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#91
03-03-2007, 04:37 PM
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Re: tell us about your job
What do you do? Consulting actuary (still training)
Do you like it? Yeah, I guess so - it's challenging What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I'm not scared of numbers and always try to understand how something works rather than just it does by doing x What kind of people do best in your work? Very smart analytical people who have the personality to go out and consult with clients and devote their evenings to the job studying to qualify. What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? A-level maths techincally although to get into a good company you'll need a first class degree in something maths or economics related What is a typical day like? It's mainly project based work for clients - putting a numerical answer of questions like "how much should the company put to one side to pay for the pension benefits for the staff" and others. It can be hard sorting through misunderstanding and poor information to get at the answer. What kind of problems do you encounter? If I think you're wrong - I tend to try and show it (as nicely as I can of course) but insecure senior types can't handle it sometimes. What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Frustration comes from relying on other people to do their part before i can do mine. Standard project problems really. Elation - when everything goes right. I think it's mre a reflection of what I like rather than specific to my job. I get the same elation when playing basketball and the whole team is moving together How much do you make? £40k+ and I'm only part qualified How much can one expect to make in your position? Senior actuaries often move in to management so I'm not sure there's a cap but for staying in the core job, I'd say £250k or so. 
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#92
03-03-2007, 09:56 PM
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Re: tell us about your job
What do you do? Software Engineer at hedge fund. Do you like it? yes What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I taught myself to program at about 11 or 12, so the coding part is very easy for me. I ended up getting an Information Systems degree from a business school where I picked up a base of business knowledge that has been very valuable. What kind of people do best in your work? The most successful people in my field are not the best programmers. They are the very good programmers who also have good interpersonal skills, and industry knowledge (like finance or biotech). What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? You have to be able to code to even get in the door. Most people have a computer science degree, but that's not even necessary if you can manage to teach yourself. If you are great at math, you can probably do it. (There's no real math involved in my job, but it's a good indicator.) The vast majority of people wouldn't be able to code with 100 years of school, so that keeps the good programmers in demand. What is a typical day like? The first thing I do in the morning is check to see if any of my applications are having problems. Since we are a small company, I support my own programs. We have a lot of market data that comes in overnight, so most problems happen then. At 8:30, we have a 1/2 hour staff meeting. This is an attempt to get us to communicate. This is no small achievement with IT people. Without this, you'll have everyone duplicating work, or assuming someone else is working on a problem when they are thinking the same thing and no one does anything. Of course, this happens anyway. At 9, I can finally start working on my stuff. I work directly with the traders and their analysts. My boss in IT basically just assigns us to a particular area or trader. After that, I meet with the analysts to do whatever the trader wants the application to do today. This is a great deal. No red tape or stupid meetings. They tell me what they want, and I do it. What kind of problems do you encounter? What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? My programs are based on services and data that were created by other programmers. If any of these get screwed up, then my application will be screwed up. Of course, the users don't care about this. They just see that my program is broken. The other programmers don't work for me, so getting them to fix things is sometimes difficult. The satisfaction comes from writing good applications and seeing them being used. It's nice to walk through the trading desk and see people making 8 figures a year running 1 of my applications. How much do you make? How much can one expect to make in your position? 6 figures + bonus (which is based on fund performance and could be 6 figures too) After 12 years on the job, I'd assume most people make 80k+. It varies a lot by location (I'm in Boston). You can probably still pull down 250k if you get the right consulting gig (I was independent consultant for a couple years before taking this job).
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#93
03-03-2007, 10:37 PM
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Re: tell us about your job
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] private money with some corporate funds/cash also. [/ QUOTE ] What is the private money if not cash? [/ QUOTE ] Not all funds are cash, which should be obvious. Cash can be uninvested funds, or simply part of an asset allocation decision to hold short-term floaters or t-bills. [/ QUOTE ] Well yea, it was pretty obvious that not all funds are cash when you said that some of it was cash, therefore implying that some was not. What was not obvious was what the non-cash funds are. Does "with some corporate funds/cash also" mean that an alternative to cash would be "corporate funds"? What is a corporate fund? Let's say I give you $100 to manage in cash or I give you a share of stock with $100 and tell you to manage my portfolio. Are those different things in the terms you're talking about?
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#94
03-03-2007, 11:40 PM
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Re: tell us about your job
What do you do? 'AP Specialist', pretty much AP clerk for a huge international law firm in baltimore
Do you like it? don't hate it What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I'm well suited because I'll do monotonous work without wanting to kill myself. I'm excellent with numbers. What kind of people do best in your work? Those who don't mind doing the same thing everyday. What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? Field= Accounting/Finance - The ability to not kill yourself from looking at numbers all day. Must not take anything to seriously as most any mistake can be easily fixed. What is a typical day like? 7.5 hours. I code/audit/process/enter invoices into a computer. Pretty much transcribe details from a piece of paper to a computer screen. I do extra projects when offered which may separate me from the pack and actually help me get a promotion. What kind of problems do you encounter? Stupid people within department. Stupid people within the firm. Stupid people from vendors. What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Frustration: most people in an AP department are college dropouts (me), recent high school grads, or old women who got the job 29 years ago. The women in the department always comment on "excessive" expenses like "Oh my god, he spent $250 on dinner! That can feed me and my family for a week!" and other such comments. The ignorance is very high. My tolerance of such is pretty high and I'm able to ignore most of it. Elation: job isn't hard. I actually get paid ok for a non-college degree. I like some of the people I work with, and go drinking with some of them. How much do you make? $40-44k, depending on OT. No match 401k. Excellent health. How much can one expect to make in your position? In the baltimore area, typical AP clerks make $8-$20/hr. I'm definitely on the high end of the scale, which is mostly due to luck. The firm I work for just seems to pay much higher than the competition in the area.
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#95
03-04-2007, 07:02 AM
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Re: tell us about your job
What do you do? I'm a grad student in chemical engineering at Arizona State. My research focuses on higher order finite elements and Lagrangian particle tracking in parallel for modeling particle deposition in the upper airways of the lung. I also do a bit of work with preconditioners and algebraic multigrid. Basically, I'm an applied mathematician.
Do you like it? Yes What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I'm good at math. What kind of people do best in your work? Highly dedicated and technical. I consult with some of the smartest people in this country regularly. What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? A BS in math, physics, chemical engineering, or mechanical engineering are most common, but I guess any engineering would do. What is a typical day like? Wake up, wander over to my lab on campus at some point, spend 6-8 hours there coding various simulations and running them. Read papers and occasionally the internet while said simulations are running. What kind of problems do you encounter? Code stability and cluster maintenance. What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Mostly the answer to the previous question, for frustration. Elation comes from getting my research published. How much do you make? My stipend is $20k/year plus tuition and health insurance. I have an internship at Sandia National Laboratory this summer that pays a bit more. How much can one expect to make in your position? Post-docs make around $50k/year, industry professionals and national lab employees make between $60-200k/year, professors $90-150k/year (though highly accomplished ones make as much as $450k/year).
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#96
03-04-2007, 07:06 AM
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Re: tell us about your job
Whoa, Jihad needs to start an askme thread.
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#98
03-04-2007, 08:37 AM
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Re: tell us about your job
[ QUOTE ]
I really wish I could tell you about my job. Someday. [/ QUOTE ] Funny enough, I've told many women this. It's not a complete lie, because I do a bit of classified work, but dumb girls eat this up.
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#99
03-04-2007, 10:29 AM
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Re: tell us about your job
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? <font color="red">Knowing a straight beats a flush.</font> Beyond that, the ability to think like a fish and plan large events. [/ QUOTE ] [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] [/ QUOTE ] I said I needed to think like a fish. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Glad someone noticed my lame joke. My boss does not play poker at all and is damn good at his job. When you're not dealing with winning players (and have plenty of experts around to check with) it's more about other stuff. Actually, even dealing with winning players it's about other stuff too.
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