Thanks for all that! Very interesting stuff. About the financial engineering, I know its heavy on math, and I am worried if I were to go to one of these programs, I would become a quant. But I want to be more of a "floor" trader, it seems that would be a little more fun, am I wrong?
Have you ever played any sports? Trading on the floor is like playing tackle football every single day. I don't like getting hit in the mouth. I tried it out for like two days and couldn't hack it. Some guys are naturals though. I mean you have to be able to deal with heavy contact and a lot of noise. And of course the floor has its own sort of "food chain" effect. If you want to try it out, I would try out clerking and working my way up to being a broker. A lot of guys have a ton of fun just working a few clients big accounts on the floor, while trading for their own account. If you get in with the regulars you can be very sucessful.
well I guess floor trading wasn't exactly what I meant. Even though i did say "floor trading" . What about something like the traders that you see in the big trading rooms at UBS and stuff? Are they all quants? I am looking for a compromise between quants and the floor trading I guess.
That's the spirit Kiddo!! You will get ahead in life with that kind of approach. By the way about a month ago I had the idea why don't we put together a Newbie FAQ, where for lazy people like you, can go and get the answer to the most basic questions. But I am too lazy to put the FAQ together, so maybe someone else. Any takers? Oh yes, our answers will be just as vague, and unoriginal as possible...
*** *** That's OK. Call 917-555-1212. Ask to speak to a Mr. Smith. Tell him you want to take the Blue Pill. Then everything will be taken care of for you and you will be fine ...
Jimmy Jam . . I saw your post . . LOL . . .That would be screwed up if you really posted someone's number. Yeah Tuneman . . .when you said "floor", that's usually meant for the guys that stand on those stands right next to each other and hand signal and scream across the room while they scribble little notes on a order pad. . . . Everyone is not a quant that works "upstairs". Some guys come straight out of finance . . some guys are from, like you, physics or computer science. I guess all of them can be grouped under the "quant" umbrella. Don't get me wrong . . .some guys strictly use fundamentals like quarterly reports or just technicals to trade. I can't really say whether or not it's become required to be a quant to trade anymore. ANy of those options could lead to a "trader" position. THe easiest I think would be to go back to school. Some of the guys I work with trade with their pure discretion and are really rich and didn't and one didn't even go to college. . . but they all started out with their own capital and built up a sucessful record. It's hard to find a salaried position at a reputable firm unless you're programming . .
I wondered how this thread got to 7 pages so fast, now I know. I know the reason for why I would want to start a thread saying 'hay I'm new what's up?" and it's because you're a bit scared reading dead threads with the search function won't give you all of the specific advice that you could get by making your thread. We really value your advice guys I didn't make a thread and eventually found most things by just reading around but it took more time.. why not at least try to get what you want? The worst you can get is a flame war and then you click the search button.
Ok, here is finally a serious answer to your question. The best way I believe someone like yourself could break into trading at an institution is to go in as a trading assistant or assistant trader. You can find advertisements on Monster.com for some of these positions. I imagine that they would start you off doing the most mundane trading desk tasks. They would monitor and watch you for a time until they feel its not working out and fire you or move you to the next step. Here are a few such ads I found on Monster: http://jobsearch.monster.com/getjob...sort=dt&sorder=u&cy=us&JSNONREG=1&dcjvlid=550 http://jobsearch.monster.com/getjob...sort=dt&sorder=u&cy=us&JSNONREG=1&dcjvlid=684 http://jobsearch.monster.com/getjob...sort=dt&sorder=u&cy=us&JSNONREG=1&dcjvlid=950 http://jobsearch.monster.com/getjob...sort=dt&sorder=u&cy=us&JSNONREG=1&dcjvlid=550 Another place to look for jobs is on the websites of the institution. Of course. You have to remember that any big named institution is going to be looking for the golden candidate. Big named school, good grades, etc. Another thing you have to remember is that if your accepted for a Wall Street job of any kind you will be working 12+ hour a day jobs and doing all the sh*t work that the highers ups dont want to bother with. Nope, you wont be learning the magical methods of trading or making the big cash for a few years. It will be nothing but toil and trouble until you can prove yourself to them. So my advice, look on monster. Make a list of all the different institutions and go to their websites. Apply. http://www.prudentialcapitalgroup.com/pcg/path/cacpz1003.html Here is what I found for the "Day in the Life" of a UBS analyst on the internet: http://www.vault.com/nr/main_article_detail.jsp?article_id=23146519&cat_id=0&ht_type=1 Any job connected to Wall Street or finance is going to be high stress and there will be a lot expected of you. Why not just stick with your physics/engineering job and invest in some stocks or flip a house somewhere? As you see, the guys who have replied to this thread are completely and utterly ruthless. There are better ways to make a dollar. As I pointed out before, Bill Gates and Michael Dell have never been traders, analysts or investment bankers. They didnt even graduate college, but they are among the richest in the world...
Because there was no Newbie FAQ, but somebody just posted one. Hey, that was me: http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78244