Iâm enacting this plan after 17 months of honest effort and the attendant baggage of an aborted mission. I trust this board will likely know the process that made it necessaryâ¦so thanks in advance for any response of any kind to this overwritten solicitation. Three years ago, surveying the emotional landscape at thirty years, I thought it was time for a change. My pro video ârun and gunâ operation was not paying the bills or fulfilling, and with two young mouths to feed I thought it was time to make more money and engage my mind more fully. Figuring any new endeavor requires an investment in education, I asked the question: How do the uninitiated (read film school dropout) break into the purest of American dream jobs, where the medium of exchange is the also the plain resultânamely, trading? Somehow, I got the nutty idea, after lurking around NYMEX, the CME, and finally, the NYSE, that running for the latter would afford me the opportunity I rejected resoundingly when I had my best chance as a kid. Has anyone reading this post ever been a squad on the floor of the stock exchange? â¦reading cribbed newspaper while standing at attention during the noon balloonâ¦following specialists running the game from directly the side of an enormous crowdâ¦nearly fired for collecting a ticket in front of Grassoâs face while he was on tvâ¦For 13 months I stood, hustled and observed, jockeying for an open spot, anywhere on the floor or upstairs. Maybe it was my suits, maybe persistent questions like âwhy are your inactive ADRâs are gapping all over on no news today?â but wow, it was hard to get a job. In retrospect, living from savings, trying to get a first hand education, it could have been easier if I had just gone to school when I had the chance. I was finally picked up by a headline news rewrite shop funded by a now-defunct and crooked market making outfit. I wrote, studied, and traded for the first time while working there for one year. Then I did it. I quit my paycheck job and started trading from home. Without getting too specific, I gave you guys a lot of good trades in CBOT treasurys over the past year, and in CME minis just before that. Despite a pretty good hit/miss number, I was unable to quit the losers in a timely way. I developed a decent strategy reading the limit order books and tape, but I still blew it after countless comebacks. Itâs disturbing admitting this finally, but Iâm back to square one, looking for work in New York. My interest and enthusiasm havenât waned a bit, but Iâd really like to keep (not relive) my experience as a runner. To the extent a semi-anonymous guy can get a leg up from another stranger on a well-attended message board, could someone advise me on how to re-enter the workplace? Iâve never had formal training, never kept an order book, and never presented myself as anything but energetic and motivated. That said, I realize there are limited opportunities for a semi-resigned daytrader with a bright mind but little commercial experience. Any suggestions? thx again Tom