Ah more spirited comments from the Left Coaster. Let me guess, you moved out there to let that woman out of your body?
I'm a structural engineer of 23 years. I have been trading now for 6 years, and feel like I am finally to the point where it can be very profitable. Here's my feeling about engineers as traders: 1. Engineers are attracted to stock trading because we like to solve problems, and stock trading is the ultimate problem to solve. 2. If you solve the problem the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow can be substantial. Much more substantial than the comfortable salary we receive. 3. The trouble we have is, trying to solve the stock market cannot follow logic. I came the the conclusion after about 2 or 3 years that you cannot apply logic to the market. My big turning point is when I changed my approach from trying to solve the market, to trying to solve the system I use to trade the market. The market will do what it wants. The key is designing your system, and staying true to it. 4. Trouble number 2 is that we are always looking to improve things. I am still constantly tweaking. I know that if I just stick to the system I have designed, I will be better off. Easier said than done.
Much of my background in Engineering was Operations Research, focused on optimization. With trading I found that one can not find an optimal solution but a "good" solution is more than enough to achieve ongoing profitability. Forever trying to optimize can drive one crazy.
Largely agreed. I have been at it about the same period of time. I see the problem nowadays as tweaking the "system plane" so that it intersects the "market plane" to the greatest extent. If I get the autotraded stuff up and running satisfactorily I am thinking of joining a prop shop. I am sure that what I have developed in my intellectual space is not much compared to what could be picked up by more active trading. This engineering stuff sucks, I don't get to engineer anything, the bosses are down right menacing and threatening, my replacement barely speaks english and works cheap, best reason I have to trade is my job.
DHOHHI, I am an industrial engineer and our focus is optimization of processes and operations research also. What is your background. Personally, this whole thread has gotten way of course. The bottom line is not that we as engineers are trying to come up with some black box perfect criteria that will ensure our success if the appropriate inputs are put into the system. It is simply this: That after learning about how the markets work and how stocks trade and how to evaluate a good company from a bad company, we can then learn to trade just as well or better than any finance degree grad, MBA grad, Doctor, Lawyer or anyone else you want to bring to the table. Understanding the markets is can be something as simple as knowing that there are no real patters that you can apply to the markets. You cannot perform multiple regression to identify the most suitable function for the data points in stock trading because what is now can change tomorrow. We as engineers can learn this as quickly or quicker than anyone. Once we know this, we can then move on to developing strategies that, not necessarily eliminate risk, but limit risk. As an engineer, I can surely speak for myself and many on this board, that mathematically speaking, I am willign to put my ability to define my risk and eliminate as much risk as possible against any person with any sort of degree that you all consider to be a good trader. I have developed strategies that eliminate risk with other investing instruments other than simply stocks, i.e options for example, and have discussed these strategies with those individuals of finance degrees and liberal arts and they have no clue what I am talking about. As engineers, we can learn this stuff in our sleep and start to apply it. I for one have. You go talk to some finance pro with a liberal arts degree and he knows about covered calls and thinks that's jsut great....Man, give me a a break, I could talk circles around that guy with some of the strategies I have implemented before. I am sure many of the engineers on this site will stand by my comments.
almost missed this thread... actually, anyone's success is largely how they deal with uncertainty. Some engineers do it well, some don't. my specialty, Chemical Process Engineering, has some adherents that model and calculate, and at the other end of the spectrum, that do curve-fitting for black-art processes. At that end trading is very comfortable. Many engineers wanted to be good worker bees, contributing to society. After a few years they realized that the Queen CEO and her Drones got a disproportionate amount of the pollen and had NO tolerance for good engineers that tended to be 'loose cannons.' One of my accounts, for "swing trading" is up 37% in two months from a 5 digit base. Another, for day-trading, is just over BE for the last month...but promising. Love it! Too many stocks - too much money -- two little time.......
I have to laugh. Even here at ET, I have seldom seen more crap. If any of you actually took the time to investigate the curriculum that a professional engineer has to go through you would (I think) feel a little embarrassed about your comments. Engineering is a profession similar to the medical profession, or the legal profession. The barriers to entry are high, and prospective engineers are required to pass a very difficult examination process to obtain a professional license. Engineers (Mechanical, Electrical, Geotechnical, Structural, Civil) all have in common a strong (very strong) aptitude for mathematics, and the ability to THINK critically and problem solve. On a site like this, most of you fucking idiots who say you are engineers are fakes. If I were to ask you so explain Mohr's cycle, or Young's modulus you couldn't. Kinematics, forget it. Solid mechanics, no clue. You people love to post, but if I were to ask you to "show me the money" most if not all of you "engineers" haven't seen the inside of a engineering class in your lives. Sorry, but really I have had enough. Try commenting on something that you know even a little about. Good luck in the markets, YOU folks will need it. Steve
What kind of idiot "engineers" are you guys hanging out with? Any real engineer who is not a complete dumbass has a perfectly reasonable understanding of probabilistic outcomes. Also, the idea that an engineer is "by the book" and can't be creative is an old canard. It's just wound licking by people without any technical training. Fletch
That should of been Mohr's Circle. I know what you meant though. I think I can still calculate the poles in a Mohr's circle, but then again I probably forgot how. The only thing I remember about kinematics is velocity and acceleration polygons. Do you know how to calculate those? You're right about how hard it is too get qualified and graduate with a ABET accredited degree. If non-engineers only knew how hard and time consuming it is too get a degree they would respect engineers more.
Amen Steve. Looked like a good confrontational subject to get into, but a waste of energy. I'm an EE. What people better realize is were all trying to take each others money. Do not underestimate the sharp, early-retired geeks coming out of Silicon Valley with a lot of money and free time. This is being approached by many, very conservatively, methodical and automated, gauranteed. To categorize is simply stupid, don't underestimate the enemy. --jeff