Wasn’t there a thread a while back where you went into a lot of detail on trading? Do you remember the name of the thread? I’d like to re-read it if I can find it.
Thanks!
We really need a “How to be Successful as Fuck” thread where you and some others can detail how you managed to become so successful. Some of the resumes in here are really impressive.
I’m an engineer at an oil an gas company. Previously was a field engineer working on offshore platforms in SE Asia but am back in the USA now.
Moving more into project management and IT innovative solutions as the internet of things starts gaining more momentum.
Similar to Jewbacca and Pangloss, part-time landlord managing a handful of properties I used to live in and now rent out. I’ve dabbled in the fitness industry and got certified as a nutritionist and CSCS, but never made enough money at it to make it worth my while. I now give random advise here and there for free gym membership at my local gym.
Work for the Dept of Social Services, supervising one of the many units that takes part in determining eligibility for households who apply for services and maintaining their information (in other words, we process and update food stamps, medicaid, and cash assistance cases).
I spend most of my time making sure my coworkers follow federal and state policies (mainly because most of them don’t) and handling customer service issues that arise from people not doing their jobs right. My actual duties are to supervise a handful of workers who have been assigned specific tasks involved in maintaining information part of what our office does.
If you want insight on poor people around the MD/DC area and the extent of help that they actually get (as opposed to what conservative politicians will tell you they get) I know a lot about that.
I’m interested in that last statement of yours, Tdub.
x2.
But successful people never share their real secrets, lol.
Not mention people having varying definitions of success.
I’ve talked about trading quite a bit in the Tesla thread but I think the one you’re thinking about was in PWI. I don’t remember the title of the thread, though.
Eh, I know what you mean but I don’t think that’s true. If I discovered an algorithm that was able to earn %50 in equities year after year I wouldn’t tell you what it was but I would tell you it was the result of years of dedication honing my craft, a natural curiosity about how the world works, and a willingness to take risks.
My secrets for success would be:
Take risks while you’re young and can recover financially and reputationally,
Get only as much formal education as your field requires,
Never stop learning whether it be related to your vocation or not,
Be someone people want to work for and with,
Diversify financially but specialize vocationally,
Do what you say you’ll do,
Ask questions,
Be an active listener,
Never make your boss look like an asshole,
The hard choice is almost always the right one, that’s why it’s hard.
Commit yourself to personal growth
Although the above list might seem like bumper sticker slogans I can identify concrete examples from my own life for each point above.
Whether your a lawyer, mechanic, or starting shortstop the list doesn’t change.
I’m a Solution Architect sometimes doubling as Security Architect for a large corp. I do a combination of program and project designs as well as develop 3-5 year strategies around technology.
If anyone wants to share, I’d be interested to hear more about the process to becoming a member of a board.
That’s something that has peaked my interest lately and I’d be happy to volunteer my time for the right cause. I’m not really sure how to go about searching for an opportunity, though.
I’m still an engineer designing electro-hydraulic control systems from tele-boom crawler cranes. Software, harnesses, and components.
Out of curiosity, has anyone here done anything with venture capital funding?
Be a business lawyer or accountant and remotely engaged in your community and charitable boards will bother the shit out of you to be on the board, for free help.
Alternatively, give a large chunk of money or be high profile in your community for whatever reason. Half of being on a charitable board is hitting up people for money.
Sitting on public boards is a completely different beast. Again, be a lawyer or accountant, preferably retired audit partner at a major accounting firm. Alternatively, be semi-retired expert in the field of the target company. Pass an FBI rectal exam, er, I mean background check. Be trusted by the management/big stockholders.
Once on one public board, join the NACD, and you’ll always have 2-3 board options at a given time (about 4 is the most I was comfortable with). It’s a good gig: probably $300K/year (mainly stock) for a very part time position for each board.
All the time. Both for the money side and for the talent side.
If you are defining “success” as job security and good pay, I would recommend:
Being in an business that serves businesses or makes a commodity (e.g., oil, wood). The margins are better because people are (generally) paying with pre-tax dollars.
Chose your position on the side of the business that makes money. For example, lawyers at a law firm are worked hard, but compensated well because are the profit center because that’s what the law firm sells. A lawyer at a company (in-house) is merely a necessary expense. So if you go to work for widget co, design, make or sell widgets. Don’t be the IT guy, unless you are working for an IT company.
Want to piggy-back on this response and ask, would you suggest a CPA working in public accounting to not go private eventually?
Not exactly. If you go private, go big — small growth company CFO, CAO. They are generally the next best paid after the CEO, but they are seldom made CEO – that’s someone from the design/make/sell widget side (operations) side. You’ll get a good chuck of the B (profit) units and a chance to buy equity. Basically, be one of the fist 10 people.
Don’t go and be a peon (including controller) in the accounting department at an established company. They never get into the real management. There is no way “up” from that side.
Thanks. To your second point, I figured as much as far as former colleagues and clients in general who take a Controller position. Nice immediate pay upgrade but then they’re stuck.
What do you consider better margins? I’m in publishing and I think the worst profit margin we’ve had since I’ve been here is 12%.
It’s not a commodity, but it’s pretty darn close. Books aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Thanks for this. My background is accounting and I’m a CMA so I’ll see if I can use that to get started.
I’d like to eventually sit on a public board as an alternative revenue stream, but I’m not at that point in my career yet. I figure I’d start as a volunteer and eventually shift to a public company board.
This I definitely am not doing. I analyze cost centers for a living…
What about working for a non-profit? I was approached by a recruiter just yesterday to go back to Johns Hopkins.
That’s interesting. I have actually been thinking about trying to move to general accounting within our company… I’ll have to think on this more now.
Software engineer at a company that builds call center, communication and collaboration software.
We focus on technology that enables and improves both customer-employee interactions and employee-employee interactions. Customer service interactions are notoriously bad; we work on making that better – or at least, building the tools to make that better. Same for collaborating with other employees in your company to get things done.
I’m currently part of the mobile team (smart phones and tablets), so we’re building not just mobile versions of our desktop applications, but also looking at ways to use mobile capabilities (GPS, touch-based entry, fingerprint authentication, photos and video) to improve these experiences.