

A VC's perspective of NYC, entrepreneurs and PSDs (Poor, Smart, and a Desire to get rich) - ilamont
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/04/10/bear-stearns-and-psd-spirit

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sdurkin
This is an interesting account, as its contrary to most of what I've heard
about Bear. At my school, where the majority of students end up working in
some capacity for the financial industry, Bear has a reputation as a bit of an
old boys club. As this is all hearsay, I'm not sure how much weight to give
it.

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npk
Interesting, but I have the impression that The Street likes to hire "PSDs."
As an anecdote, check out this posting:

<http://www.schlaikjer.net/reviews/100.htm>

"I would also remark that many of these now very wealthy people were not born
with silver spoons in their mouths (I consider myself spooned right up). The
Harvard donation-dunning people loved pointing out that Lloyd Blankfein
started life on the wrong side of the tracks in a school with double shifts.
So say what you like about the huge income-spreads in today's first-world; it
is still a place where you can go from a modest income to an obscene one with
the right amount of brains, luck and getting yourself a good education."

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Mistone
very inspiring stuff - I would certainly place myself in this category P
(cehck) S (subjective but check) D (check) - and the pedigree culture
certainly lives on here in the bay area and at leading startups. Its that some
hunger and willingness to get rejected that landed the author a job at Bear
that needs to be applied to founders and the people that want to work at great
startups - without it you got nada

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ashwinl
If you want to read more about the PSD culture at Bear Stearns, check out
Bear's long-term CEO, book: "Memos form the Chairman"

[http://www.amazon.com/Memos-Chairman-Alan-C-
Greenberg/dp/076...](http://www.amazon.com/Memos-Chairman-Alan-C-
Greenberg/dp/0761103465)

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daniel-cussen
Realistically, what happens when you try this hard for a job? Is it worth it?
Does something bad happen? Is there a reason most people don't do this kind of
thing?

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Frocer
Investment banking and strategy consulting are two of the most competitive
fields to get into right out of college / biz school. Reasons being the pay is
ludicrous. What the writer described is not uncommon for people who want to
break in the industries and didn't attend a core hiring school.

Is it worth it? Depends on who you are I guess. You are rewarded with high
salary and bonuses, you are working with some of the smartest people, but you
are still restricted in a corporation environment.

Why don't most people do this? Who knows, may be they don't have the drive
like the writer, or they simply don't know about these fields.

~~~
timr
That doesn't make sense to me: if people are climbing the walls for positions,
the salaries shouldn't be astronomical.

Something else must be at play.

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npk
Mean Salary at Goldman Sachs last year was $650K. Obviously, the distribution
is non-gaussian, so the median salary is significantly lower.

Meaning, you start working at GS for $100K/year, because, in a few years (if
you're good) you'll grow to the $1M+ category. On a risk-adjusted basis,
ibanking is the most lucrative profession.

~~~
timr
I'm not disputing that the salaries are high; I'm saying that the high
salaries do not fit with the demand for the job.

There has to be another filter at work. Specifically, I suspect that luck
plays a highly significant role.

~~~
wallflower
Luck and Survival... Jungle smarts. Desire to become BSDs

Liar's Poker is an excellent first-person view of the NSFW work environment at
Salomon Brothers.

But don't read LP - read Fiaz's top-rated (34-point) personal story of
becoming a trader: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=121413>

"After racking up some rather hefty losses, I was determined to quit at one
point during month four, but because I had a habit of waking up at 4:30 am I
simply "forgot" that the night before I told myself I would quit and spare
myself further humiliation...by then I was warned that I was now on the red
list of traders ready to be cut."

