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May 29, 2009
motivation, school, career
I'm struggling with motivation today. Despite what my parents may think, vis-a-vis my brothers and I, I am not magically immune to laziness whereas they had to be cattle-prodded along to not end up failing out of grade school. Frankly, they just yelled at me more.
That is challenging, because in Real Life, there's a lot less yelling and a lot more a) doing what you want and b) silent, passive-aggressive judging. Nobody at work is going to say "hey maybe you should classify those bugs for the next project and send them off to India instead of writing a blog entry," they're just going to save it up for my next performance review and note that I'm "capable of getting things done" rather than "gets things done."
Anyway, that's where I'm at today. It's rainy in New England and I'm doing my weekly work-from-home day, hanging out with Labatt. I've got a Financial Statement Analysis paper due on Tuesday and a ton of reading to do, which may or may not get started today.
So there's a bi-polar distribution in academics with one pole being the very analytical, quantitative, "math-y" subjects, and the other being the very creative, qualitative, "English-y" subjects. On one end, obviously, is pure mathematics, and the other is probably English, or creative writing, or something like that...it's interesting that the more quantitative side of the distribution is also more concrete, whereas it's hard to tell what's more qualitative: art, literature, dramatics, etc.
At any rate, this makes sense, given a left-brain/right-brain view of the world, and fits neatly with my core elementary school subjects of English, social studies, science and math. I was best at English, then social studies, then science, then math, which made sense because the amount of qualitative insight decreases while quantitative analysis increases as you go down the list.
Biz school is very much the same, which brings us to the reason I mention it, which is that Financial Statement Analysis is fairly quantitative, and therefore, hard. Now, I should qualify that by saying that I think the first few classes are necessarily more quantitative because they're a review/refresher of basic accounting principles, which I haven't really used in a couple of years. I think as we go, the class is going to be much more of, "here's a footnote, what do you think it means and can you back it up with some basic equations?" But for right now, it's a fire hose of information.
But I do understand better the pitfalls of securitization, which is what caused the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, and I feel a little better in terms of understanding the real ramifications of accounting games on the annual report and how that can impact public (investor) perception of companies. Frankly, it makes me think that, unless you're Warren Buffett, just go ahead and buy an index fund. You're better off than trying to beat the market.
Unless you have insider information, in which case, enjoy jail!
School is going well, then, and work is going well, and I'm doing just fine with everything I'm doing. That said, I'm going through increasing anxiety of the "what should I do with my life?" variety, which is predicated on a) graduating in one year and b) noting on my LinkedIn account that I've been at this job exactly as long as I was at my first job. No, I'm not jumping ship; that would not make any sense given the present economy and my role in this job and various other reasons. I'm just "noodgy".
I think that what I want to be professionally is a Business Analyst. From Wikipedia: "A business analyst or "BA" is responsible for analyzing the business needs of clients to help identify business problems and propose solutions." So, a professional troubleshooter, which is what I do now, minus the actual software coding work, and plus a little more strategic input. I don't see myself hanging up my text editor anytime in the immediate future, but who knows.
Posted by Mark at 12:43 PM | Comments (2)
May 20, 2009
school, graduation, vacation
Life has been unusually hectic lately and a reminder that one of these years, I need to learn to deal with stress in a positive manner.
School started up again this week and I'm looking at a really intense six weeks of analyzing 10-Ks and balance sheets for Financial Statement Analysis. Did you know that personal income tax and household finances are usually calculated on a cash basis, rather than an accrual basis, which is why you don't have a complicated balance sheet in your checkbook? Now you do! Learning is fun!
I like the finance classes because they teach me a whole lot of stuff I never knew or considered. They are also extremely overwhelming, because I have such a tenuous grasp of the subject matter, and almost no prior experience. Let's just hope that the textbook comes in the mail soon or I'm going to be even further behind.
We went to Robin's graduation this past weekend. She's got her Master's in Education. I'm jealous that she's done. One more year!
We're planning our Napa/Sonoma wine trip for this August and I think we've found a solid place to stay for a reasonable price in Napa. We still have plenty of details to work out--we might take a balloon ride in addition to a couple of wine tours!--but the flight is booked and the hotel is the next step. With a lot of friends thinking of starting families, this summer might be the last gasp for big vacations. We're not quite there yet, but if we want to do a group trip, this is it.
Posted by Mark at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2009
projects, semester, summer
I always feel like starting these updates like Jim Anchower from The Onion: "What's up, hombres? Been a long time since I rapped at ya."
I celebrated the end of the semester last weekend by relaxing at home while Kara was in and around NYC for a baby shower, and got some work done around the house. The garden is planted, new blinds are up in the study, and the motorcycle is up on Craigslist. Got a few prospective buyers, too. Now I just need to follow up.
Having Strategy and Project Management the same semester was a great mix. Strategy gives you the big picture while PM gives you the specifics, and you need a combination of the two for the best chance at overall success. You can have a great business strategy that makes tons of money but has lousy project management, and you can have projects that are organized and successful but make no money because they're the wrong projects in terms of strategy. Haven't gotten grades back yet, but I feel good about what I've learned.
So now I have a few weeks off, then back to school for a summer class in Financial Statement Analysis. Lots of 10-Ks and balance sheets. Should be fun.
Posted by Mark at 03:52 PM | Comments (3)