Do you wake up excited to go to work? Are you genuinely happy?
Hi everyone.
I’ve just decided that I’ll reorient my career into finance because is one of the things I feel most passionate about.
I’m in high school still and I’m pondering over what I’d like a career in. I’ve always been pretty entrepreneurial and recently I’ve fell in love with finance and the financial markets. I never really got into learning CS just for pure fun and making projects because I’m bored. I listen to economics and business podcasts for fun.
I guess because I have no idea what I really would enjoy doing and so the options become: 1) Take a chance at a lower paying job and if you don’t like it then your job sucks and your pay sucks or 2) Go into IB and if you don’t like it at least the pay is good. The only clear better industry looks like tech, but being a software engineer takes more actual skill than finance, and the amount of code I’d have to learn and side projects I’d have to complete just to get a job coding all day don’t seem worth it. Also, I tend to socially prefer finance people.
I know it depends on the person, but in terms of overall trends, do you have any input on what industries are still the “best” if I don’t really know what I want to do? Seems like tech or banking, but I’m always ready to hear about the magic bullet industry I’m overlooking where everything’s perfect.
What scares me is this: this forum, various blogs, and YouTube have painted a picture of unhappiness, long hours, and mundane busy Microsoft office tasks. Are you guys genuinely excited to be doing what you are doing? Or are you counting the minutes until you can go home and watch Netflix? Do you love your job? Or not?
If the answer is no to my title, would you rather do as a career? What’s your current career? And why are you in your current career if you despise it?
If the answer is yes to my title, what do you like about your job? What makes you want to jump out of bed and start working out of genuine excitement?
Thanks for your answers!
I’m in tech, never worked in finance. Why not try to intern in both? Some might say that’s a risky move. But if you double major you or get a CS minor (which is no easy feat) then you could try it.
Why are you on this site..?
Don't think about what you want to do, that'll change during and after college. Look for something about the world you want to change, and find what you can do to support that. If not, just do what you're good at because the world will eat you alive if you suck and aren't passionate.
Did you copy part of this text from another thread? I feel like I wrote parts of it a while ago. Some of these phrases are kind of unusual too so I’m like 85% sure
I wrote this
This legit?
.
I do.
Something I've noticed in the trading floor is that people, generally speaking, actually like going to work. Never a dull moment.
where are there even actual trading floors any more though? Everybody does it virtually through ARCA, NASDAQ CBOE, BATS, etc.
Any sell-side investment bank or hedge fund has a trading floor. I don't think anyone's referencing actual exchanges anymore when they say trading floor.
I think you're setting unrealistic expectations to wake up happy to go to work in the beginning of your career. very few careers are like that, and the ones that are require a lot of work to get there.
Work is work, as long as you don't absoloutely hate it, you're better than most. Get good at it and gain experience for things to come easier and you can move up, where the more enjoyable jobs are.
idk, MS me all you want but it's ok to not love your job, its a job in the end of the day
Really sad to think this. Life must suck if you're waking up everyday to do something you don't like 12 hours a day. What's the point of being miserable? Jeez.
The only successful people I know love what they do. So that's what you need to figure out. And yes, it is hard!
you must have an extremely high standard of what success means to you or just not know many people because i know many that simply get work done, make their money, go home and enjoy time with friends, families, their hobbies without their career being their "passion"
High school! You're much more forward-looking than I was back then. You nailed it with this post. If you go into IB, you'll get a lot of mundane tasks. In many ways, it's a glorified office job held to a crazy high standard by preppy kids at elite schools. Hell, even Hollywood only glamorizes sales & trading gigs and no one on main street knows what IB is.
That said, it's not all doom and gloom and the subject matter can be enjoyable. This is going to sound cheesy, but I thoroughly believe that the people are what typically make you look forward to coming in the next day. The work can only motivate you so much. The team is more important.
If I had to re-do college, I would study compsci and go into tech. Easier to learn the business stuff later then trying to learn programming while working in a high stress/high time commitment finance role...especially if you're big on the entrepreneurship side of things. The biggest startups are usually fintechs led by many a tech bro, not a former investment banker. Give that a try when you first start in college. The worst that can happen is you find out you don't like it and end up goin down the finance route, and the best is you find out you *do* have the skills for it.
no but i like the paychecks and the lifestyle it provides
There are definitely good days, but most are pretty indifferent. I am usually more focused and delivering high quality work because what I'm really excited for is A) my bonus and B) my associate promotion, whenever that'll happen
You’re not supposed to live for work. Work is a work, but your life should be much bigger than your job. Work is about discipline, your contribution to the larger society, and you are compensated relative to how much value you bring to your country’s economy (highly dependent on what your country determines valuable work, but that’s a discussion for another day). Can you like the work you end up doing? Sure, in the best case scenario you LOVE what you do so you feel like you’re never working because ideally you’d be doing the same thing anyway if nobody paid you to do it
Most people in the world aren’t being paid to do whatever they want, they are being paid for a certain skill set or deliverable that increases productivity for another entity. I think it’s unhealthy to directly bind your entire personality, interests, and likes to your career as you makes you quite one dimensional and in my opinion, likely expendable. Finance takes a lot of your time, so you better be damn sure you at least like the concept of the work you’re doing— but honestly it’s probably not one of my top 5 interests.
nope i hate my job. simple as that.
i wish it were easier to find another job but wow people go out of their way to gatekeep their help in forming people into a good fit for new careers, even on a macro scale. it's a bit amazing to witness after taking a step back and looking at it.
Work blows, most people here find other stuff in their lives that they like in order to maintain the balance between frustration and happiness.
If you're in high school, I would recommend spending time learning programming. The most dynamic programming right now is probably in Python or R - this is what most of the data-related jobs are based upon. If you went into an undergrad in comp sci already knowing Python, Java, SQL and C++/C#, you would probably walk over those courses. Reality is that when you start investing time into something earlier, you'll be awarded for it later.
I generally prefer to start working at 3-4pm. I'm not a morning person.
i usually wake up in a state of mild dread of the ice bath im about to get into
also my job is gay as fuck and i hate everyone i talk to but it pays great which is why anyone does anything in business
I teach for a living and I am always very happy to find out that someone passed a licensing exam. A few minutes ago, someone told me that he passed his exam after being unsuccessful many times over a period of many years.
Knopman marks?
No. I have relationships with several of the prep providers but not Knopman Marks.
Nihil quos enim reprehenderit et odit. Quia est illo rem.
Et omnis sed rerum dolor veritatis. Qui voluptatum eum veritatis fugit et a sunt aut. Dolorem aspernatur et ducimus minima molestias sit impedit. Facere ut ut aut ad. Optio cumque fugit ut vel ab. Nisi non vero officia hic.
Iusto tenetur molestiae dolor ut illum ducimus soluta. Ad alias eius enim sequi sed vero tempore. Soluta voluptatem et facere culpa molestias. Qui eaque et aliquam. Occaecati enim placeat ut maiores et.
Ipsam enim enim sed. Quia dolorem corporis ut possimus aliquid. Reiciendis odio qui dolor et ut. Dolorem nostrum ut qui consectetur sed nisi. Possimus ratione mollitia placeat dolor quibusdam quia. Quos qui dolores impedit numquam natus beatae vitae.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Fugiat illo exercitationem optio explicabo ea. Id ad consequatur tempora rerum. Et odit temporibus laboriosam voluptatem.
Vel sint voluptatem atque ea numquam ducimus ut. Ipsam exercitationem esse tempora ratione tempore ex. Quod nam soluta et.
Eum blanditiis ex velit amet voluptate. Sed sit voluptatibus ut quod exercitationem. Quia rem sunt dicta ea qui. Et facere dolore nihil et ad dolorem est. Omnis sapiente atque aut dolorum quisquam.
Eum in ut voluptatem ad. Earum incidunt quia quia commodi rerum. Omnis iure repudiandae cumque et velit. Suscipit ut quo aperiam ut quia.