Michael Lewis Article on Goldman and Serge Aleynikov
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Nothing, they are just generally a dirty player*.
Judging by your previous post, there is no point in arguing with you, specially that you attribute shit to me that I never said, so read the article first...
* Actually, GS is a dirty player in this particular case because they obviously flexed legal (government) muscle to get Serge the very maximum penalty and when the charges didn't apply, a new case, so they would get a message across and deny the competition a start coder.
What Serge did was wrong, but it didn't deserve 8 years, without parole. Maybe 6 months with community service. Hell if I kill somebody I am back on the streets after 5.....
There are at least a couple of tier 1 banks that run tech in a similar way to how Michael Lewis describes Sergey's GS existence. A team of self professed HFT developer geniuses who never leave the back office. Work on behemoth global platforms handling DMA connectivity or fast market data. Guys who think they matter, but who have no trading strategy or quant modelling knowledge at all. Cheap ex-telco types, as mentioned above, that the desk think of as replaceable, if they are thought of at all. Tech bosses talk them up, but there are few cares. Dead end jobs with long hours and cost center bonuses.
I am sure there are such teams. I can only speak for the teams I worked with and they provided dedicated support and solutions to the prop groups I traded at. Most of them earned between 200-300k with a very few earning double such figures or even more.
Not sure what you are referring to where I put words in your mouth.
But wait, we are having here a convicted felon with an ax to grind with GS and we have a journalist who lives off sensationalism. So, it must be true what he is saying right?
And of course we can all find tons of testimony on the net by current or previous developers, named or anonymous who can support this story, that they worked in sweat shops with cost center bonuses? Dude, you are dreaming, nobody is forced to work there, in fact there are people lining up on the street to have a chance to interview for such positions. Think twice before you believe crap people make up to make a story. Maybe there some who were/are in such situations but certainly no Michael Lewis ever set foot into the door of development teams, especially not the ones that were allocated to highly profitable proprietary trading operations. So, if you chose to believe an ex M&A banker who now has to make a living writing books (which in my book is pretty much on an even level with failed traders who now sell indicators and holy grail systems) then be my guest, I rather rely on my empirical evidence and what I witnessed.
Sure, IT people are for most part not treated like first class citizens at investment banks but for good reason. They are not the ones who come up with the ideas that make millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars. But neither is anyone in compliance, product control, back office, support staff...like it or hate it but let's be careful to believe people who hugely blow things out of proportion and extrapolate in order to write up a hot story. Its a meritocratic environment, nobody needs to be there if they pee in their pants and feel so unhappy.
But wait, we are having here a convicted felon with an ax to grind with GS and we have a journalist who lives off sensationalism. So, it must be true what he is saying right?
And of course we can all find tons of testimony on the net by current or previous developers, named or anonymous who can support this story, that they worked in sweat shops with cost center bonuses? Dude, you are dreaming, nobody is forced to work there, in fact there are people lining up on the street to have a chance to interview for such positions. Think twice before you believe crap people make up to make a story. Maybe there some who were/are in such situations but certainly no Michael Lewis ever set foot into the door of development teams, especially not the ones that were allocated to highly profitable proprietary trading operations. So, if you chose to believe an ex M&A banker who now has to make a living writing books (which in my book is pretty much on an even level with failed traders who now sell indicators and holy grail systems) then be my guest, I rather rely on my empirical evidence and what I witnessed.
Sure, IT people are for most part not treated like first class citizens at investment banks but for good reason. They are not the ones who come up with the ideas that make millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars. But neither is anyone in compliance, product control, back office, support staff...like it or hate it but let's be careful to believe people who hugely blow things out of proportion and extrapolate in order to write up a hot story. Its a meritocratic environment, nobody needs to be there if they pee in their pants and feel so unhappy.
Quote from Pekelo:
Nothing, they are just generally a dirty player*.
Judging by your previous post, there is no point in arguing with you, specially that you attribute shit to me that I never said, so read the article first...
* Actually, GS is a dirty player in this particular case because they obviously flexed legal (government) muscle to get Serge the very maximum penalty and when the charges didn't apply, a new case, so they would get a message across and deny the competition a start coder.
What Serge did was wrong, but it didn't deserve 8 years, without parole. Maybe 6 months with community service. Hell if I kill somebody I am back on the streets after 5.....
and yes, the original story had it that he flew with the code to Chicago to propose to management there as part of his final negotiations. They blew the whistle on him. I try to find the Bloomberg article on that and will post it if I find it.
The story as presented here is a TOTAL HOAX. It portrays a thief who committed industrial espionage and violated pretty much every part of his employment contract. He landed in Newark not knowing anything nor even being aware that he committed a crime? LOL, unbelievable lies. And he now accuses criminal investigators that they searched his home and computers AFTER he waived his right to have a lawyer present and most likely AFTER he fully consented to a search. No search warrants needed for starters...ML looks extremely desperate putting out such BS, and of course it had to be Vanity Fair, of course he did not want to publish in the WSJ or FT or anyplace else, or is it that he had no choice...
The story as presented here is a TOTAL HOAX. It portrays a thief who committed industrial espionage and violated pretty much every part of his employment contract. He landed in Newark not knowing anything nor even being aware that he committed a crime? LOL, unbelievable lies. And he now accuses criminal investigators that they searched his home and computers AFTER he waived his right to have a lawyer present and most likely AFTER he fully consented to a search. No search warrants needed for starters...ML looks extremely desperate putting out such BS, and of course it had to be Vanity Fair, of course he did not want to publish in the WSJ or FT or anyplace else, or is it that he had no choice...
my best friend who used to work at GS said they now cannot print anything that are not authorized, let alone to send them to a private email address.
sounds like GS. They're sharp, but, increasingly, seems people are reluctant to deal with them in certain ways, products, arrangements.
hft is soon over anyway, give it another 2 years before the regulatory ax will finally cut the heads off the players. Same with commodities trading. If trading houses have to come up with round-the-block truck driving and tanker leases to make a dime then I reckon profit margins must be razor thin, but that is just a wild guess never having had exposure to a commodities trading desk.
Time to create the next packaged derivative...
Time to create the next packaged derivative...