Working at Goldman Sachs

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...Does anyone here do or have experience doing it?

If I am very lucky, I may get an internship with them next year. I've done a bunch of research and I've seen lots of good and lots of bad things about what it's like working there, so I thought it would be more helpful to ask people here and talk to them about it.

I'd say go for it. In this economy, any decent job you can get is a good thing. Just don't count on getting any bonuses from the TARP bailout; they all went to CEOs.

Believe me, if I get offered it, I have no intention of turning it down. I'd just like to do a bit of research beforehand.

If you have not already done so, read the books "Liar's Poker", by Michael Lewis, and "Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives", by Satyajit Das.

(The impression I have --possibly erroneous-- is that the financial industry is the NT corporate world on steroids.)

I've been meaning to get Liar's Poker actually, I've already read The Big Short, which is by the same guy. I think I'll go Amazon it now and check out the other book you mentioned.

Just remember that working for Goldman Sachs is not a good thing to brag about, since it's regarded as one of the most evil financial institutions in the USA today. Nowadays, saying "I work at Goldman Sachs" is equivalent to saying "I punched a baby once". Regardless, if you're going to school for finance, an internship there will open doors.

It is better that he just wants to turn "rich and affluent" than "rich and powerful". Hopefully, he'll earn enough money so he could retire at 30, instead of becoming the head of the world bank and screwing the world over royally...

Lots of people want to be investment bankers... It helps if you went to an ivy league school, helps even more if you have a daddy to get the job for you. Banking is a sh***y profession for most of the people in it, some make decent livings, and the minority are filthy rich and don't want you to take their job. I would love to see an AS person make it in banking though.

I never really liked the way they handled partnerships. It's very cliquish and competitive in a bad way and you can be voted out if the others decide they don't like you for whatever reason, which happens quite a bit.

However, the company does take steps to spare you the embarrassment when this happens.

Asp-Z, another book which may be of some interest to you is "Fiasco: The Inside Story of a Wall Street Trader", by Frank Partnoy (1999; it looks like this book was re-issued in 2009 with a different subtitle).

sure if you like working for the devil

They employ 48 people with Aspergers and were one of the main supporters of the prospects service in London.

I'm familair with one person who used to work for them who had an AS diagnosis. He found them a positive organisation to work for compared to his previous job experiance. He's now in a public sector job which has averted being knocked off in the recent cuts.

So yeah he did quite well out of them.