January 22nd, 2014, 8:27 pm
QuoteOriginally posted by: icstudentHello,I will be finishing my PhD in Stochastic Analysis in the next few months, and originally had the idea of going into the financial industry afterwards.But... since I started my PhD, most of the people I know in finance have become more and more negative and recommending me to go into a different direction than finance, saying there is hardly any innovation anymore, the days of the big bonuses are over etc, while at the same time the housing cost in London is skyrocketing. With many of them, the message is more or less "The party's over." Although (I mostly know people at banks) they said that things are not that bad a hege funds.Are they exaggerating the situation or is a career in finance indeed becoming a lost cause?days of grad/PhD --> Bank --> million$$ bonus probably are over, yes. I say that because compared to the historical data, the size, profitability and general level of pay in banks during the credit boom was exceedingly high.So if by 'partys over' they mean that you cant become a millionaire anymore by going through a sausage machine straight after you learnt to shave, then 'yes' I think that particular party is over. Call it mean reversion. I dont work in a bank. But to me right now they do kind of look like places where the really drunk people turn up at 5am looking for girls... That said there are interesting and profitable areas of business in most banks, so its not all that straight forward. Electronic trading looks quite interesting for example, but those units dont hire ANYTHING like the volume of people that the derivatives business used to. But returning to history: While fads have come and gone and different groups of people have boomed and bust, it has always been possible to make a large amount of money doing pretty exciting things in finance. And I think that this remains the case. The tricky bit is finding the right place at the right time. I dont see a lack of innovation in my own particular field for example. I think the trick, as liam has mentioned, is to be flexible and nimble and able to make yourself relevant to the right people when they need it.