One of my pet-peeves is people who refuse to learn something that they view as "out of their realm" or "too hard for them." I have never understood why people would short themselves so much. While it is important to know your limits, learning should never be outside your limits. If you aren't smart enough to learn, then wall street is probably not a great place for you. People who don't learn and adapt go extinct faster than life on Mars.
What should you learn? In this day and age, there is no reason any new trader on a trading floor should not know how to do some basic programming. The markets have gotten far too fast and analytic to allow you to survive w/o some good applications. Sure you have tech people working for/with you, but why wait for them? Do you have any clue how far ahead of the curve you can get by being able to do your job and the tech guy's job at the same exact time?
Also, if you're an investment banker, you should definitely learn programming. There is A LOT of data entry that could be automated with the right comp-sci background. Oh yea, you'll be doing A LOT of data entry as an investment banking analyst. Granted, since you're doing your data entry for 15+hrs a day, there probably is no time for this "innovative" programming. . . well, that's a problem the investment banking industry is going to have to figure out for itself. I assure you, there is far too much manual everything in the industry.
What else to learn? Well, there's certainly no harm in learning products other than your own. It will make the eventual job switch (yes, you will eventually take a different role) that much easier and give you more options for it. You should thoroughly learn your back/middle office processes. Why? If you know their processes you can tap their resources when you need them, and you will know how to expedite things you need to get through them.
I think the majority of the people I see "failing" out of the industry do so because they are not willing to learn and adapt quickly. That being said, the majority of the people I see leaving the industry in general do so because they don't like the work. You really do have to love what you do in this industry, otherwise the hours just wear on you too quickly.
What should you learn? In this day and age, there is no reason any new trader on a trading floor should not know how to do some basic programming. The markets have gotten far too fast and analytic to allow you to survive w/o some good applications. Sure you have tech people working for/with you, but why wait for them? Do you have any clue how far ahead of the curve you can get by being able to do your job and the tech guy's job at the same exact time?
Also, if you're an investment banker, you should definitely learn programming. There is A LOT of data entry that could be automated with the right comp-sci background. Oh yea, you'll be doing A LOT of data entry as an investment banking analyst. Granted, since you're doing your data entry for 15+hrs a day, there probably is no time for this "innovative" programming. . . well, that's a problem the investment banking industry is going to have to figure out for itself. I assure you, there is far too much manual everything in the industry.
What else to learn? Well, there's certainly no harm in learning products other than your own. It will make the eventual job switch (yes, you will eventually take a different role) that much easier and give you more options for it. You should thoroughly learn your back/middle office processes. Why? If you know their processes you can tap their resources when you need them, and you will know how to expedite things you need to get through them.
I think the majority of the people I see "failing" out of the industry do so because they are not willing to learn and adapt quickly. That being said, the majority of the people I see leaving the industry in general do so because they don't like the work. You really do have to love what you do in this industry, otherwise the hours just wear on you too quickly.
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