
What I’ve Learned About Smart People - sturza
https://tmac721-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/17500383225/what-ive-learned-about-smart-people
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smabie
There was an analyst at my old firm, a couple years older than me (he was 24
at the time). And in a period of 2 years he went from not knowing anything
about finance or programming to becoming a partner at a new quant hedge fund.
The one thing I noticed about him is that he was never, ever, okay with not
understanding something. While other analysts wouldn’t dare touch any code or
just accept the equations the senior quants gave them, he _needed_ to know.
The rate he got better at things was just incredible. And while he wasn’t
dumb, he wasn’t a genius (at first) either. About the same level as all the
other analysts (this isn’t a compliment). But by the time he left the firm, it
was like his IQ jumped 30 points. He became very good at quant finance and
pretty good at programming. He also worked incredibly hard.

Another thing I noticed about him was how curious he was about other people’s
jobs: he learned from the devops guys, the DB admin, the developers, he went
to sales meetings, chatted with accounting, everything. There was nothing that
was too hard or too easy for him: he was there to learn it all. But to make it
work since he spent 4 hours a day not actually doing his job, he had to work
really fucking hard.

Anyways, observing this guy has changed my life. Throw your fixed mindset in
the trash, it isn’t helping you. Respect everyone, be generous with your time.
Make friends. And most importantly, never ever accept to not understand
something.

Since adopting this guy’s work ethic and earnestness, my career trajectory has
gone up very quickly. And while I wish I had started being like him earlier, I
think it takes a lot of maturity or being a really special person to
consciously dump your insecurities and feelings of superiority in the trash.
The sky’s the limit and I truly believe that he’s going to be a billionaire
one day. And the things that are gonna get him there are really not that
special: anyone can do it.

