Favorite Parts of Being a Managing Director, Quantitative Strategies at O Asset Management
Trevor, a Managing Director of Quantitative Strategies, thrives on the "bleeding edge" of a rapidly evolving field, enjoying the constant influx of "new ideas and approaches." The creative problem-solving, described as "extremely artistic," and the exhilarating breakthroughs after numerous failed experiments ("one of 'em works") are what truly drive Trevor's passion for the work.
Problem-Solving, Creativity, Resilience, Teamwork, Innovation
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Trevor Richardson
Managing Director, Quantitative Strategies
O Asset Management
Arizona State University
M.S. Computer Science at Arizona State University
Engineering - Industrial
Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing), Technology
Data and Analytics
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School
Video Highlights
1. Working on the cutting edge of a fast-paced field with high impact.
2. The creative problem-solving aspect of the job, requiring persistence and collaboration to overcome challenges.
3. The feeling of contributing something unique and impactful to the industry through creative breakthroughs
Transcript
What do you enjoy most about being in your career role?
I would say there are two types of things in my career that really inspire me. One is that I love working on the bleeding edge.
This field is moving so fast, there's so much in the way of new ideas and new approaches. It's never boring; you're working in an extremely fast-paced environment with a lot of potential impact. That's one area I really, really love about this area of work.
The second one is that it's very creative. People don't realize it, but I feel it's extremely artistic when you can look at a problem that's never been solved before. You have to have a high tolerance for pain because when you're in the sciences, you run probably a hundred experiments and one of them works.
If you get discouraged by each of those 99 and you stop, you're not going to make it in this field. But if you enjoy tackling really hard problems and you can stick to it, those moments of creativity where nothing worked and all of a sudden things are working are really fun and exciting.
That kind of left-tail event, where you go from having no idea if you're going to break through to wow, we've broken through and here's the new benchmark for everything else to be judged by, those moments are really fun and exciting. You feel like you've got to contribute something because it was you and others who made some kind of indelible mark.
You really should not work alone in this field. It's you and others who have made some kind of indelible mark on whatever business you are working in. In finance, we have a very closed-source world, but often people experience that in an open-source manner in my field because it's a very, very open-source field.