Trade floor support

Anybody do it or know anything about it? I live in CT and see these postings. The pay is always good but I'm sure there's a reason for this.

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Turgon

bababooey1 wrote: »

Anybody do it or know anything about it? I live in CT and see these postings. The pay is always good but I'm sure there's a reason for this.

Could be start in a lucrative career in financial IT. I know people who have supported trading floors. Be prepared for people who earn more some days than you do in a year shouting things at you to the effect of 'get this F*****g thing fixed, Im losing f*****g money!'

erpadmin

bababooey1 wrote: »

Anybody do it or know anything about it? I live in CT and see these postings. The pay is always good but I'm sure there's a reason for this.

Stamford or Greenwich?

I did this for three months in Greenwich. Basically this in a nutshell:

1) Show up to work before the stock opening (usually an hour before).

2) Sit in your area.

3) Wait for a trader to get snippy after losing a bunch of money.

4) Fix whatever he broke.

5) Make sure your network is stable. God help you if you a packet is lost while king j-o is making a trade.....

6) Leave at the closing bell (usually half an hour).

It can be a bit stressful dealing with strungout traders/floor managers. After three months, I had enough and quit. I never wanted to go through that crap again.

Devilry

erpadmin wrote: »

Stamford or Greenwich?

I did this for three months in Greenwich. Basically this in a nutshell:

1) Show up to work before the stock opening (usually an hour before).

2) Sit in your area.

3) Wait for a trader to get snippy after losing a bunch of money.

4) Fix whatever he broke.

5) Make sure your network is stable. God help you if you a packet is lost while king j-o is making a trade.....

6) Leave at the closing bell (usually half an hour).

It can be a bit stressful dealing with strungout traders/floor managers. After three months, I had enough and quit. I never wanted to go through that crap again.

How is the pay in this sector, though?

bababooey1

Sounds a little scary. Guys yelling and techs only lasting three months. Especially coming from a relaxed atmosphere here at my current job. It's only tempting because I can't pay my bills

Thanks for your replies!

sambuca69

Devilry wrote: »

How is the pay in this sector, though?

The pay is usually good. The traders are the best and worst part of the job. At times they are a riot and fun to be around, at other times you'll find them screaming at the top of their lungs because something isn't working.

kenoo

I'd give it a shot to get into the lucrative financial sector

I'm 24 and make triple figures plus 20-50pct bonus as a systems guy for a hedgefund, go for it!

Devilry

kenoo wrote: »

I'd give it a shot to get into the lucrative financial sector

I'm 24 and make triple figures plus 20-50pct bonus as a systems guy for a hedgefund, go for it!

Sounds pretty nice!

how much experience prior?

bababooey1

kenoo wrote: »

I'd give it a shot to get into the lucrative financial sector

I'm 24 and make triple figures plus 20-50pct bonus as a systems guy for a hedgefund, go for it!

Wow! That's very tempting. How's the stress level and the hours?

kenoo

bababooey1 wrote: »

Wow! That's very tempting. How's the stress level and the hours?

Devilry wrote: »

Sounds pretty nice!

how much experience prior?

I had about 4-5 years going in.

It actually isn't as bad as people make it out to be, I really like my job and the technology here is top end, but then again I'm doing systems/network stuff and not trade floor. I usually work 8-530 or 6.

There are tons of perks to working in a financial place, alot of them have free catered food/drinks/coffee all day.

erpadmin

If you are a young man, and by young I mean you've passed puberty a few years ago, you could handle a trading floor gig, even with all the BS. However, you like stability or relaxed environments....this might not be for you.

Also, not every trading floor pays out big salaries or even bonuses....YMMV.

the_Grinch

We support some financial firms and they sometimes are difficult to deal with. But that being said, most customers are when something isn't working (I always lump Drs, lawyers, and traders in the same category as the worst to deal with). Sometimes though, they surprise you and aren't that bad. We have a senior engineer who worked on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange doing server support and he loved it. Hours were great and as long as everything is running, things were good. Lots of regulations for the financial guys, so milliseconds of down time can equal thousands in fines. Go for it, if you don't like it give your two weeks and find something else.

bababooey1

Actually got a call back for one I applied to. The hours are odd because it's a rotating shift that changes every 3 - 4 months but the pay is really good. Definetly worth entertaining.

Thanks for all of your replies!

Devilry

bababooey1 wrote: »

Actually got a call back for one I applied to. The hours are odd because it's a rotating shift that changes every 3 - 4 months but the pay is really good. Definetly worth entertaining.

Thanks for all of your replies!

Congrats on the call back, keep us informed about the process, I would love to know more about this sector.

Turgon

hehehe..work on the trading floor and get shouted at all day! If you can hack that you can hack anything. I know a guy who worked floors and some days it was the pits. Can depend on the floor though so depends.

BradleyHU

erpadmin wrote: »

Stamford or Greenwich?

I did this for three months in Greenwich. Basically this in a nutshell:

1) Show up to work before the stock opening (usually an hour before).

2) Sit in your area.

3) Wait for a trader to get snippy after losing a bunch of money.

4) Fix whatever he broke.

5) Make sure your network is stable. God help you if you a packet is lost while king j-o is making a trade.....

6) Leave at the closing bell (usually half an hour).

It can be a bit stressful dealing with strungout traders/floor managers. After three months, I had enough and quit. I never wanted to go through that crap again.

I've always wondered what those TF Support positions entailed...ehhh, its bad enough i have execs & regular joe schmoes screaming at me cuz THEY messed something up, or that something isnt working at the speed of light....i definitely dont need some uber douchebag trader trying to scream on me, cuz i might just have to show them how strong the pimp hand really is...

Turgon

BradleyHU wrote: »

I've always wondered what those TF Support positions entailed...ehhh, its bad enough i have execs & regular joe schmoes screaming at me cuz THEY messed something up, or that something isnt working at the speed of light....i definitely dont need some uber douchebag trader trying to scream on me, cuz i might just have to show them how strong the pimp hand really is...

You would get fired for that, dont work in trading. But if you can swallow it and get on the money is good.

erpadmin

Turgon wrote: »

You would get fired for that, dont work in trading. But if you can swallow it and get on the money is good.

In other words, BradleyHU, you have to be the recipient of "the pimp hand" and not the user of one...

BradleyHU

Turgon wrote: »

You would get fired for that, dont work in trading. But if you can swallow it and get on the money is good.

oh i know i would get fired...and thats why i dont mess with those. i tell pplz, i'ma merc, i'll go to whoever is paying me the most, and make the best of the job...but i do draw the line @ douchebags talking to me in any type of way & them expecting me to take it like some "yes man"...

erpadmin wrote: »

In other words, BradleyHU, you have to be the recipient of "the pimp hand" and not the user of one...

lolz...nah my man...i've left jobs @ the drop of a dime because of douchebag managers & higher-ups.

erpadmin

BradleyHU wrote: »

oh i know i would get fired...and thats why i dont mess with those. i tell pplz, i'ma merc, i'll go to whoever is paying me the most, and make the best of the job...but i do draw the line @ douchebags talking to me in any type of way & them expecting me to take it like some "yes man"...

lolz...nah my man...i've left jobs @ the drop of a dime because of douchebag managers & higher-ups.

I lolz myself and instantly thought of this:

video player title | Comedy Central

BradleyHU

erpadmin wrote: »

I lolz myself and instantly thought of this:

video player title | Comedy Central

lolz...the funny part is, i know some pplz @ my job who try to act "cool" when i'm around, and i just smh...

but anywho...i've been thinkin about this a little bit today, and MAYBE i'd be willing to give this type of job a shot....but all i see is listings from recruiters, and i'm definitely not a fan of them...never had a good experience or success with them...

erpadmin

BradleyHU wrote: »

but anywho...i've been thinkin about this a little bit today, and MAYBE i'd be willing to give this type of job a shot....but all i see is listings from recruiters, and i'm definitely not a fan of them...never had a good experience or success with them...

On the real, you needen't be a straight up b---- to do this kind of job, but you can't "keep it real" either. It can be challenging, even at a technical level.

Honestly, sucessfully going through a Divine 9 pledge process (or any org that demands respect like mine did) prepares you for a trading floor environment. Yes, there's no wood involved, but the mental game is certainly played at a high level. It would certainly prepare a tech/admin to work for a full service financial org, where it's not THAT crazy, but definitely more rewarding.

grayfox587

I currently work as trader support, and yes it can be tough, people are going to be cranky when they lose 100k. A lot of trading companies are very bad, meaning you will get treated like poo, its all the company you find. The company I found are great guys, were all one big family.

Benefits
-Relaxed environment, if you need to come in late, you can come in late(depending on the company)
-Free food, my place gets food for lunch every thursday, others cater breakfast and lunch everyday(the big guys, who are mean)
-Most likely free cell phone
-Some offer free gym
-There is always a stocked kitchen, I love being able to go grab a propel anytime I want

Cons
-Its very tough learning how the business works, it will take you forever to learn
-Most of the time work needs to be done off hours, due to people cannot stop trading during the day
-Most likely low pay at beginning
-Dealing with angry people, and people who need stuff fixed fast, a minute down could mean thousands lost

I encourage you to look for a job here, but your going to have to be honest with them and ask them how is the work environment and tell them you will not tolerate somebody talking to you like sh!t. When I interviewed they said yelling was not tolerated, and since then I have been in love.

bababooey1

Sounds like a crap shoot. May wind up in a relaxed place with nice benefits (like free chow) or wind up in a place where I have to exercise my "pimp hand" every once in a while. "Pimp hand"- lol.