Notes from a Small Cubicle
Last week I started to do an internship at a city investment management firm, in the US equities team: now I’ve been doing it for a week, now seems like a good idea to jot down some thoughts. I don’t really want to get into investment philosophy – the team I work with seems to spend most of its time looking at charts and then trying to find a catalyst for change in the company, which causes its share price to go up. It seems to work reasonably well, although I’d be interested to find out the rate of return (after tax and fees) of this fund compared to, say, a bank account or gilts.
What I do want to talk about is how I’ve worked, and what I’ve picked up from others. One things I’ve noticed is that everyone – even me – has two or more 15” monitors, which are suspended so that when sat at the desks you don’t need to bend your neck at all. This must ergonomically be the best way to work at a computer – there’s also an exercise ball which people sit on, which I’m yet to try but I imagine this too is very good for your posture. Most senior people have four (not, I imagine because of their seniority, but simply they’ve been around long enough to acquire more. The sales people have eight, as is normal in that job. I read somewhere that more screen real estate increases your productivity, and given my experience this week I would say that is true, but clearly there is a diminishing rate of return. I would definitely consider such a setup were I to have a home office, I expect you can buy this size screen very cheaply on Ebay. While I’m on this subject, I would definitely consider getting a good keyboard – I’ve been using a Bloomberg keyboard and it’s rubbish!
