Wow Sam is getting crucified - this is even worse than when something about Co2scats makes it on Hacker News.
Here are my thoughts:
-I don't think I've ever heard of investment banking careers described as safe. When there's no deal flow, investment bankers are the first to go. If jobs could have finance betas (not software/website betas), investment banker would be around a 3.0 or higher, an accountant would be around a ~1.0, a nurse would be a 0.50 and a mailman would be a 0.25 (people have no idea how hard it is to get fired or laid off from a government job - reassignment is your friend).
-Market volatility, like a recession or oil prices affects nearly everyone directly or indirectly.
-You can "network" at any job, but I agree that it's probably easier to make friends faster at a startup due to the nature of the business. There's certainly myriad counterexamples, however.
-The tool bag line just made me laugh.
-Anecdotally, I think he's right about having a broader based skill set. Having had over 30 jobs (not a typo, I've worked since age 12) I've never picked up more useful skills in a shorter period than while at a startup. This could obviously vary.
-If you absolutely need to raise money as a startup, I think you're in one of the worst situations as capital is already drying up and people/institutions are becoming risk averse. Not good for startups.
-If you don't need to raise money and have enough savings/revenue to last for a year or two, I'm not sure if you're any better or worse off than anyone else. I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks on this.
-If you're young, without a family, sans serious medical conditions and geographically apathetic I'd argue you're better off working at an interesting startup for very cheap (stipend & equity & food & rent?) than you are taking a way-below market-compensation desk job. Why? Upside.
The lack of capitalization within the post and ping pong rub-in certainly doesn't help the cause, but I'm sure Sam has already figured that out. At least he inspired some interesting conversation; I've really enjoyed this thread.
Edit: Andr had some of the same points I did and posted before me. We've obviously both had a lot of exposure to the fun filled monkey business of finance.
Comments
Wow Sam is getting crucified - this is even worse than when something about Co2scats makes it on Hacker News.
Here are my thoughts:
-I don't think I've ever heard of investment banking careers described as safe. When there's no deal flow, investment bankers are the first to go. If jobs could have finance betas (not software/website betas), investment banker would be around a 3.0 or higher, an accountant would be around a ~1.0, a nurse would be a 0.50 and a mailman would be a 0.25 (people have no idea how hard it is to get fired or laid off from a government job - reassignment is your friend).
-Market volatility, like a recession or oil prices affects nearly everyone directly or indirectly.
-You can "network" at any job, but I agree that it's probably easier to make friends faster at a startup due to the nature of the business. There's certainly myriad counterexamples, however.
-The tool bag line just made me laugh.
-Anecdotally, I think he's right about having a broader based skill set. Having had over 30 jobs (not a typo, I've worked since age 12) I've never picked up more useful skills in a shorter period than while at a startup. This could obviously vary.
-If you absolutely need to raise money as a startup, I think you're in one of the worst situations as capital is already drying up and people/institutions are becoming risk averse. Not good for startups.
-If you don't need to raise money and have enough savings/revenue to last for a year or two, I'm not sure if you're any better or worse off than anyone else. I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks on this.
-If you're young, without a family, sans serious medical conditions and geographically apathetic I'd argue you're better off working at an interesting startup for very cheap (stipend & equity & food & rent?) than you are taking a way-below market-compensation desk job. Why? Upside.
The lack of capitalization within the post and ping pong rub-in certainly doesn't help the cause, but I'm sure Sam has already figured that out. At least he inspired some interesting conversation; I've really enjoyed this thread.
Edit: Andr had some of the same points I did and posted before me. We've obviously both had a lot of exposure to the fun filled monkey business of finance.