Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

To all those guys who took the conservative banking jobs

sampurtill.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 44 posts

Re: To all those guys who took the conservative banking jobs

#11

Post by jwilliams »

dustineichler wrote: post #5

This guy is really ignorant. It's the same mentality that thinks the valley is impervious to bubbles and inflation. What? Really, "you get the satisfaction of knowing you aren’t a complete tool bag every time you wake up in the morning."... They may have lost their jobs, but you lose at life.

This guy is really ignorant. It's the same mentality that thinks the valley is impervious to bubbles and inflation.

Yup - More than that - he thinks his limited value system applies to everyone.

Maybe he's never considered people do those jobs because they like them, because they are good at it, because it's dynamic, because it's lucrative, because they think it's an essential part of our society?

You know, similar reasons that people do startups.

Re: To all those guys who took the conservative banking jobs

#17

Post by rgrieselhuber »

Of all the career paths that I know of, finance and technology are the two that probably hold the greatest appeal to me. I might have gone into finance when I was younger but it just wasn't on my radar.

As others have commented, there are far more similarities (between finance careers and the startup world) than there are differences. Some of my closest friends are investment bankers and portfolio managers. They have a deep interest in the world around them, are wicked smart and do what they do because it gets them juiced like nothing else.

I'm definitely not wicked smart but the other two characteristics apply to me so I can relate to their chosen path and don't revel in the sh*t that's hitting the fan right now.

Re: To all those guys who took the conservative banking jobs

#18

Post by kurtosis »

I'm not a wall street hater, but it's not hard to understand why people feel a little tinge of poetic justice about LEH el. al. -

http://www.google.com/search?q=announces+layoffs+stock+price...

I know that this is bogus on so many levels but I'm just saying that the perception is that foreign competition puts pressure on companies to layoff and offshore and then wall street is in the bleachers going wild when layoffs are announced.

Re: To all those guys who took the conservative banking jobs

#19

Post by imgabe »

jwilliams wrote: post #11
dustineichler wrote: post #5

This guy is really ignorant. It's the same mentality that thinks the valley is impervious to bubbles and inflation. What? Really, "you get the satisfaction of knowing you aren’t a complete tool bag every time you wake up in the morning."... They may have lost their jobs, but you lose at life.

This guy is really ignorant. It's the same mentality that thinks the valley is impervious to bubbles and inflation. Yup - More than that - he thinks his limited value system applies to everyone. Maybe he's never considered people do those jobs because they like them, because they are good at it, because it's dynamic, because it's lucrative, because they think it's an essential part of our society? You know, similar r…

Sure it's dynamic and lucrative, but I think the last few months have shown that shilling securitized high risk mortgages is anything but an essential part of society.

Re: To all those guys who took the conservative banking jobs

#20

Post by adrianwaj »

"you can sell your soul to an enormous investment firm and they, in turn, will make you rich with not very much risk involved"

This has merit.

Most of the world is chasing a dollar, if not for survival then in the pursuit of a decent, good or great life. Glory and vanity plays a large part especially for high net-worth individuals. Fear too, for attaining some type of status amongst one's peers. Startups are no different in that respect. But, 'Selling your soul' is more likely to occur on Wall Street. If you want your soul, then 'do the right thing.'

Post reply on HN