5 ms·
HN: I want to trade my finance knowledge for python/django mentorship
I wanted to see if someone on HN is willing to mentor me through learning Python and Django. Below are some details on my current skill level, what I’m looking for, and what I can offer. I’m located in San Francisco.
I know what I'm offering is limited in value relative to what you are offering me, so I am open to give you anything else I could reasonably offer for this mentorship.
Current Skill Level:
I know the basics of Python and have gone through “How to Think Like a Computer Scientist” and written some small scripts. I understand how Django works and have been through some simple tutorials.
What I’m Looking For:
I’m looking for someone who could efficiently guide me through learning, i.e. what tutorials/projects/resources I should go through. More a mentor than a tutor. Maybe we’d meet once a week to code small samples. I would email you for help if I got stuck.
I do already spend time self-teaching, but I think I could learn much more efficiently through someone else’s guidance. I think this, because I have self-learned a lot of things and have found with a little guidance, things go substantially quicker.
What I can offer:
I can teach/guide you through learning:
- Account Fundamentals (understanding the 3 financial statements and how they flow together; balance sheet, cash flows and income statement)
- Interest theory, fixed income/debt/bond valuation
- M&A analysis and Valuation (Discounted cash flow, comparables/multiples, accretion/dilution)
- Options/Futures fundamentals (I think there is potentially an opportunity for adept programmers here to apply their skills).
- Bankruptcy/distressed corporate situations
- Crash course on how to dig through and interpret SEC filings (the only reliable free primary data source if you want to invest in public markets)
Why would you need these skills? I think they are crucial if you are:
1) An entrepreneur who will ever raise capital or sell your company
2) Someone interested in learning how to invest in the public or private markets – this knowledge will serve as a solid foundation/prerequisite
3) Someone in optimizing the financial efficiency of their business
I’d like to think I am at least acceptably good at teaching. I used to tutor economics, accounting, SAT prep, etc. and have received good feedback.
Credentials:
I’ve worked as an M&A/restructuring analyst at a reputable investment bank and have had offers from well-known financial institutions/hedge funds. I’ve also had the fortune to have some excellent mentors in my past. I can provide more details if you want over email.
My email is in my profile, I look forward to hearing from you.
ADDITION: email added to profile.
- SkyMarshal 15y agoOut of curiosity what opportunities do you see for programmers in options/futures? Anything besides algo/hft stuff?
- zallarak 15y agoThe hft stuff is actually what I'm most skeptical of. I think the barrier to entry is huge in terms of knowledge and initial costs, unless you are an outlier. The opportunities are in more basic things. Mixing a decent quant background with a solid financial background is a potent combination for succesful fundamental value investing. Creating an automated tool to help structure the best ways to get equity exposure using options based on live data is another immediately foreseeable benefit.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- yid 15y agoWhat are those initial costs? Say I have the knowledge or ability to acquire it, how would I actually go about connecting myself to the great stock feed via (e.g.) Python?
- zallarak 15y agoI don't know. It's something I know very little about. I speculate that you have to buy a seat or subscribe to a service at a major stock exchange (very expensive) or work through a third party/broker (still pretty expensive, but also less efficient). The reason behind my skepticism is that the only people I know making sustainable (and great) money from it have very deep pockets to begin with or are huge established players. I was once visiting at a quant fund where they purchased an office building to get physically closer to a stock exchange. It was very expensive real estate and they were a massive fund. They had a lot talented people. Hard to compete with that. I also read in the Economist a while ago (not sure if its really true, but its believable) that hedge funds are the largest consumers of computer processors in the US. But again, this is something I know very little about. I could be wrong.