Oh my god I'm confused
So, as some of you may remember, I have a son. I'm finishing up my second year as a CS major and have been very interested in trading. That's where the son part comes in... My thinking lately has been that, if I do get a job in trading, when the stress comes in and my job is depending on my choices, the fact that I have a son may make it that much more stressful and lead me to disaster.
So I was aiming more towards just learning about algorithms and data management/mining while in school (am also very interested in this), finding a job as a programmer (maybe at a bank, maybe at a "normal" software company), and building a safety net so, if I decide to seriously pursue trading in the future, I'll have some money to support myself if I find myself out of work. I thought that this was a pretty good plan, but I was talking to a friend who just received a very nice offer for the summer, and he said that it sounds like I really want to do trading. And I realized that he's right. If I didn't have a son and my job security wasn't so important, I know I'd be shooting for trading.
So I guess I'm asking for any suggestions. Do you think that extra responsibility for the well being of my son may eat away at my decision making? Are there other jobs that could give me some security while still possibly setting me up for trading if I decide to pursue it in the future?
Unfortunately, I don't have enough money to make my own trading account to simulate the actual stress/decision making involved, and I know that you can't predict your success at trading at a bank until you're actually trading for a bank. At this point in the semester, all I have lined up for the summer is a research position dealing with data management in bioinformatics. I feel like not getting an internship in anything finance related may hurt me quite a bit for next year's internship recruiting and am wondering if I should start sending out emails like it's my job and trying to find a finance gig, or if I should just stick with the safe route I was considering. I know some of you may be thinking that whole "follow your dreams" thing, but I think my circumstances are a bit different than the typical college student.
Thanks in advance, I could use some solid advice.
The stress becomes manageable once you have done it for a little while. I don't really see how the son matters that much work-wise. Many traders have children, or girlfriends/SOs who are more expensive than children.
That said, I would worry about first getting offer to be a trader/TA. Those offers don't grow on trees.
It's not like traders are all unmarried childless drones.
I know they aren't, but being able to work as a trader and save some money THEN have kids is different than coming straight out of college with no savings going straight into trading already with a kid. Maybe I'm looking too much into it, it'd be pretty nice if that is so.
You are.
I also wouldn't recommend proffering that you have a kid. Shows poor risk management skills.
Yeah, well I'm just wondering if I should even try getting those offers, really. I don't have much time as it is, and it'd be pretty crappy if I spent time that I could have used preparing for other interviews preparing for an interview for a job that I'm not cut out for. I have a feeling that those traders with kids and expensive girlfriends have been working for quite a bit and have some savings though. I'm not going to have a safety net if shtf, and really really don't want to end up in an expensive city with with no job, no money, and limited exit ops while raising a kid.
Yeah, I know of many reasons for not bring up having a kid while looking for a job.
You are looking too much into it. Specially if you want to trade at a bank, where there's some job security and you get a nice base salary. If you get fired they still have to give you some compensation, so it's not the end of the world. Maybe you should just stay away from the prop shops, which tend to be a lot more risky. In terms of having a kid affecting your decision making, I don't see why, traders are all normal people. Seriously, it's not that complicated to become an average trader at an investment bank. And if you don't become the next Paul Jones I doubt having a kid is the reason...
I would think having a kid would be a reason to avoid banking, not trading. I don't know what a kid has to do with a trading position.
It's just the stress part... I don't want to stress over my positions way too much knowing that if I fuck up, I'm going to be without a job while I still have another mouth to feed/send to school. I knew that I had some misconceptions about what exactly was at stake here, so that's why I asked this question and a lot of the responses have been able to calm me down a little bit... but honestly guys, if you're just saying that stuff to calm me down, don't. I want the cold, hard truth.
thanks for the responses guys
If you're talking about day trading your account to put food on the table, I wouldn't do that. If you're talking about a job trading that pays a salary, bonus, and benefits, it's very reasonable to do that with kids. It's OPM.
you're not going to be taking huge direction risk in s&t, anyone with a pulse can get that moola while market making.
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