Working with A Truckload of Mr. Wizards
Honestly, I've been working at The Shop for about 14 months - the shortest job I've ever had outside college, and still I seem to know more than many of the "smart" folks that have been here for years and years. Why is it that people think they know so bloody much, and when they do, why don't they bother to ask as opposed to springing into immediate action and then showing the world how smart they are from averting certain destruction?
Had they asked, I could have told them that their ideas were good ones, but that they really weren't paying enough attention to the details of the situation and had overlooked the essential facts that made the situation not the end of the world. In fact, their change would have been the disastrous one.
I don't mind telling people this, but it's disheartening to say the least. On one hand, it's nice to see that people are checking things to make sure everything is OK. On the other hand, they aren't checking very well so their checks are causing more problems than if they just hadn't checked.
I've talked to a lot of my friends in this industry outside of The Shop they are amazed by what I've come to understand as "general practices" here. There's no need to list them all, it's one of the motivations for my leaving in about a week. But what's worse is that all these technical issues are being looked at by the same people that are checking the things I've been working on for the last year.
Because of this, I can't really honestly hold out a lot of hope for the technology decisions for this place. It needs to be gutted of it's primary technology folks, new ones brought in that understand what a global, multi-million dollar trading firm needs, and then staff up those people capable of achieving those goals. Because I promise you, the "stars" that don't catch the details in a start-up script are not going to be able to catch the nuances of a price feed or much of anything else, for that matter.
Business can be harsh... but it's not about harsh or friendly - it's about business, and if it's your money, do what you want. But if it's someone else's... well... then they have a right to deserve a little more.