thoughts on possible desks?
I interned last summer in structuring at a BB. the summer was pure hell - some people on my desk were cold assholes, and my personality (i'm quiet, not naturally aggressive) meant i didn't get along so well with them. despite this, im going back into s/t next year. but was told by my boss from last summer I needed to acquire the right personality if i wanted to succeed, and in the meantime i should start out with research or prop. i trust this guy well enough, and i'm taking his advice to heart, but the problem is, don't know if i want to do either. i don't know what research ultimately leads to, and i feel like i'd need to have a trading method developed before i went into prop successfully. i have a pretty quant. background coming out of college (physics major), but I don't have much financial background besides some options and capmarkets courses. im starting the training program this summer, and was hoping this board could give some suggestions on desks i could look at...
the key things i'm looking for
1) get good training, learn as much as possible about finance. i like s/t because people there were pretty numerate, and there is interesting work, when all is said and done.
2) has good exit opportunities.
3) avoid assholes.
what sort of desks might have all this? i don't care about money much at this point, i know the payoff comes later. at the same time, if i did something like FI research, that didn't have the same payoff as trading or structuring, and that just led to more research, i might as well go to physics grad school and do stuff that's more challenging intellectually.
thanks very much.
I don't know what you mean when you say "cold assholes." I guess we first need to define asshole. If by the word asshole you mean somebody who is vulgar and rude to women, but also quite a nice guy than simple products are not for you. However, if by asshole you mean people that lack personality, than generally, structured or quant desks are not for you. I am on a simple FI deriv desk, think ER swaps, and most of the guys here are very fratty. We, yes I included, like to hit on women, swear, throw tantrums and have a good time. Of course in order to be able to do this we need to perform, and we do. We love whistling and humping our desks when a hottie from HR comes up. Now this behavior might be construed as assholish. If you were to look at a different desk, a more quant desk, seldom will you find this sort of behavior. Those guys are generally less socially apt, more serious and gruff -assholish, if you define it that way.
haha, sure, if you consider whistling and humping your desks social aptitude
In the enviornment I work in, it is. We work in a fast paced setting, everybody is alive and we always get out of control -it's simply the nature of what we do. Let's say your out running 5 miles. When you get back to your apartment you are amped and ready to go for the day. Your investment banking roomate is just getting up and he's at a slow ass pace.
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