Should I embrace being a jack of all trades? Or purely focus on commercial?

At a small commodities shop, lets say my title is "Junior Trader/Optimization Specialist." It's like 12 people total, so pretty unstructured. 

Let's say I am genuinely really good at solving any kind of higher level scheduling and mid office task. I'm not punching things into our ERP system; this stuff is actually pretty hands on and rewarding. This work does make me valuable, but it's also not work that people are fighting over (lol). 

I think I am good, not great, at putting commercial deals together. I'm fine on the details and technical part of it.  I just don't have the network that some others have - 20 year industry professionals, etc. It can be tough to compete against this. But this is also the way more lucrative/interesting piece of the business. 

My question is - when should I act as a helper for other people, vs me demanding to handle something direct? 

A specific example - I originated a counterpart, hardly anything groundbreaking. I did a few marginal deals with them (not even enough $ to even remember). My shop hired a new senior trader, and now he's basically just trying to transact with them, in the same market. He's literally just doing it without any internal coordination. 

1 Comments
 

Laboriosam corrupti repudiandae fugit asperiores maiores atque est voluptates. Ut consequatur pariatur ut sunt consectetur alias fugiat aut.

Quidem sequi pariatur nam sit repudiandae fugit. Modi delectus accusamus provident ea officiis dolor nihil. Rerum incidunt reiciendis ad culpa.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $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

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
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...”