State Street

I was an extern at State Street Bank during January (MIT IAP) 2011. I worked in the newly created Office of the Chief Scientist in the IT division. I organized an innovation forum.

Getting an externship is a weird process. You apply to 3 positions solely based on a paragraph description in their database. You are then granted an offer at one of the firms - no interview, nothing. This position at State Street was listed for grad students only, but I think I was the only person that applied so they took me. It was unpaid, unfortunately.

The month-long "externship" helped me realize what I do not want to do with my life. I think that I have found that entry level Course 15 Management positions are boring. You basically do the grunt work for the higher ups. Management consulting is the perfect example [1]. Once you are "the boss" and you have some responsibility it gets a lot more interesting. I am straddled between both management and computers. I like doing coding, but I am not very good, at least not until I take more Course 6 EECS classes. I also want to project manage more, but no one hires then for interns. I think course 6 entry-level positions, especially at engineering led places like Google, are much better in terms of doing interesting work. My next goal is to find an engineering position, particularly at a smaller start-up or engineering-led organization for the summer. I actually turned down one of those positions in Palo Alto this January. I regret doing that now (in part I wanted to be on campus, and it felt like a big hassle to move out there for a month; but I found that the campus is fairly dead during IAP). Before I came to MIT, I decided to try a bunch of different jobs, companies, and industries during my time here.

In addition I did not enjoy the position itself. The original paragraph description listed greater responsibility. I handled the organization work for the forum - emailing people, ordering the AV, etc. Basically secretarial work. I generally completed my tasks for the day with lots of time left over. I asked for more things to work on, but I finished those tasks quickly as well. While it let me get more of my stuff done, it was not the environment which I was looking for this IAP.

I am starting to realize how lucky I was to find the Touch&Travel team at Deutsche Bahn. Sure it was not really an engineering-led project, but it was pushing the envelope. Perhaps, State Street doesn't need to innovate to continue making money. I never really got a concrete sense of what they did - some sort of processing for hedge funds. Because I lacked this understanding, it did not let me come up with suggestions on my own like I did last summer. I realized also last summer that I was very lucky to come up with some good ideas and I was very fortunate my boss let me work on it and that they found some of my work helpful and used it.

I think I have spoiled myself with the speed and energy of MIT. Life moves fast here. During the semester you have to count every minute of every day - going to 8+ events in one day while also squeezing in homework is fairly normal. I think I am addicted to the feeling of being busy. Or perhaps it is the memory, that, try as you might, you can never recreate. I discussed all this with my boss on my last day. He told me not to race so fast if you don't know where you are going. Good advice. I could never do a union/government style job where you spend all your energy figuring out how to do the least work while extracting the most money for yourself. I could not stand to work at a place that has union-style work rules that strictly limit cross functional work. I want what I do to have meaning and be fulfilling. I want to see what I make out there in the world. I want to make a real impact (not necessarily in a social-good way, but something that aids in the social welfare of society) Perhaps I am simply too driven for my own good. I want to get something meaningful done every minute. I am constantly asking myself is there something that would be a better use of my time.

--ThePlaz 21:43, 30 January 2011 (EST)