Nicolaf- I think I agree with most of what you are saying. However, this trading firm is not some prop shop. They train you well for 12 months (rotating program through their trading team and information team), pay you a competitive salary and bonus. Also, the firm is a market-taking firm. Because they are not huge, I think they can continue to exploit inefficiencies in options prices. But like you said, I agree that my opportunities are way above what most posters here have available. Most posters here could not even get in to a crappy prop shop where they require a capital outlay and barely train you.
Lot's of things here being said are true, like some people said, it's also basically a life-style choice. What is your personality, who are you, what kind of life do you want to lead ? I have a brother who is an investment banker in London for CSFB, he has a totally different personality from me. I really love trading, he would hate it. He would be totally stressed out of just the idea of doing this. I would never want to lead his life: when I call him at 9 or even 10 pm he is still at his job most of the time, a lot of times when he is not he is somewhere off in Europe investigating some deals, even in the weekends he's busy for his work a lot. He makes good money, but he sure has to pay a price. Three years ago the last three weeks of the year, he only saw his wife when she was allready sleeping in bed and when he woke up she was allready gone off to work. It's just very hard, you need a to be prepared to sacrifice a lot. I spent a lot of my waking time thinking about trading, preparing, investigating ... but to me it's a kind of hobby, leading his life would be hell to me. Even though at this moment I'm kind of stuck (long story: I used to be a mm in options and for lots of personal reasons started trading on my own, but that kind of trading seems to have vanished now the spreads have become to small and I'm trying to reinvent myself as a trader) I would not want to change my life for his.
how much does it cost to uses MATLAB? I would chose GS just because very few people get the chance to play with the #1 team in Land.
This entire thread does not ring true. Anyone with half a brain that has the credentials listed by the original poster would not be here asking for this type of information: In fact, if this was a real story and they did come here asking for advice then they clearly dont have the right stuff to be at goldman .....
Let's be real for a moment, piker. The reason you're not in an investment banker is not because you choose not to be there. The reason you're not in an investment bank is because NOBODY WANTED YOU! And for your information, Sales and Trading is at an i-bank; it's just another division. You desperately wanted to be at Lehman, but they didn't want you. And why were you surprised? You're just a lowly graphics artist boy, which is even below front office operations. It's amusing that you've only done Powerpoint work but already felt burnt out from doing simple tasks. Were you upset that you actually had to do work and had no time to smoke weed? Did you whine about having to do homework in school as well?? You're such a pussy. It's obviously you're only trading because you got REJECTED from all your other job applications, but you should be thankful because your lazy kind usually ends up working in the deli or grocery store. But just keep on talking down the jobs that you never ever had a chance for. Just do that to make you feel better about yourself. LMAO
Hydroblunt might be a loser, but working at an I-bank still sucks. But I recommend it 100% if you need quick bucks and have zero trading skills.
As a front office operations person I take exception to you insulting my profession like this I mean its not like I f**king flip burgers dude! I mark trades to market, clear them and monitor my traders risk level. **SWIPE!