Spring 2012 BioE 2630 (Pitt) : 16-725 (CMU RI) 18-791 (CMU ECE) : 42-735 (CMU BME)
2015 CMU Trading Summit keynote
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Transcript of 2015 CMU Trading Summit keynote
Pragmatic & Systematic Career Development
Carnegie Mellon University
Trading Summit: Keynote
CLEMENS WAN
APRIL 2015
Who am I?
What to Expect
1. Your Career Approach
2. Creating a System
3. Life Decisions
Your Career Approach
Planning your future and looking at opportunity costs
Life as an RPG
Life as an RPG: Rules
○ Skills take time to learn
○ You have a limited amount of time
○ You can only learn 5 skills at a time
○ We’re all given different opportunities
Communications
Relevance: 10Value: 10
How to Practice:- Toastmasters- Prepare speeches- Mock interviews- Mentorship
Effective Writing
Relevance: 10Value: 10
How to Practice:- Learn from concise emails- Read req docs- Summarize
Diff Equations
Relevance: 0Value: 0
How to Practice:- Apply to real-world problems- Practice questions- Ask for mentorship
Playing Piano
Relevance: 2Value: 4
How to Practice:- Practice fun songs- Take a class- Learn from a professional
Finance
Relevance: 7Value: 7
How to Practice:- Read articles- Take classes- Learn from coworkers
Coding
Relevance: 7Value: 7
How to Practice:- Write code- Test libraries- Take online classes
Project Mgmt
Relevance: 7Value: 8
How to Practice:- Take classes- Use relevant tools- PM your life
Table Tennis
Relevance: 3Value: 6
How to Practice:- Take a lesson- Play every day- Buy a robot to help with different spin
Level of Knowing
Mastery
1. You can only work on 5 skills at a time
2. Pick 2 strengths, 2 intermediate, 1 weakness
3. Look for improvement: weakness -> less weak; intermediate -> strength; strength -> mastery
4. When you believe you’ve reached mastery, swap out the skills)
My Rule of 5
Limit your Works in Progress (Tasks/Projects)
Read this book...
Things to Do
○ Work hard
○ Know your stuff
○ Understand your environment
○ Take on new challenges and tasks
○ Ask Questions!
Things to Avoid
○ Being stupid
○ Being a typical Gen-Y
○ ... (there are a million)
Drivers It’s important for you to...
Material Rewards Have possessions, wealth, and a high standard of living.
Power / Influence Be in control of people and resources.
Search for Meaning Do things which are believed to be valuable for their own sake.
Expertise Gain a high level of accomplishment in a specialized field.
Creativity Innovate and be identified with original output.
Affiliation Nourish relationships with others at work.
Autonomy Be independent and able to make your own decisions.
Security Have a solid and predictable future.
Status Be recognized, admired, and respected by the community at large.
Career Drivers
Drivers You enjoy...
Influencing Persuading and leading people.
Organizing Tasks that monitor structure, procedures, and processes. You like staying organized and looking for efficiencies.
Helping Working with other people and helping them.
Creating Innovating something new and expressing your own inner vision.
Analytics Researching and analyzing data. You develop models that solve problems.
Producing Making, maintaining, and repairing physical things.
Adventuring Taking risks (physically or financially).
Interests and Daily Tasks
Example: My Drivers and Interests
1. I don’t care about material rewards or security
2. I value creativity / engineering / design, building relationships, and leading by example
3. I love contributing to a community
4. I love mentorship
Banking IT
Req:- BS in Finance/IT/CS- Communications- Financial Knowledge- IT Knowledge
Expectations:- Decent hours (~45)- Decent pay (~70k)- SDLC
Trader
Req:- Connections- Trading experience
Expectations:- Heavier hours (6AM)- Great pay & Greater bonus- Rewarded based on prediction skills
Banker
Req:- Communications- Hard working / Team work
Expectations:- Ridiculous hours (~80)- Great pay (but not enough for hours)- Risk of burn-out
Research
Req:- Written Communication- In depth analysis
Expectations:- Ridiculous hours (~90)- Travel conferences- Always on-call and always reading
Entrepreneurship
Req:- Skillful diverse team in business, law, software, accounting, etc- Initial Capital- Clear vision (problem)
Expectations:- However long it takes- Basically 0 pay- Wear many hats- Refined pitching- Constantly asking for $
Technology Companies
Req:- BS in CS- Tech knowledge- Team work
Expectations:- Decent hours (~55)- Great pay (~90k)- Jeans and perks- Projects where you may be the customer
Not listed?
1. Network effectively and ask about someone’s career path
2. Before entering a job, know what skills are needed to excel
3. Find out which skills are transferable
4. Ask for connects and follow-ups (people know people)
5. Know the thresholds of entering jobs
Write your ideal job description.
Creating a System
Something that works for you
Your System
○ Routines - being productive, destressing
○ Setting Long Term Goals
○ Making difficult decisions - Weighing choices
○ Approaching problems / analysis
○ Your Accompanying Tools
○ Learning how to Learn (and from mistakes)
○ Staying in Touch - Meaningful Follow-up
Example: My Routines
○ Hygiene○ Picking clothes○ Morning commute○ First task in the office○ Follow-up on a meeting○ Method of stress relief○ Catching up with friends○ Working on side projects○ Meditation○ Cooking dinner○ Reflecting on progress
Defined Processes with specific end states
Example: Weighing Choices
○ Pro vs Con list○ Adding weights to
categories with more value○ Adding risks to each pro
and con○ Adding emotional factors to
each (gut feeling)
Quantitative Method of Choosing
Confidence of Decisions○ Remove buyer’s remorse○ Understand that there is no
“right” answer
Example: Approaching Problems
○ Pay attention to the right details○ Who benefits?○ Source reliable?○ Obvious Statements?
○ Keep your Objective/Scope clear○ Ask questions to clarify unknowns○ Keep an open mind from any biases○ Provide advice from your strengths and
expertise○ Provide multiple solutions
Defined Thought Process for
Seeing the Full Picture
Example: My Tools
○ Productivity○ Email - Inbox (0)○ Calendar○ Lists / Notes
○ Social Media○ Staying in Touch○ Creating content
○ News○ RSS Feeds○ News related to your expertise
○ Unwind○ Writing
Optimized Applications with Clear purposes
Example: How I Learn
○ Reading multiple sources (seeing it written in different ways)
○ Formulating a story○ Connecting new concepts to multiple
known facts ○ Repetition with different use cases○ Summarizing existing notes with lists○ Teaching similar concepts to others
Matching Interesting Things
to Known Constants & Practicing
Example: How I Stay In Touch
○ Setting reminders to contact people○ Remembering people’s brands and
contacting them if I learned something relevant or read something relevant
○ Sending cards or messages during given holidays
○ Meeting people physically to places of common interest
○ Remembering people’s latest status of important things (e.g. asking them if certain things happen)
Treating people as people
Life Decisions
It’s not a work-life balance. It’s just life.
Early Career
- Extra pocket money- Networking events- Lots of Coffee Chats- Steep learning curve
Dating Scene
- Spending pocket money- Improvement on small talk- Some nights of loneliness
Relationship
- Comfortable chats- Learning more about one person- Sharing similar goals- Building awesome memories
Renting in City
- Finding a place to rent- Getting a roommate- Furniture buying and home improvement
Golden Age of Fun
- Out of debt (finally!)- Getting promotions / recognition at work- Group vacations- Spontaneous awesomeness- Time for hobbies
Commitment
- Living together- Sharing bank accounts- Buying wedding ring ($$$)- Fewer group vacations
Adolescent Career
- More responsibility at work- Opportunities to move around- Growth of network of peers, mentors, and sponsors
Family
- Marriage planning- Kids- Bigger house- Important neighborhood- Crazy costs- Generally scary stuff
Quarter-life Crisis
1. So... now what?
2. Keep learning random things that interest you
3. Don’t compare yourself to others
4. Get involved with a community
5. Live in the moment and have fun!
Trading
- Start of investing- Applies knowledge about the market and trends- Gambling addiction
Blogging
- Love for writing- Creates an online presence and brand- Keeps me excited with projects
Photography
- Love for my DSLR- Great networking tool- Links well with blogging
Tech Philosophy
- Start Up advice- Meeting great minds- Love the topic and would chat about it for free
Coding
- Extend knowledge of libraries and upcoming technologies- Do it myself (instead of waiting on others)- It’s fun
Traveling
- Seeing new cultures- Once in a lifetime opportunities- Doing it while I still can
30 Day Challenges
- Making better habits- Keeping things interesting- Continuously challenging myself
Cooking
- Makes everyone happy- Great stress reliever- Increases my dating stock- Excellent skill to know
Example: My Hobbies
My Final Advice
1. Keep Yourself a Valuable Asset
2. Be transparent with your manager
3. Know how to maintain relationships
4. Ask questions
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