND a music snob.
"No, really, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, and Mahavishnu Orchestra all REALLY speak to the core of my emotions, they are TRUE good music, REAL music."
F*ck you.
Well, Radiohead is the best band in the world...
Haha, as long as you don't think agreeing on that is a necessary condition for "having good taste in music," that's cool in my book.
OP, do you follow the teachings of Paul Graham? And is your name Eric by any chance?
The reason I generally find people annoying is because they're focused on comparing themselves to others instead of their previous selves.
This essentially describes most of the folks in finance, no?
To a large extent
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I'd rather be called a monkey than a pixy.
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