Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Friends and Allies

Wall Street is a very very small world. Yesterday I met the head traders for two desks at one of the i-banks (I'm a client). Turns out one of them was my last boss's good friend as they had worked together on a swaps desk for over five years. They worked out together and generally created havoc together in NYC. Not only that, but they were the same analyst class as my current sales coverage at another bank. Yes, everyone knows everyone. And now they're all in high powered positions.

This happens especially frequently at the top six-seven banks (DB, JPM, GS, CS, BoA, Citi, MS). The exchange of talent between these banks (except maybe GS) is rapid and often occurs due to lots of friends moving together. It's pretty scary if you think about it. Basically, the friends you make now will effect your career growth in the future. That is unless you're the top dog, in which case the friends you make will probably end up much in your debt. Even in that case though, it's important to be friends with the best people so that you can take them with you. Being a former quant (and nerd and geek), I would normally be the last person to advocate all this touchy feely shit, but knowing the right people can mean the difference between being a VP for ten years and making MD before 30. Of course you still need to have the pnl, sales credits, etc, but it doesn't hurt to also have someone in a high place pulling for you.

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