Banking moments...

The world of banking..through my eyes (so far) has been a great experience.

I am the newest as well as the youngest trader on the desk. This has given me plenty of opportunities to make errors and create uncomfortable "banking moments." Working on a fixed income trading desk requires nerves as well as the ability to work on multiple tasks and trades at the same time. There is no particular moment that I can remember in mind as my whole early learning experience was one big mess up after another. I immediately came to grasp the nerves and stress that the job required. But my personality is that of one who tends to not get stressed out about things too much. This may have been the one trait that kept me from giving up and leaving. Some people may find that they can't really hack it out. I just gritted my teeth and kept repeating my popular phrase, " ...sorry, that is my 'bad'."

This definitely forced me to understand my job well and fast. As it would probably be a heck of a lot easier to work under a lighter-hearted environment, I don't believe we would be able to get the amount of trades done as well as we do if it was a light-hearted environment. Once you get the swing of things, trading becomes somewhat easier and you don't get "as stressed" as before. I must also say that I work with a great group of people that make the trading floor a tolerable and entertaining environment.