i'm from mar's and i was looking for a young guy to trade for my new investment firm and commute here.
As said above, an MBA or a degree from the best business school in your country is the key. And no, you don't have to bring coffee during 10years before getting a trading position. That's an image from the past.
Who said that an MBA or a degree from the best business school in the country is key? Maybe if you are talking about investment banking, certainly not trading. Traders fit into 2 camps now, Ph.D quants and street-smart tough fighters who come ready to bite the ass off a bear every day that they go to work.
I have worked in several banks as a trader and had 20 times more quants or holders of an an MBA as colleagues than fighters. What you call fighters are generally an old guard which is progressively but surely shown the door of the dealing room.
Basically, I agree with you. Old line traders are much a thing of the past and becoming more so each day. The big senior traders are generally still of the old-guard (see: Ace Greenberg, et al.). As for Quants I agree, however, MBA has been more of an 'also-ran' as opposed to a pre-requisite. I doubt many of them were screened to have an MBA unless there was some advanced math required, albeit, not necessarily Ph.D level math. In other words, I think many 30-somethings have been brainwashed into getting an MBA but really didn't need it for trading. Hence, many have useless MBA's that really aren't really helping them or hurting them.
Never said MBA was useful, it's just the entry key, just as I need a visa to come to the USA. Generally you you will find more quants working as traders or analysts and more holders of an MBA on the sales side. Does one need to be a quant or hold a MBa to be a succesful trader: surely not. Do you need it to enter a top tier bank or even a second tier bank: more than probably yes.
I respect your opinion and again I agree regarding the sales side. Probably need to have an MBA to be able to talk the bullshit to the clients. On the trading side, I'm fairly sure many managers couldn't care less about an MBA as long as the P/L, experience history is there. Junior guys may come out of the Sales & Trading program in which case again I believe that an MBA is helpful although not 100% essential to get hired.
i put two responses (to a similar question) on this page: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7380&perpage=6&highlight=firm&pagenumber=8 i used to work (as a techie) for a non-equities financial firm in nyc. get in early, bust your butt, work your way from the ground up. try to get in middle office - in some larger firms, back office is looked down upon. you'll start off getting coffee and food in between learning the ropes, and you'll work horrendously long hours, get yelled at, etc. occasionally, the traders may toss their extra perks your way...and you should take advantage of those events, because you'll make contacts, and build relationships (outside work) that make a better environment at work. but there's no easy shortcut to the trading desk, no one says "oh! you've got these degrees....sit on the desk".
If anyone on this board thinks that NOT having an MBA is a pre-requisite for getting on the recruiting calendar of a major investment banking firm like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, etc., then you are sadly mistaken. Moreover, since many of these investment banks cater to hedge-funds due to their lower cost of capital, (which helps these funds to "leverage" their positions), i has become increasingly important to learn about equity and fixed-income derivatives. Get the MBA. Then get on the recruiting calendar. Best of Luck.