i want to thank to everyone who’s making a positive contributions. i appreciate your insight. and the negative ones, you have nothing to get all worked up about. i’m just a young guy trying to gain an understanding of the big picture so i can align myself to get the biggest slice of the pie i can down the road. maybe if you had the same foresight early on you wouldn’t be such bitter disgruntled assholes now.

[quote=twoeyeguy]i want to thank to everyone who’s making a positive contributions. i appreciate your insight. and the negative ones, you have nothing to get all worked up about. i’m just a young guy trying to gain an understanding of the big picture so i can align myself to get the biggest slice of the pie i can down the road. maybe if you had the same foresight early on you wouldn’t be such bitter disgruntled assholes now. [/quote]

Seriously, I am saying this in all sincerity. People on this forum are giving you what you are asking for, honest insight. On this and the other thread people have given you an “understanding of the big picture”. As plainly as it can be said, this is a destination career, not really a stepping stone, because by the time you are established you will be making more money than most people that you know working half as hard with tremendous lifestyle flexibility.

And as far as people being “disgruntled assholes”, you don’t know what you don’t know, and that’s your problem. People react to you the way they do because you are asking absurd questions. A few people on this forum have been nice enough not to hand you your teeth are being kind, I promise you the rest are being “disgruntled”, or are just rolling their eyes at someone who doesn’t know what they are asking.

With that said, if you don’t want to do this job, or want to do something else, don’t waste our time or yours (or your firms). Leave, become an intern. Don’t do your prospective clients and employer the disservice of engaging in business activity with you when you are focused on something else. This is an all or nothing career.

fair enough sometimesnowhere. i’ve made a decision to devote my all to making it in this career and i will be starting a new job next week. i’m committed, and i will make an effort to keep my subsequent posts more relevant to this forum. that said, expect a lot of posts fishing for advice on how a young, unconnected newcomer with a virtually nonexistent network of wealthy people might be able to make it in this industry.

Most likely your first step is to get hired on a trading desk as a gopher/admin grunt.  Ask questions, observe and make dam sure that whatever task you are given to do is completed PERFECTLY.  You are being observed and graded.  Several months down the road you may be trusted to answer phones and relay messages.  If you are lucky, one of the traders may spend some time with you and explain what he/she does and how they do it. 

A trader has 2 jobs- 1) satisfy their cleints- the salesmen who sell their paper and 2) work the street and bid paper from clients, trying to find paper that can be resold for a profit.  Job 1 will be visible to you.  Job 2 will largely be invisible to you at first, but is what ultimately determines success or failure.  Bonds are commodities- 90% of what a large institutional buyer sees is available from several different sources.  It is the 10% of unique paper / situations that sets each desk apart and provides value to the end buyer. 

Over time, if you are thought to be ready, you may be trusted to trade on an Agency basis- you hold no positions, risk no capital, and only fill orders.  You may become a “Liason” trader between the desk and a retail salesforce–ie you are barrier to prevent the retail brokers from contacting the actual traders.  If you are lucky and patient (several years down the road) you may be given the opportunity to actually trade- risk the firms capital.  This is where the real money is made by the firm and by you.  If you are a full trader, your compensation will likey be a low six figure salary and 7 figure bonus potential.  You will then have the potential to be a “BSD”.

Given the state of the industry, consolodation, move to electronic trading, many many qualified people have left the bond industry.  It will be very difficult to find even a menial job on a bond desk.

Good Luck.