I was involved in a conversation with a fellow programmer who was complaining about how much investment bankers made, and that they didn't do any real work.
I pointed out to him, that as programmers, all we do is think and type. We have the "luxury" of sitting in a chair all day long and only moving our fingers.
There are teachers, police officers, and coal miners that think the exact same thing about us as well. So let's not start throwing rocks here at other people. We should just be happy that we're so well paid to be doing something we love. No need to start saying that investment bankers or traders aren't doing anything "useful". I'm sure their clients would disagree.
if you define 'usefulness' in terms of the manner in which you perform your work, you might have a point.
if you define 'usefulness' in terms of 'alleviating some form of human suffering' then i think your point vanishes: prop traders don't have clients. they make money for themselves alone.
Not true; arbitrageurs equalize prices across markets and add liquidity. Their profit is earned by guaranteeing you the lowest price on all the exchanges that the asset is traded.
I was involved in a conversation with a fellow programmer who was complaining about how much investment bankers made, and that they didn't do any real work.
I pointed out to him, that as programmers, all we do is think and type. We have the "luxury" of sitting in a chair all day long and only moving our fingers.
There are teachers, police officers, and coal miners that think the exact same thing about us as well. So let's not start throwing rocks here at other people. We should just be happy that we're so well paid to be doing something we love. No need to start saying that investment bankers or traders aren't doing anything "useful". I'm sure their clients would disagree.