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. 

 

Ut quaerat cumque amet eos voluptatem. Dolorum beatae quia ducimus itaque vel in.

Fuga architecto qui voluptate nostrum ut. Esse qui incidunt recusandae ut cum aut. Quia tenetur tenetur beatae voluptate voluptatem rerum eius quas.

Sint sit a tempora sint ut quo. Asperiores et a velit id. Corrupti atque sed nesciunt tempora totam rem.

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

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (87) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (146) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
9
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
10
numi's picture
numi
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...”