Good buy-side forums similar to WSO?

b2, I'm offended you don't think there is a knowledgeable base of PE - HF professionals here on WSO.

joking aside, we do have some good PE professionals and I have experience in PE myself so I could give you some advice. There are also about 10,000 discussions on IBD --> PE transfer.

hedge funds admittedly is a bit more sparse but there are some great discussions in that forum as well. you could also sort through the users to find others that are in HFs by goung here: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/usertable and sorting by industry.

i'm obviously biased, but i think you can find all the info you need right here in the comfort of WSO.

Start an hedgefund group

I'm looking more at HF than PE... and I know a lot more about PE than HF... my group has a sub-focus that works closely w/ Och Ziff, Fortress, etc., so I think it's a good opp, but don't really know the first thing about HF.

What do you want to know about HFs?

lots of questions since i don't know anything about hf's... too many to post here, and not a whole wealth of information here, so probably need a separate channel to get my answers.

at the very basic level, what skills are needed to get into a hf... do i need to know about trading? greeks? coz I don't know any of that sh*t. Or is it more fundamentals-based and basic valuation skills from an M&A/PIA-type group w/in an IB would suffice? what are the different type of hfs and to which type do most bankers jump?

obviously depends on the type of fund. volatility fund trading derivs, yes ull need to have some markets background and know your greeks. lot of bankers steer more toward the fundamental funds => l/s equity, macro, event, merger arb - places with a longer time horizon / execution period for their trade ideas

hahaha, you're speaking greek to me. I don't know what any of those things are! I think I'm just going to apply to Och Ziff... most of the people from my group go there.

well i mean if you're looking for the basics, theres tons of information out there - u dont need a dedicated forum for that. there are tons of hedge fund primers u could read

i work in banking... please. you really think someone from GS TMT or JPM M&A needs to know what an alpha is?

Och Ziff specializes in risk arb which I dont see b2 doing. Definitely not the trading he would freeze up. Not to mention i doubt he knows the basic algebra involved with deals.

except that i'm 30x smarter than you!

b2, why not reach out to your former analyst groupmates that went to hedge funds to ask them any HF related questions? I always felt like that kind of interaction was exponentially more helpful than the forums, anyways.

Hmm... hadn't thought of that, but good suggestion. I didn't really know the kids, since I just started and they had already jumped before I started, but I'll see what I can wrangle. Thanks,

If your questions are more general, i.e. what do you do no a daily basis, what skillsets are needed, etc. then your former classmates are a good resource. If they're more process related, i.e. what do I need to do to prepare for interviews, what technicals should I review, etc. then current classmates who are going through or have gone through the process can probably tell you. Most of my classmates interviewed for PE, but some of them interviewed at the bigger hedge funds, also. One of the common themes was to have proprietary investment ideas and sound judgement to back them up.

Thanks for the info; will ask around.