I usually wake up super early on Mondays and
head to the gym. Over the weekend when I'm hanging out, I always
get ideas for work. I actually like Mondays because I can come
in and try out all those ideas I've been thinking about. I work with a quant who has nine years of
experience and a PhD from MIT. But he doesn't say "That's a bad idea." He tells me to explore it. Most ideas won't go anywhere, but when I pull
a new working strategy out of the messy, and noisy data, that's the coolest moment - the
moment we're constantly seeking out. I work closely with a lot of traders, and
I learn a lot from them. We're often solving problems together, playing
around with different data sets, and one of the things that drew me to DRW was knowing
that I'd start with a couple months of formal training. First you focus on understanding the business,
and then you gradually transition to work. It's a very organic process. We have a lot of ongoing opportunities for
learning, today I listened to a senior trader discuss the art of risk-taking. That's first-hand information that you can
only get from the people who've been there. What's my favorite part of the day? Lunch, I think. During the morning, traders are intensely
focused on what's happening in the market. Throughout the day, we're always working closely
with software engineers to solve problems. When I first came to DRW, I was on a different
team. But as my skills evolved, I was able to go
to a team with more complex code. With good ideas and execution, you can stand
out, regardless of your age, experience, or title, really. There's no artificial barriers in your way. My colleagues go out of their way to answer
my questions, even when I'm not directly involved with a project, they'll sometimes bring me
in just to expose me to something new. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started,
but what I've seen is a group of very smart people doing their jobs and helping the people
around them succeed, too.
