5 ms·

Bingo!

• brentr 19y ago
  I included the comment because I thought the presentation was dead on. It certainly did capture the essence of the how the mortgage system works in this country. It is because of the mortgage crisis and its spread to the general credit markets that I can't find a job in finance at this time. That's why I have made the decision to pursue a second undergraduate degree. I'm done with finance after supporting for three years the house of cards Wall Street built.
  • michaelneale 19y ago
    Well good luck with the studies - probably a good time.
    • brentr 19y ago
      I admit that pursuing the finance degree was probably the biggest mistake of my life. I originally wanted to study mathematics and physics but greed for money got the best of me. The only good result that came out of the finance degree was a healthy understanding of C++ as a large amount of financial modeling is done in the language. It was after graduation that I really became interested in computer programming.
      • hugh 19y ago
        That's interesting. I'm a postdoc in physics, and a few months ago I was feeling bored and poor, and seriously considering switching to finance. Three months later though, and staying in academia is looking pretty attractive. I might not be making the huge money, but at least I know my job isn't going anywhere.
      • michaelneale 19y ago
        Thats encouraging to hear. Some would say too many smart people go "fuck it" and move into finance/IBanking for the money (not that I could say I would do any differently if riches were assured). But it seems a worry when minds could be put to other productive uses.
  • allenbrunson 19y ago
    you got voted down for the "bingo!" comment because it was substance-less. your followup comment, however, was very good. that's the one you should have written in the first place.
  • maximilian 19y ago
    What are you going to get a degree in? I might suggest just jumping into a master's program to skip a lot of the cruft that comes with undergraduate programs. They might make you take some undergraduate courses, but only the really important ones - And the graduate courses you take will be hard, but you'll learn a lot from them. I'm doing something similar but in applied math. (i have a degree in engineering). I have a friend who studied physics as an undergrad and is now getting a masters in CS. They made him take a few undergraduate courses, putting him back a semester, but he doesn't have to wade through the full undergraduate curriculum. Oh. And only take 3 courses/semester as a grad. student. You actually have a chance to learn it all thoroughly.
    • brentr 19y ago
      The degree is going to be in CS. I chose to do a second undergraduate degree because I didn't want to do a PhD in finance or economics. I found myself more and more wanting to write code. I can get lost in a good problem for hours and not even realize it. I've always been fascinated with computers, but I have only started to see what is truly possible when one is able to create a service rather than just consume one.
      • yummyfajitas 19y ago
        So get a masters in CS. It's not a Ph.D. in finance/economics, and also avoids the BS required to get a BS.
        • brentr 19y ago
          Based on my location and cost constraints BGSU was the only option I have available, and I did not meet the requirements for the masters program.
          • maximilian 19y ago
            Did you actually talk to the profs? Just ask them and be like: I wanna learn CS. I know how to code already, but I wanna learn all the fun stuff. They'll probably be very sympathetic and let you in anyway.