How do I get a job here?

UBS trading floor. apply to UBS, it's that simple but it's hard to get in though. Yes, you have to be very smart & educated to get in, tons of degrees/competition needed.
 
trading your own money is a definite minus against any corporate possibilities.

They want fresh meat.
They want yes man.
They want to train you to do their thing their way.
They don't want any smart ass remarks.
They don't want any creativity. (see SoGen)
They want you to produce. You don't have to make a lot, just consistency. Consistently little bit is ok.
They don't want you to lose money, not even a little bit.

If you have experience, that's a score against you.
If you "know" the market, that's a score against you.
If you have opinion, that's a score against you.

You are better off dumb when you apply.
They would rather take fresh meat than have to retrain you.
 
Quote from cashmoney69:

http://www.advancedtrading.com/photos/trading-floors/ubs/showImage.jhtml?galleryID=20&imageID=19

Are ALL of these guys basically professional day traders. Do I have to come from a top notch school to work on one of these floors?
More...

Haha. No. The the floor has all the market makers, sales traders, sales coverages, credit analysts, risk analysts, etc. There are no day traders. A large part of that floor is taken up by fixed income cash & derivatives. But look on the bright side, there are quite a few b-schoolers on that floor.
 
Quote from sjfan:

Haha. No. The the floor has all the market makers, sales traders, sales coverages, credit analysts, risk analysts, etc. There are no day traders. A large part of that floor is taken up by fixed income cash & derivatives. But look on the bright side, there are quite a few b-schoolers on that floor.
More...

are these the ones we hear about in trader monthly magazine?
 
Quote from cashmoney69:

are these the ones we hear about in trader monthly magazine?
More...

I flip through that magazine for the articles on watches and scotch. Can't really recall who the "traders" they feature are. But to the point, these are the guys doing tens of billions of dollars in volume a day.
 
Quote from Tums:



They want fresh meat.
They want yes man.
They want to train you to do their thing their way.
They don't want any smart ass remarks.
They don't want any creativity. (see SoGen)
They want you to produce. You don't have to make a lot, just consistency. Consistently little bit is ok.
They don't want you to lose money, not even a little bit.
More...

It seems like they already tried to model their trading floor after a bee hive, so why don't they just completely automate their strategies?
 
Quote from FerdinandAlx:

It seems like they already tried to model their trading floor after a bee hive, so why don't they just completely automate their strategies?
More...

I don't think any of those things were listed are right in any non-trivial sense - or at least taken to an absurd extreme. At the end of the day, the bank is running a business. Much like you don't want cops to shoot at everyone (though shooting, like losing, is sometimes necessary; and unnecessary shooting sometimes happen), the bank wants a repeatable process. Banks don't want cowboys. Hedge funds don't want cowboys (consistency and a repeatable process is the first thing fund of funds look for).
 
Quote from sjfan:

I don't think any of those things were listed are right in any non-trivial sense - or at least taken to an absurd extreme. At the end of the day, the bank is running a business. Much like you don't want cops to shoot at everyone (though shooting, like losing, is sometimes necessary; and unnecessary shooting sometimes happen), the bank wants a repeatable process. Banks don't want cowboys. Hedge funds don't want cowboys (consistency and a repeatable process is the first thing fund of funds look for).
More...

I was never under the impression that the financial industry is labour intensive, yet what UBS has here is a essentially a gigantic production line. According to wikipedia UBS officials have boasted that you can turn around a 747 jet in that hall. Well, you could probably manufacture a 747 in there as well.

Introducing intelligent people with advanced degrees to an environment like this is what creates cowboys. It's hard to stand out when you're crammed in a hall with 1400 people and I could understand why someone would try and bend the rules just to retain a notion of individuality.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top