Thread by @pauleluard

So a milestone has been reached.
5k followers.
It feels weird as I still struggle with the idea so many people could be interested in what I have to say.
In a sense it is very humbling.
So maybe time for a couple background items.

I’n obv French (from the wine selection) and from the western region of Brittany.
Is there any reason to be proud? None. But nonetheless I do feel it is my home and love this land of mine.

I studied engineering in a grande ecole and finance. Amusingly I was specialising in AI before we called it such (optimal control).
Everything is a min max problem. Or a tropical algebra.

Grande ecole was fun and I meant countless people who inspired me.
I also got nearly expelled for creating the LGBT section of the school, so to all those who think “it should be a right”, many anonymous people worked for it.

I have started my career in finance as the assistant of a very well known Macro PM and it was a steep learning curve.
But it’s fantastic to be exposed to so much early on.
Just don’t complain if you’re working in xmas day. There’s a chinese restaurant open. You’re not alone.

I did a bunch of stuff after including working in commodities and running a macro book, and being a consultant. Now working as a sales person in an FX agency.
Fantastic exposure to a large array of macro people.

I am a lazy person by nature and as such I have realised automating was a great win. “Write a script that runs at 6am and you can wake up at 7am!”
Hard to beat.

I have worked on positioning a lot in my recent time because I realise it’s quite important to know what the other guys are doing.
It’s fine being the smartest guy in the room but if other guys don’t want to play with you...

I want to say that my experience i finance has been what you would expect. Exhilarating yet beyond tough.
Nobody cares who you are or how you feel. It’s about making money.
You want to do smthng meaningful? Be a garbage collector. Nobody moans as much as when they dont show up.

The reason I went into finance was because I loved math and heard some people were paying a lot for it. And I wasn’t good enough for a career in academia. Now working on AI maths on my spare time but it’s a luxury to do so.

If I can say anything to anyone is “be yourself”. We don’t need more sales people or experts in micro-payments. We just need people to listen to other ones.

If you have mental health problems talk to people around you.
You feel different? Talk to people around you.
You’ll be surprised to realise how many people around you can relate.

To conclude a few yeats lines:

Nor dread nor hope attend
A dying animal;
A man awaits his end
Dreading and hoping all;
Many times he died,
Many times rose again.

In all this I forgot to say a few people helped me along the way
@INArteCarloDoss if only for living the life while walking the walk
@MagnusMacro for the youthful yet knowledgeable presence
@bennpeifert because I wish I was more like him?
A tout le monde, a tous mes amis...

And because a thread is nothing without a boop