05.10.07
see the light?
So as I have been focusing on Systems Administration in the past years, the current that propelled my stream of passion to embrace technology is running dry. Its becoming more and more mundane, build a server to standards, hand it over to Developers or Application folks who design it to match a business logic which morphs into a product that is either generating revenue or calibrating analytics. I guess that infrastructure work exists to initialize the processing of raw material. I detest the notion of not knowing the specifics of what purpose the application serves, especially if I built the server. I am now interested in being closer to the final product, the business as some say, further down the value chain instead of at the beginning. In light of this, I am considering switching my major to Quantitative Methods and Modeling from Computer Information Systems. Incidently ,to my vantage point, Baruch University has a policy mandating all undergrads to complete liberal and business requisites before stabbing at your major. This affords me to divert majors without sacrificing any credits — sweet. “Who moved my cheese” advocates welcoming change with open arms and past experience also thought me the same, but that’s another blog. The short end of this babble is that I don’t want to be another ignorant IT chap. Being technically sound, its time to I understand the industry that employs me, diversify my experience and contribute to solving complex business agendas - not just routine actions. You can say I got inspired by working for a mid size leader in Algorithm Trading; furthermore, financial markets aren’t what they used to be and with regulations like Reg NMS, the industry is reshaping. As I embark on this path to QMM, I hope it will avail me to new opportunities. I very aware that this is not walk in the park but more like a hurricane however I will just have to weather it. The discipline basically comprises of Financial Mathematics, Algorithms, Statistics, Mathlab, R, S and SAS Programming. I have lots to learn but then again, the adage says ‘little by little is how you eat hot soup’. I recall telling a mentor back at Merrill Lynch that, “I am on a mission” and he called me “mission man” - indeed, that I am.