4 ms·

It was never cool, unless you were going to be a Master of the Universe or BSD trader. It just paid really well. It still pays well.

busterarm 13y ago
Exactly. It's only ever been cool to people looking to get "Fuck You Money". But it still goes back to the pedigree thing. NY is an extremely pedigree-sensitive city and it's way more impressive to talk at cocktail parties about what financial you work for than what no-name-startup/consultancy/generic-design-shop you're working for. My social circle shrunk noticeably when I left my hedge fund gig in 2008 and worked as a bike messenger; New Yorkers only care about (potential) money.
- untog 13y ago
  it's way more impressive to talk at cocktail parties about what financial you work for than what no-name-startup/consultancy/generic-design-shop you're working for. Well then this must be a perspective thing, too. I suppose if you go to cocktail parties with Wall Street types then that might be true, but in the social circles I run in (a mix of tech, fashion and media) working for a financial company is instantly seen as very boring.
  - busterarm 13y ago
    The work itself is boring to talk about, yeah, but I always got invited out. All my friends are the same types of people. When I didn't have that job anymore and instead had a low-status non-career job (bike messenger), a lot of people simply just wouldn't talk to me anymore. I'm not saying that's definitively the cause of it but I've seen similar things happen to other people there.
- tomkarlo 13y ago
  Having lived there and worked both inside and outside of finance, I don't think it's so much pedigree-focused as paycheck-focused. New York is the only city where you can say you're a banker, and someone you just met will ask "what kind of banker." There are circles where your college / private school matter but I'd argue that's still less true in NY than in London or even Boston. I felt like I was rarely asked what schools I went to. The funny thing is that the NYers in finance or law will often tell you how much they'd rather be working at a startup. (Or, well, anything else.)
  - busterarm 13y ago
    > The funny thing is that the NYers in finance or law will often tell you how much they'd rather be working at a startup. (Or, well, anything else.) Yuuup. I can't even count on two hands the number of people I know who left finance and went on to physical jobs they thought were more satisfying. Bike messengers (like I did) were common, but so were roughnecks, delivery drivers and all sorts of other odd jobs.

busterarm 13y ago

Exactly. It's only ever been cool to people looking to get "Fuck You Money". But it still goes back to the pedigree thing. NY is an extremely pedigree-sensitive city and it's way more impressive to talk at cocktail parties about what financial you work for than what no-name-startup/consultancy/generic-design-shop you're working for. My social circle shrunk noticeably when I left my hedge fund gig in 2008 and worked as a bike messenger; New Yorkers only care about (potential) money.

untog 13y ago
it's way more impressive to talk at cocktail parties about what financial you work for than what no-name-startup/consultancy/generic-design-shop you're working for. Well then this must be a perspective thing, too. I suppose if you go to cocktail parties with Wall Street types then that might be true, but in the social circles I run in (a mix of tech, fashion and media) working for a financial company is instantly seen as very boring.
- busterarm 13y ago
  The work itself is boring to talk about, yeah, but I always got invited out. All my friends are the same types of people. When I didn't have that job anymore and instead had a low-status non-career job (bike messenger), a lot of people simply just wouldn't talk to me anymore. I'm not saying that's definitively the cause of it but I've seen similar things happen to other people there.
tomkarlo 13y ago
Having lived there and worked both inside and outside of finance, I don't think it's so much pedigree-focused as paycheck-focused. New York is the only city where you can say you're a banker, and someone you just met will ask "what kind of banker." There are circles where your college / private school matter but I'd argue that's still less true in NY than in London or even Boston. I felt like I was rarely asked what schools I went to. The funny thing is that the NYers in finance or law will often tell you how much they'd rather be working at a startup. (Or, well, anything else.)
- busterarm 13y ago
  > The funny thing is that the NYers in finance or law will often tell you how much they'd rather be working at a startup. (Or, well, anything else.) Yuuup. I can't even count on two hands the number of people I know who left finance and went on to physical jobs they thought were more satisfying. Bike messengers (like I did) were common, but so were roughnecks, delivery drivers and all sorts of other odd jobs.