How to Manage Your Boss

Here's what a bad boss is: Someone who lies, cheats, steals, or touches you after you've told him, in writing, not to. If you have one of these bosses, quit complaining and start applying for other jobs.
All other bosses aren't truly bad -- you're just bad at managing them.
A Boss-Management Decalogue
One of the most important parts of being competent at work is managing up: Making sure you give your boss what he or she needs, and then getting what you need in return. That's no one's responsibility but your own.
Here are 10 ways to manage your boss:
1. Understand the person you're dealing with.
Is she detail-oriented? Give her detailed reports. Is she a big-picture thinker? Tell her your big ideas. Does he like voicemail? Then leave some, even if you hate using it.
Understand her personality strengths and weaknesses, because this is usually the path toward forging a relationship. If you know her weaknesses, you can have empathy for her shortcomings instead of impatience. And whatever you feel will show, so figure out how to feel compassion for your boss, or you'll get nowhere with her.
2. Ask for your quarterly goals, in writing.
If you don't have goals, how can you even know what your job is? And if you don't know what your job is, you can be sure you won't make your boss happy.
If your boss does not know your goals either, write your own. Create a fun job for yourself that will be an integral part of the company's strategy. If your boss doesn't like the goals you create, she'll suddenly be able to come up with them herself.
3. Know your boss's biggest worries, and help him address them.
Why are you working on projects your boss doesn't care about? Your job is to make your boss love you so he helps you get the skills you need to grow in your career.
If you have stuff on your plate that doesn't matter, do it fast, and don't worry about being judged on the quality of this work because your boss doesn't care. Focus on the stuff that matters to your boss, because that's what will make your boss love you.
4. Look at your boss's weaknesses as opportunities.
If your boss is great at project management, then surely she doesn't need you to do that. Be great at the stuff your boss is terrible at -- like people management, maybe -- and help your boss rally her troops. If she's great at sales but hates the detailed reporting, get great at the reporting and offer to do all the stuff she hates to do.
If your boss is terrible at managing meetings, instead of complaining about it, volunteer to do the brunt of the organizing for him. He'll appreciate that way more than you helping with stuff he doesn't worry about.
5. Focus on your own needs by focusing on your boss's needs.
You and your boss are a team. You make your boss look great in the organization and in the world, and your boss will help you grow and meet your own goals.
To do this, you need to focus more on helping your boss and less on doing work you love. The first act begets the second: A boss who feels indebted to you will give you what you want.
6. See the good in people.
Don't tell me your boss doesn't care about you, or that he's only concerned with the bottom line. It's not humanly possible for your boss to not care about you if you understand him, are there for him, support him, and genuinely care.
You have to be authentic with your boss to develop a real relationship. Figure out how to care about him deeply -- as a person whom you can help. If you can't do this for your boss, how can you expect it from him?
7. Get a list of your boss's priorities.
When you have too much work, this allows you to tell your boss that you can't do x, y, and z because they're not high enough priorities to him. In other words, you can say, "I could do x, but you said a, b, and c are very important to you, and I don't want to compromise those."
This is a great way of saying "no" to work in a way that makes your boss feel very respected, understood, and taken care of.
8. Prioritize your own work in terms of what matters to your boss.
Fit your high-priority items into a reasonable schedule, and don't do low-priority items until the important stuff is done. This allows you to always deliver on what matters to your boss.
Keeping your boss happy means being a high performer. People don't care if you perform well on stuff that doesn't matter to them, so don't.
9. Give weekly updates.
It doesn't matter if your boss asks for them or not. This is a team report, for you and your boss; you're the team, working on your boss's priorities.
This is when you tell your boss how much you've accomplished that will help her. Tell her things you see that might be roadblocks for her, and how you can help her fix them in the next week. Also tell her what you're planning to do that's extremely important to her so she's sure not to ask you to do unimportant work over the next week.
10. Don't get stuck on personality types.
We each have preferences for the people we hang out with. But the most successful people can get along with anyone. If you can't get along with the type of person your boss is, it's your shortcoming, not his.
Read some psychology books about social monitors, and how we can teach ourselves to authentically connect with anyone by practicing empathy. And then do it. After all, why is it your boss's job to adjust to you? You're the one with the problem.
The Choice Is Yours
The bottom line: Take responsibility for yourself. No one forces you to have the job you have. You could leave anytime
If you're not going to leave, then you're choosing the boss you have. And since you chose your boss, start making her into a good one. Otherwise, why did you choose her?

Finance Jobs

Search in Monster.com with the following and see the listings in case you are interested

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hedge fund
portfolio analyst
investment analyst
Wealth Manager
asset allocation
investment advisor
financial planner

Sites
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Consultants
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Programming Paradigms

What are Programming Paradigms?

Here is a good place to start

Unsturctured Programming

• Assmebly Level/BASIC

Procedural programming or Imperative programming or Value-level programming or Flow-driven programming

• C/Perl

Declarative programming

• HTML,XML, XSLT,TKSolver
• One other subset of these Functional programming/Function-level programming - Perl+FP support
  

Message Passing Programming - Using process and one of the Procedural Programming models

Event-driven programming

• BREW/Windows

Object Oriented Programming

• C++/Java/Perl+OOP support
  

Econometrics 244

Prof. Kenneth Train (Berkeley)

Creating Models from Data
This course will be used to do that using simulation models.
Three models are used

1. Analytical Model (Using a known probability disctribution function)
2. Actual Simulation using Probit
3. Mixed Probit (Breaking the unknown into two seperate models one Analytical and one Probit)

All models will be coded in GAUSS

Advantages of GAUSS
Here are some of the things you can do with GAUSS and optional Applications: Optimization, Maximum likelihood estimation, Linear programming, Loglinear models, EIGEN systems, Factorizations (QR Cholesky, LU), Decompositions (SVD and Schur), Equation Solving, Cumulative distribution functions, Autoregression, Time-series cross sectional models, Co-integration models, Rational expectation models, 2 & 3 stage least squares, ARIMA models, Bessel functions, Nonlinear systems of equations, Differential equations, Multinomial logit analysis, Probit analysis, Ordered probit and logit, Exponential duration model with censoring, Descriptive statistics, Limited dependent variable models, Covariance structure analysis, Curve fitting.

Developing vs Developed Country Industry Sectors

Future Most Profitable Chinese Sectors:

Energy: China is in great need of energy in order to fuel its growth.

Real Estate: This includes both personal and corporate real estate. As people within China begin to earn more discretionary income more construction is expected.

Education: Whether children are engages in primary or college education there is an increasing demand for schools, materials, tutors, and universities.

Automobiles: Many of the Chinese citizenry do not own automobiles. The opening of markets to Japanese and American made automobiles is expected to be a highly profitable business.

Medicine: Many people in China have received only rudimentary medical care. As people earn more money the Chinese populace will expect better services.

Telecommunications & Cell Phones: People in China want the latest gadgets. China as the ability to produce these products themselves but will likely contract to Western companies for networks. Corporations within the country will have a large need for telecommunication networks as well.

Eye Glasses: There are more people in China that need glasses than anywhere else in the world.

Fast Food: Soda, chips, fast food restaurants, etc. are expected to make major inroads into the country.


Future U.S. Most Profitable Businesses:

Energy Companies: The government and industries are pushing for self-reliance and alternative energy sources. Thus companies that supply energy are expected to earn large amounts of surplus wealth.

Financial Services: Home loans, credit cards, investments, lines of credit, etc. are expected to continue growing.

Telecommunications and Cell Phone: Like China the need to keep replacing cell phones as well as new users entering the market is growing. In addition, the U.S. also has once of the largest percentages of people online and this trend is not expected to decline. Furthermore, companies are attempting to upgrade systems and continue integrating their capabilities

Large Retailers: Americans love to go to one major store like Walmart and Target and get all of their basic needs. Expansion of large retail stores will continue into both urban and rural areas.

Fast Food: Major providers of soda, chips, fast food restaurants, etc. are expected to continue growth within the country. Most of their profits will come from places like China and the Asiatic countries but still growth expected in the U.S.

Insurance: Unlike other developed countries the U.S. has a need for all types of insurance that include auto, home, life, health, etc.

The similarities of China and the U.S. lie in energy, telecommunications and fast foods. Each of these is signs of growth for both countries. However, the U.S. likes discount retail stores, insurance and financial services which may be more about maintaining wealth instead of growing. China desires to offer more basic products to reflect a growth in household incomes by offering better medical care, higher quality education, glasses, and real estate.

The differences may lie in the two predominately different stages of development. China which wants to grow and provide more basic services to their citizens while the U.S. desires to grow and maintain wealth as much as possible. The U.S. is already a budded flower while China is still budding which makes the difference in terms of what industries to invest in.

Chess and Trading Stocks

Trading is like chess, not weightlifting. It's not an endeavor that's won or lost in one day depending how hard you flex your financial muscles. It's a finesse game; it's strategy. So you think and play for position, looking to set up exposures that are likely to unfold slowly over the next six months...not 60 seconds.

So just as the surfer will patiently tread water, waiting for that one perfect wave, the experienced fund manager plays for position, methodically putting himself in the midst of the best possible opportunities, even if it means a few weeks or months of lackluster gains.

The other reason I avoid obsessing about my day-to-day performance is an emotional one. This is a highly competitive game, and just like the guy on a Slim Fast diet who constantly weighs himself, frequent tallying of your daily return is an easy was to get suckered into low probability trades.

So when I see that the S&P 500 is up by 2% for the week and I'm only up by 1.5%, my competitive intuition is to want to "catch up," which usually means trading more aggressively or impulsively straying from my established plan. I get stupid.

Instead of fixating on how many percentage points you're beating or trailing the indexes, focus on your portfolio and how each component is acting under the current market conditions. Not every day is going to be a profitable one, but with a patient, disciplined strategy that looks beyond that week's hot names, you'll usually be well positioned for the substantial moves that unfold over time.

Also, while I know that performance is what matters, constantly evaluating your returns is a surefire way to incite stupid behavior. When facing disappointing results, our hunger to win too often drives us to make poor investment decisions such as trading too aggressively or chasing low-quality trades. You make yourself crazy.

You should most certainly watch your performance, but you shouldn't obsess on it. Successful investing is a marathon, not a sprint. Playing for position and keeping your cool are among the best ways to ensure a successful finish.