The Big Picture

Everyone makes a big deal about investment banking vs sales & trading, but many people seem to miss the many other opportunities in a bank. There are a LOT of interesting opportunities in every bank not restricted to those two "headline" areas. Places like Private Wealth Management (as a note, my first internship was in Private Wealth Management. . . admittedly it wasn't quite my style) are a huge cash-cow to investment banks, but they tend not to receive the same limelight the other two areas do. There is also risk management, which people sometimes shun but can actually be quite interesting. Commercial banks have what are known as "portfolios," which manage HUGE sums of money and move markets regularly. Insurance is a pretty interesting area related to banking these days too.

To relate this to a story, one of my good friends (and poker rival) actually started out in risk management. He was in risk management for almost 10 years before he switched over to be a swaps trader. The swaps guys are some of the most well respected (not to mention well paid) guys on the floor, and he came right into a senior trader position. I'd say he did perfectly well for himself. There are lots of folks who go into the analyst of associate trader programs, be a TA for a few years and never make it to being a trader. Fact of the matter is a bunch of things have to line up: you have to have the right temperament and knowledge, the desk has to have an open position, and there has to be no guy better suited for the position already in line. Life's a long game, look for the long term best expected value.

As my boss often says "get your head out of your ass." I see a lot of kids running around being adamant about wanting to be i-bankers or traders (even one kid I consider to be a complete MORON who is adamant about being a prop trader). Trust me, get your head out of your ass and look around. There are lots of other interesting functions in and around finance. There's nothing wrong with exploring opportunities. You never know what will get your foot in the door.