numi, you have a good point, but I find learning on the job a slow process. There are way too many useless repetitive tasks that get thrown in the way…and in the case of interns, it’s a lot. As for my inferiority to the analysts I was mirroring, the three men (age 25, 27, ~40s) that I worked the most with all had CFAs and one had the CFA, CPA… hence my bias and attitude towards learning the material…
it’s called paying your dues. people that are a lot more accomplished than you have to do the same thing. there is definitely grunt work but that’s just how the street works…gotta crawl before you walk and if you don’t want to do it then maybe wall street isn’t for you. there’s no shame on walking away from it because it’s just not for everyone.
stern, yeah, you gotta pay your dues. but if they ever tell you to work on the phones, tell them, “no thank you”.
I don’t think Stern is complaining about paying dues. I think he was just using that to prove his point that you need more than just “on the job” experience to excel quickly.
TMurf Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I don’t think Stern is complaining about paying > dues. I think he was just using that to prove his > point that you need more than just “on the job” > experience to excel quickly. i agree. i don’t think sternwolf is complaining at all…i think he actually has a good head on his shoulders. my suggestion was just that he might be trying to climb up the wrong tree by focusing so much effort on exams. in other words, in order to excel quickly you still need to have some base from which to launch, and in most cases, that base is work experience. i don’t know how i can be any more clear than that.
^I agree with you. Being in school (with a good network), it would be more beneficial to focus his efforts on landing a job first.