My story
When I was a kid, I wanted to do something cool, like be a spy or an astronaut. Professional athletics were not really an option for me, so I did what people like me do. I went to Stanford, where I majored in economics, math, and political science, and completed an honors thesis in each. I then went to M.I.T. for graduate school in economics and began to distinguish myself there, but something was missing. The thought of being an economics professor didn't exactly make my heart race.
So, after my first year of grad school, I made my first truly great trade: trading in graduate school for working at Weiss. Things started out simply enough. In my first week on the job, some of the interns taught me how to use the computer systems, I learned the basics of closed-end fund arbitrage, and I watched what my new colleagues were doing. It wasn’t world-changing stuff, but it was a welcome change from academia.
About a week into the job, one of my closest colleagues described a phenomenon they had noticed while trading certain securities in Asia, and asked me to think about it. I asked that we purchase new software to analyze the problem, so, after I had been working there for two weeks, we spent several thousand dollars to order a copy of my favorite statistical analysis package. I quickly went to work on the data, using the skills I had honed writing those three honors theses and research papers in grad school. I was excited to come in to work everyday to do my research and show it to people, and they were excited to come in and see what I was working on. I was showing new results to Andy every morning.
By the end of the month, the skeletal outlines of my research were complete. It was exciting stuff. We began trading it. I was still a babe in the woods, so one of my more-established colleagues was the primary trader on the project. Since then, I have become the project manager, trader, and researcher for this strategy. When I was leaving grad school, my girlfriend told me they would never give someone my age the type of responsibility that I wanted. Boy was she wrong.
I hope I have done a good job of explaining how exciting the work at Weiss can be—especially if you are ready to step up to the challenge when the opportunity arises (and it will, trust me). But actually, the best part about working at Weiss, even better than the responsibility and intellectual challenge, is probably my colleagues. Andy is a wonderful mentor and a great boss. Indeed, I believe that our stellar performance over the years is a direct result of Andy’s being truly great at running an office and helping his employees to do the very best work they are capable of.
Even more importantly, I have made some wonderful friendships at Weiss. My colleagues and I get together on the weekends to play strategy board games and watch Battlestar Galactica. We give each other math puzzles in the office. We find time to play squash in the mornings and evenings.
For the first three months I was working at Weiss, everyday I left the office, I stepped into the elevator, and I did what could only be described as an end-zone dance. I loved my job so much. Now I only do end-zone dances after I score a touchdown. Or since I don’t actually score touchdowns, I do my dance after I solve a really hard theoretical model, or figure out a great instrument for my statistical research, or just plain cut a really great trade.
