Transition from Engineering to trading

[jeffizcool]

Quote from ADX_trader:

so many engineers hate their jobs!
Everything related to engineering seems to have no value!
poor boys, why did you choose to study such shit?

Hello! look what forum we are on. a trading forum for traders and people wanting to be traders.
I think if there is a forum for idiots you would be on there talking about how much you love being an idiot and hoping you are the best one there.

I am an engineer myself
and I want to trade full time someday and I think I will but I do think there is a hinderence for trading in being an engineer especially a EE because of all the design you may learn and the way you program yourself to be. it was really difficult to get away from that type of thinking where you have to be right based on mathematics like electrical signal filtering, controls, and all that other crap where theorectical and proven laws of electricity etc apply. anyways it looks similiar but its different and you have to realize that.
anything can happen and it is based off of people and human emotions and/or supply demand. just mo.

 

[maxpi]

I'm an engineer. I found [and man did I have to dig to find it] that there are things about a data series that are based on laws of mathematics that should lead to trading success the same way that understanding the LaPlace transforms can lead to design success... currently I'm learning Open Quant for full automation[it's so far out in front of all the other stuff that I pity them] and testing some simple strategies that people succeed with all the time like scalping with the trend and momentum. Later on I can explore the abovementioned stuff, it took me a few years to get to this point but finally it's worth it all.... I would have kept my daytime job but I could not stand it so I asked them to "lay me off". They were such a cheapshit outfit they were glad to do some cost cutting so I got a year of rocking chair money from the state and worked on my trading skills....


There was an engineer I read about in the 90's, he studied markets for 25 years before ever making a trade and he absolutely cleaned up for about 2 straight decades... that's just the way we are, us engineers, we don't jump in the deep end to learn to swim, maybe once, but then we get out of the pool and take a deep interest in swimming and master the heck out of it... I wouldn't have it any other way personally, we earn our self esteem and we work very hard at what we do.......

 

[dtrader98]

The biggest problem in the leap, is trying to understand the difference between predicting systems based on rational logic
(i.e. when designing circuits, inc. analog, things make rational sense), to irrational logic.

The market (or house if you will) is designed to fool the masses who make rational short term bets and pickpocket their money. When you throw all the years of rational cause effect studies out the door, there begins the new knowledge curve. Look keenly at what the markets are doing, not what they SHOULD be doing.


After you've mumbled WTF to yourself a million times, you'll start getting the logic part correct.

 

[newguy05]

Quote from ADX_trader:

so many engineers hate their jobs!
Everything related to engineering seems to have no value!
poor boys, why did you choose to study such shit?

well i think most people become engineers not for the money, but because they love innovation and creating leading edge technology to change the world. I am sure every engineer imagined or dreamed about working for NASA etc where they will make a real difference.

Unfortunately most ended up with corporate america doing the mind numbing 9-5 where the engineers realized the only impact you have is maybe a small bump on the company's p&l. That's why most engineers are not happy.

 

[fogut]

I am an EE by degree, but I do not have the personality of a one. Since the five years I have graduated, I have not done any EE-oriented work. My fundamental reason for selecting EE in college was wrong . I was very good at math, and I went into EE thinking it is mathematically the most challenging major. It was and I have had fun doing math, but I have never had the real interest in electronics.

My real calling was/is sports gambling. I was introduced to it when I was 11. It started out as a fun, then it became my obsession. It was heartbreaking for me when US passed a legislation to prevent online betting. That is when I developed a real interest in trading and resultantly decided to become a professional trader, as it is about as close as it can get to the natural instincts one requires in gambling. My fascination with sports betting was remarkable; I have spent countless hours thinking and actually betting on a variety of sports. Trading actually provides significantly better odds of making money than sports betting.

At this point, I am desperately trying to break into the trading arena by working for one of the BB firms. Once I get the interview, I have no doubt that I am in. However, the toughest part right now is to actually get an interview. Please forward me any thoughts you may have along the line of getting the interview with any trading firm .

Thanks.

 

[mrman500]

I am a Civil with an MBA. I also was a cash grain buyer for a large processor for a couple of years.

Most engineers that I know want to focus on what the answer SHOULD be rather than on what the answer WILL be. We also have a strong desire to be right. The markets are about human emotion rather than strict, stable laws of physics, chemistry etc.

That being said, we are quite capable of handling the mathematics of probabilities.

To make money taking positions that last several days, we have to successfully predict what the market will do rather than what the market should do.

I've blown out my account two times. I am becoming more comfortable with being wrong and am now emphasizing money management discipline. I intend to be a full-time trader when my talent allows it. I will know when that is because I will have accumulated funds to permit it.

Good luck!