Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Technology...Ohh!

Since this is the first month of being in ISB and since all the students in ISB have prior work ex, one of the typical questions that comes up in the first conversation with any stranger is, where you were working before coming to ISB. It’s amazing to see how bonds get created with this one piece of information.

Sample this.
A: Where were you working?
B: I was with XXX (for the sake of being politically correct!)
A: Oooh is it, I was also with XXX (You can almost imagine hearing a metallic sound in the background of the invisible friendship bond being created and sealed!)
B: Oooh is it, which client did you work for?
A: I worked for this beer manufacturing client on their SCM.
B: I worked for this underwear manufacturing client for their retail loan systems (Of course they wont say the word, they will say “Big retail house”!)

But my purpose is not to undermine the rich clientele of these software companies.

When somebody asks me this question, I say, I was working with “The Firm” (one of the best investment banks in the world)

Now there are three typical reactions to this answer.
1) The other person – “Technology?” with a frown on their face, as if saying “How could this guy have worked in the i-banking space?”
2) The other person – picture with an amazed and reverential expression, till I complete the sentence with “I used to work in their IMD technology division”. The moment I finish the sentence, the high opinion that they had formed about me would have come down more fast than the rate at which the quantity decreases with an increase in price in an elastic market (OK. I could not resist it, I was studying Economics ! :-) )
3) The other person – absolutely no clue and I have to explain to them that “The Firm” is one of the best investment banks in the world etc.. you get the drift right?

What I don’t understand is that, why working in the technology division of an IB makes you a less capable person as compared to an i-banker with the same firm. All I can say is that these people have no idea about what the technology folks in an i-bank do.
I do not want to rant and rave about the profile of a senior analyst in the tech department, but there are facts which should be understood.

Fact 1- It is as difficult to get into the tech division of an I-bank as to get into the business side.

Fact 2- The work you are doing is more techno-functional in nature than any other typical software company – tell me, if I am coding something which is related to how a reinvestment of a mutual fund should process, isn’t it far superior to say, converting oracle forms from one version to another? (Oh yes, been there, done that too)
If I am doing something related to how the original issue discount bonds amortization happens, isn’t is far superior to writing documentation for a loan originating system?

Fact 3- The professionalism and the culture in the technology division of an i-bank is as good as and comparable to their counterparts on the business side. Don’t believe it? Trust me, I have seen it.

Fact 4 -There are people in the technology divisions of an i-bank who actually write code for program trading and risk analytics – functionally rich things which you cant even imagine in a services company.
And more facts like these.

Just because you have worked in the technology side of an i-bank does not take away from you the fact that you were good enough to be recruited by them in the first place.
And getting in is not easy.

This post is not intended to be a self egoistic one, but just a reiteration of the fact that it does not matter which division you have worked, as long as you worked for The Firm (and no prices for guessing which “Firm” am I talking about)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

by the way, you are showing the same superior attitude that you mock by saying:

"tell me, if I am coding something which is related to how a reinvestment of a mutual fund should process, isn’t it far superior to say, converting oracle forms from one version to another?..."

Presumably all these other coding functions that you look down on require a degree of professionalism, capability etc. - there's pobably someone out there just as proud (as you about yor work and The Firm) to be doing these jobs and as indignant (as you are about the superior ibanking types)about your denigration of his work.

It's a matter of where you're standing - for the banker, your job seemed less than great, and to you, coding oracle etc.

So be a little careful before taking the moral high ground (even if you were part of The Firm)!

Anonymous said...

"This post is not intended to be a self egoistic one, but just a reiteration of the fact that it does not matter which division you have worked, as long as you worked for The Firm"

This statement is almost an oxymoron - I don't have to say why (anyone brilliant enough to get into The Firm should be able to figure it out)

Don't take me seriously - just killing time

VKM said...

Anon1:
First of all, I welcome the criticisms, assuming they are constructive.
A Couple of things.

Point 1: I will be the last person to say oracle coding is inferior because i am a database person and that is my passion (My MBA notwithstanding). So you missed the point by a long mark.

Point 2: My argument is not to belittle services but the general way in which people look down up on technology in a firm whose main business is not technology. When i was in the services in a company whose main line was products, services was looked down up on, because it is more technology focused than the product creation. These are the people who think that working in Firm A is good, but working in the technology division of Firm A is inferior. This post is intended towards that philosophy. When I compared it to the normal services industry, I was trying to bring out the ignorance of these people about their lack of the functionally rich things these firms do. Your opinion about lack of sensitiveness towards the services was not my intention.

So i am addressing those people who ridicule technology business of the firm as a whole.

Point 3: I am not a big fan of people who leave a comment anonymously and I usually tend to delete them.

Anon2:
You have told me not to take you seriously, so no comments :-)

Maria George said...

definitely egoistic :) but yeah good entry

Mridul said...

i just tut-tut at the whole idea of moving from an engineers job to ... anything else :-)

But that is just me !

Anonymous said...

Does all this really matter?.

What makes you different from the 100 others who work for "The Firm"? This way you will always be running. Trust me. Been there, done that.

Think about it :).

BTW, best of luck for your grades !!

VKM said...

Anon,
I never mentioned anywhere in my post that I am different from the 100(why 100?!) others who work with the Firm.

Thanks for your wishes.
I would prefer if people leave their names.

Anonymous said...

vkm, don't restrict yourself to "The Firm". You didn't mention that but the point of your post was that anyone working for the "The Firm" is better in some respect. Maybe you are right.

However, sooner or later you will realize that it doesn't matter.

Think about it.

Names don't matter, sleep well my friend.

VKM said...

anon,
If you had taken some time to read my reply to two other "anons" then u would have seen that i have made it clear that i am not saying people working in the firm are better.

It does not please me to see anonymous comments on my blog!

So please leave ur name the next time.

You too sleep well.