Yesterday, I went for an interview at a buy-side investment firm and was required to write an essay about the above topic. It was strange considering they weren't asking me more about the technical knowledge regarding finance. There were also a few other applicants applying to Economic Analyst and Quantitative Analyst roles. I saw their test paper, and it was scary. They were filled with plenty of theories and problem sums, and they seem to be solving long equations. On top of that, they both have a PhD from NTU. I guess the competition must be tough out there to work for a buy-side investment firm (albeit a poor cultured company). I've decided to recap what I wrote during the interview as a way to improve my writings. Here we go:
Finding, interpreting and imagining
The aim of an equity analyst is to understand the business, analyze the financial health of the business and form an opinion about the future of the company. It sounds simple but is easier said than done. It requires plenty of hard work and high level of logical thinking before you can become a successful analyst. Solving a jigsaw puzzle is rather similar in a way. It requires you to arrange all the jigsaw and piece them together into a picture.
The first step to solving a jigsaw puzzle is definitely to find the relevant colors and parts of the jigsaw. It is the same as an equity analyst. Before you can start researching on a company, the first step is usually to find all the relevant news and reports of the company you want to research on. This stage of the process can be said to be the easiest part as it is almost brainless. Well, even if it is easy to start, at least you're interested in what you are doing.
As put across by Lao Tzu "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
The second step is usually the part that is the hardest and most people will more often than not give up half way through their work. Analyzing a company at this stage involves understanding the information, filtering them out, and sorting them out. It requires patience and more patience. Similarly, the toughest part about solving the jigsaw is also about piecing the pieces together and thinking about which part does this jigsaw belong to. I've personally given up at this stage and I am not proud of it. The excuse is usually no matter how much I've read about the company, I still felt like I didn't understand the subject well enough or no matter how much time I spent on solving the jigsaw puzzle, it just didn't work. It boils down ultimately to be still patience, hard work, discipline and some level of intellect. I guess you just need to keep going and one day, as said by many other equities analysts, those information will just suddenly connect and make sense. It is almost similar to what Steve Jobs have said, "You can't connect the dots going forward, you can only connect the dots looking back." I guess you just have to keep trying and I am still trying.
The last step would most likely highlight the single and most important difference between solving a jigsaw puzzle and being an equity analyst. Solving a jigsaw puzzle is almost a no brainer to some extent and doesn't require you to imagine. You just need to solve that piece of picture through trial-and-error and most of the time you should succeed after putting in a fair amount of time. However, being an equity analyst is different, even after digesting the humongous amount of information at the second stage, you will still need to foresee the future. This foresight will ultimately differentiate a good analyst from a bad analyst. It is harsh I know. But being able to predict the future is definitely an important criteria in order for you to become a good analyst. You must be thinking that "Wow! Then I can just skip step 1 and 2, and just predict. If I hit, I will be a star analyst". Well, it doesn't work this way. In order for you to justify your opinions, you are likely to need to backup with some logical statements in order for people to believe in you. Stating the future without backup (step 1 &2) is like gambling or worse, it is not understanding the subject and trying to act like you know something.
To conclude, solving a jigsaw puzzle and being an equities analyst is somewhat similar. They both require patience, self-discipline, passion and some logical thinking. However, the only difference would be that in order for you to be successful as an equity analyst. You probably need to have good foresight.
Finding, interpreting and imagining
The aim of an equity analyst is to understand the business, analyze the financial health of the business and form an opinion about the future of the company. It sounds simple but is easier said than done. It requires plenty of hard work and high level of logical thinking before you can become a successful analyst. Solving a jigsaw puzzle is rather similar in a way. It requires you to arrange all the jigsaw and piece them together into a picture.
The first step to solving a jigsaw puzzle is definitely to find the relevant colors and parts of the jigsaw. It is the same as an equity analyst. Before you can start researching on a company, the first step is usually to find all the relevant news and reports of the company you want to research on. This stage of the process can be said to be the easiest part as it is almost brainless. Well, even if it is easy to start, at least you're interested in what you are doing.
As put across by Lao Tzu "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
The second step is usually the part that is the hardest and most people will more often than not give up half way through their work. Analyzing a company at this stage involves understanding the information, filtering them out, and sorting them out. It requires patience and more patience. Similarly, the toughest part about solving the jigsaw is also about piecing the pieces together and thinking about which part does this jigsaw belong to. I've personally given up at this stage and I am not proud of it. The excuse is usually no matter how much I've read about the company, I still felt like I didn't understand the subject well enough or no matter how much time I spent on solving the jigsaw puzzle, it just didn't work. It boils down ultimately to be still patience, hard work, discipline and some level of intellect. I guess you just need to keep going and one day, as said by many other equities analysts, those information will just suddenly connect and make sense. It is almost similar to what Steve Jobs have said, "You can't connect the dots going forward, you can only connect the dots looking back." I guess you just have to keep trying and I am still trying.
The last step would most likely highlight the single and most important difference between solving a jigsaw puzzle and being an equity analyst. Solving a jigsaw puzzle is almost a no brainer to some extent and doesn't require you to imagine. You just need to solve that piece of picture through trial-and-error and most of the time you should succeed after putting in a fair amount of time. However, being an equity analyst is different, even after digesting the humongous amount of information at the second stage, you will still need to foresee the future. This foresight will ultimately differentiate a good analyst from a bad analyst. It is harsh I know. But being able to predict the future is definitely an important criteria in order for you to become a good analyst. You must be thinking that "Wow! Then I can just skip step 1 and 2, and just predict. If I hit, I will be a star analyst". Well, it doesn't work this way. In order for you to justify your opinions, you are likely to need to backup with some logical statements in order for people to believe in you. Stating the future without backup (step 1 &2) is like gambling or worse, it is not understanding the subject and trying to act like you know something.
To conclude, solving a jigsaw puzzle and being an equities analyst is somewhat similar. They both require patience, self-discipline, passion and some logical thinking. However, the only difference would be that in order for you to be successful as an equity analyst. You probably need to have good foresight.
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