Advice on working desktop support at NYC hedge fund

ikevinc

Hello Everyone,

I was recently offered a job at a prestigious NYC hedge fund. My official title is desktop support and I may be handling small projects/minor sys-admin work. I've primarily worked in the suburbs and not in a fast-paced financial institution. I have worked for an MSP so I've been in high-pressure situations. Does anyone have any advice on how to catch up quick? Anything would help! I just want to do the best that I can do. Thank you.

hurricane1091

I work in the financial sector but for a medium sized company. Financial folks who make tons of money come in two flavors. Extremely nice, or the exact opposite. So, just be prepared for that. The company makes money when those guys are making money, so things need to be always working. The stakes are higher I would say and the office culture can be less lax, but there's no real difference I suppose. Perhaps the urgency increases more than anything.

ikevinc

I see. How would you say the IT guys are perceived though? Do the financial guys act elitist towards the IT guys?

hurricane1091

ikevinc wrote: »

I see. How would you say the IT guys are perceived though? Do the financial guys act elitist towards the IT guys?

Well, I am a network engineer. I do not usually need to interact with them, but I have gone down to new offices and met some. Some are very appreciative (one took me out to lunch). Some see you/technology as a hindrance and get frustrated. I find the ones that make the most money tend to be very nice. It's the ones who do better than most of us here, but really are not the bread/butter producers are the ones who are not so nice.

I did do desktop support at a very small financial firm, and my thoughts remain the same. This behavior can literally exist in any job. Make no mistake, you are probably making 40-60k. These guys are making hundreds of thousands of dollars, to millions of millions. They make the company go round, understand that. They might not have a job without you, but the company wouldn't continue to exist without them. That's probably the biggest difficulty in this whole scenario is you will need to help guys who are rich and need to be working to make money, and don't have time for outages/problems. Not everyone is an FA or something though, you'll be helping secretary's, accountants, etc aka basically normal people like yourself.

If the pay is good and the commute is right, go do it. I'll tell you what is worse, doing desktop support at a hospital. Imagine having to go into a terminally ill patient's room to fix a PC. It's terrible. Yes, I did that briefly during my first job. No, I would never do desktop support again at a hospital. Doctors tend to be rude as well to you I found!

paul78

@OP - I've worked in fintech for nearly 30 years. Depending on the business, you will get varying cultures. While I've never worked directly for a hedge funds - the few hedge fund guys that I've met socially seem pretty nice. But that's a single data point - and like any other industry, I'm sure there are prima-donnas wherever you go . The point of my post is that I noted you mentioned that you are joining a prestigious hedge fund in the NYC area - as long as it's not THE LARGEST PRESTIGIOUS hedge fund, you are probably fine. Of all the companies that I've encountered and conducted business with - this hedge fund is one that while I would do business with - I would never want to work there.

Danielm7

ikevinc wrote: »

I see. How would you say the IT guys are perceived though? Do the financial guys act elitist towards the IT guys?

My coworker worked with stock traders previously, I think he might need therapy over it. I'm sure there are more pleasant ones but he said he was constantly screamed at, threatened and treated like total garbage. Obvious anecdote, YMMV, etc.

tmtex

I worked for a world wide commercial real estate co that is HQed in NYC. They are all multi millionaires. People of that stature can be difficult. Not all but some will put you down, call you names and yell. Just go along with it, don't let it get you. Many can be very nice

Example that I will never forget. If your typing a email in outlook the send button is on the left. This VP wanted it on the right. It was my fault. He then fired off an email to my manager stating that I am not qualified for my job...bla bla bla. My boss laughed