A subscriber asked how I manage my family, working as a quant, two YouTube channels, and a fair amount of hobbies including my homestead. There are really four tips that allow me to manage my schedule. It is also important to realize I do not succeed at everything. Social media makes it look like everything is running smooth with minimal stress however my life can be very stressful however I find the rewards from juggling so many thing worth the effort. So here are me four tips:1) Repetition2) Paper Planner3) Advanced Prioritization4) PerspectiveSupport the show

An industry professional asked me why is it so hard to get changes made within a company. They had made some suggestions for improving model validation however they were told there were resource constraints. Resource constraints are very real however this often includes company politics. For example, even if your team can make changes that will improve efficiency, save money, and great better outcomes it will disrupt other teams. As a manager or department head you now have to convince other departs to make the changes which will cost them and money. This impacts company and team performance in the short-run which impacts their bonuses. It is also important to realize that many projects and changes will fail. Failures cost more time and money which is also a consideration.As advice, ask yourself, am I willing to lose my job over this change? If the answer is yes, then push for the change really hard. If the change is needed but not critical you might consider just waiting and asking later down the road. Resources could change or people could move jobs making the request easier.Support the show

In quantitative finance I hear a lot of students say, "I love money" implying that will make them good at quant finance. It is a very shallow statement and one that shows the student hasn't thought much about that statement. The students that do truly love money for the sake of money are shallow people that won't make it in quant finance. Now that being said, I think many students making the statement either find economics interesting which covers how money transfers value, stores value, and how people create value. And or they love what money can do for them. Money can buy you things such as experiences, assets, or even provide financial freedom which is why people save or invest for retirement.So before you tell someone you love money, think twice. Communicating why you would be a good fit for finance or quant finance has nothing to do with loving money. Those that excel at quant finance do so because they love stats, math, and understanding how the world works.Support the show

The biggest lie in quant finance is that you can do everything required at the highest level of a model. This includes data engineering, model development (quant research), implementation (quant dev), and be the end user (often a trader or operations team). This full stack quant does exist however they are never the best at everything and they often work in a very specific niche. Examples of a niche could be, auto loans, equity HFT, commodities, securitization, or etc. The systems, languages, math, stats, financial theory, and business uses are all different.I would encourage people to focus on one main area (data engineer, quant, quant dev, or business user) and dig as deep as possible. There are a lot of topics inside of each of these and it is easier to jump around business types than to try and cover too many areas with non-overlapping skills. Support the show

For this Thanksgiving season I would like to express my gratitude for my dad. My dad was a traveling salesman and the reason my mom was able to be a stay at home mom. The one skill that I am most grateful for is my work ethic. I learned to work along side my dad as a kid growing up. The example my dad set helped engrain in my the need and desire to work. I spent a lot of my childhood working on our house, cleaning cars, or traveling across the country for my dad's job.Support the show

As Thanksgiving is this week I wanted to reflect on my gratitude for my mom. My mom was a stay at home mom and was lucky enough to be able to stay home and spend a lot of time with me as a child. Many of the life lessons around manners, religion, and domestic skills such as cooking and cleaning all came from my mom. My mom's attitude towards education is also what kept me somewhat engaged as a child with school even though I did not like attending when I was a kid. Having kids of my own has also helped me realize the amount of time, effort, and pain it takes to raise kids. For these reasons I am very grateful for my mom and the effort she put into me.Support the show

Understanding performance reviews is challenging especially if you have not worked at a variety of firms. There will always be a human judgement portion which is not a hard science. That being said, reviews should be very specific to each position. When I moved from an individual contributor to a manager role, I was not happen that my annual review was average. Over the last 5 years I had always performed above average. What I didn't understand was that I was now being judged and reviewed as a manager. Did I build better models or conduct better validations than most of the team? Yes. Was I more productive? Yes! Did my employees improve on their performance? No. It was my job to perform individual contributor work well however it was now also my job to get my employees to increase their performance. As a team were were average. Managers are judged by team performance just as much as individual performance.My best advice is to really look inward and figure out what you need to work on. This is always hard as we view ourselves differently than managers but this will help you become a better employee and person.Support the show

Many things make legends who they are. It seems the commonality is the ability to perform at a very high level over an extended period of time. Looking at Fischer Black, Peter Carr, Rick Rubin, George Box, Gilbert Strang, and John Nash it is interesting to see so many difference between them yet they have all had significant contributions to their area of expertise. Soft skills seem to play some part of this title of being a legend. There are many people who made one contribution but seem to have faded and forgotten.For quants it seems one must contribute academic ideas as well as have some sort of unique difference that helps others. Peter Carr's legacy seems to be amplified by his generosity of time and ability to teach. I would argue the success of making money contributes very little to being a quant. Investors and traders are very different than quants.Rick Rubin Interview (Joe Rogan):https://open.spotify.com/episode/5oDyN0CFjEwClqjZxJQf9OGilbert Strang Interview (Lex Fridman):https://youtu.be/lEZPfmGCEk0?si=G5K6HpS4LkftujChMIT Course - Gilbert Strang:https://youtu.be/ZK3O402wf1c?si=m8QWrXTeVWVi086GSupport the show

As grad school programs and undergrad programs are starting up it is important to get the most out of the time you are there. School seems like it goes slow however by the time you graduate and have been working a few years it seems like long ago.1) Network with a wide range of students.2)  Do informational interviews with alumni and industry practitioners to learn what specialty you want to work in after graduation.3) Lean In! It is very challenging to balance the social aspects of grad school with the educational aspects. Focus more on learning and networking instead of optimizing your grades. Realize you will be graduating soon and will not have the same amount of time to really focus on your education. Support the show

As a book review I give "Operation Paperclip" 5/5 stars! I'm not typically a big fan of popular paperback books (non textbooks).The dilemma in the books shows a brief insight into some of the horrible killings and crimes as well as the potential or perceived need for the science to end WWII with Japan as well as fend of Russia (cold war). Determining who was of value was challenging and many of the crimes were swept under the rug. As someone who practices science it is understandable that we need break throughs especially when war is involved. However on the other hand the true Nazis needed to be held accountable.Science funding fell off in the US and it seems to be negatively impacting progress in both the public and private sectors.I meant Eric Weinstein not Bret Weinstein however they both have a similar stance. Eric states more of the details of the lack of funding historically.My Life as a Quant:https://amzn.to/3Kn3h9R (my affiliate link)Eric Weinstein:https://open.spotify.com/episode/7MDxyrrhD7gC7XMRwB0ulvBret Weinstein:https://youtu.be/pRCzZp1J0v0Website:https://www.FancyQuantNation.comSupport:https://ko-fi.com/fancyquantQuant t-shirts, mugs, and hoodies:https://www.teespring.com/stores/fancy-quantConnect with me:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitri-biancohttps://twitter.com/DimitriBiancoSupport the show