The importance of failure

The following is a reflection about a recent failure I faced, which I now see as very valuable.

In 2023, I left my regular job to start my own business, just like many others did.

For two years, I saved as much as possible and carefully invested in a mix of safe and high-risk assets. This approach is crucial for minimizing risk while aiming for substantial returns.

My objective was to amass sufficient funds to confidently leave my job, avoiding the conventional path of working full-time in a large corporate firm.

While I was in school, I had big dreams of what I could create once I didn't have a regular job to tie me down. I didn't just dream, though; I worked as hard as I could on every opportunity.

I didn't waste time partying, playing video games, or studying endlessly. Instead, I focused on doing my best and unknowingly followed the 80/20 rule. I dedicated time to mastering as much as I could, only realizing later that there's a point where investing too much time becomes less valuable.

Many of my peers didn't follow the same approach. They faced more challenges in their studies, as far as I could see and hear. However, they all eventually earned their diplomas and secured full-time positions at large companies. The point here isn't to judge what's right or wrong; it's about recognizing that there's always an opportunity to accelerate your progress on your journey, and you have the choice:

To use the booster and take the shortcut
Don’t use it and take the regular path
Or, alternatively, you can choose to skip the speed booster, take the shortcut, and run the risk of ending up off course in the end.

All of this is to say that I'm currently on a journey, taking some risks to achieve something bigger than I ever thought possible.

Right now, I'm mainly involved in trading. I attend finance conferences to learn from big companies. And that's where I faced a 'failure.

I continue to apply to finance firms in search of valuable experience and insights from experts. I'm eager to contribute to their growth and share my ideas.

I started to dream of being part of a team with experienced people and learning with them, and achieving great results. I am a big fan of Renaissance Technology (Ren Tech), built by James Simons. This is a hedge fund (now private and open to employees only). They trade using algorithms and quantitative analysis.

Quantitative analysis means using math, including equations and rules, to identify relationships between factors and predict how the market may move.

During my studies, after graduating from an engineering degree in computer science and traditional finance, I took the shift towards quantitative finance and graduated with a master degree in this field (but this isn’t enough).

I've sent applications to perhaps 50-100 companies in the span of 8 months, and so far, I've only received one video call, which involved a thorough examination of my skills.

I finally got a job interview.

The people I met were fascinating, and they shared insights about their companies and products. I introduced myself and shared my story about my ambition to create a hedge fund using innovative technologies.

After this interview, they gave me a set of tasks to complete in order to check my programming skills. I got no details about the time I had to complete the tasks, and didn’t get any rule.

I went through the tasks they gave me during 2-3 hours (I thought it would be the time limit), I didn’t use chatGPT and used official docs to ensure I used the correct methodology. I had copilot suggesting things but used my code since I wasn’t familiar enough with the concepts used.

After sending my tasks, they said their first impressions were positive, I started envisioning myself as a team member.

But in the end, they decided to not go further with my application. They provided some feedbacks which is appreciated and I agreed with their comments.

I didn't utilize pandas/numpy vectorization to its fullest extent, which resulted in a decline in performance (they told me I should have seen this in a quant master degree, and they started doubting about my studies apparently). It's frustrating because I gained extensive knowledge in behavioral finance, Black & Scholes differential equations, machine learning, and regression analysis. However, my teachers never stressed the performance impact of vectorization. Additionally, in this particular task, I didn't see the necessity for it since the dataset was relatively small. In conclusion, it's crucial to constantly envision how you would tackle the challenges that a company is most likely to face.
Out of the three exercises, I failed to complete the second one entirely because I was in a hurry and didn't realize there was a final part to it. That was my mistake.
I didn’t use chatGPT to get insights about how I should have solved the task (strange comment, I didn’t think companies would value the use of chatGPT, and thought they would value more the thinking process).

Why I value this experience so much?

Now, I know more about vectorization performance increase
I understand what people want from an application (code clarity, thought process and performance).
I am now more than ever wanting to build my own hedge fund to compete with them and show how valuable I could have been to them.

While writing this and reflecting on the experience, I think the last point is the most important.

I believe it's a natural human response when we encounter failure – the desire to improve and avoid facing that failure again. This reaction is incredibly valuable, and I am determined to embrace these kinds of setbacks.

I hope this reflection helps you better face and embrace failure (always prepare yourself for it, because failure often strikes when you least expect it).