1. It's natural for me to express myself at times using some simple analogies because this is what I'm surrounded with everyday. if you don't understand, that's okay. Doesn't mean others don't. If i recall correctly, the only other time things got technical was in another thread. Then, the chap I was talking to was a physicist who has relevant exposure to math so he understood. I never claimed to be in investments (mostly filled by MBAs btw) I wonder where you got that impression from.

2. Thus far in this forum I mainly participate in 2 areas: A. civil service pay/progression matters, and B. joining the finance industry.

For A. I contribute based on my experience in service. Pretty often, I observe forummers who have unrealistic expectations when they join service, or they are too concerned about pay and rapid progression. I share my views to bring them back to earth.

For B. I share on this because I've already taken a couple of steps in this direction after much consideration and I've gotten quite a bit of information from the people around me, pp in the industry, and my observations in the course of internship. The most frequent advice I give is for people exploring education as a stepping stone into the industry to consider MBAs instead of local U degrees. I share this from personal experience; the availability of jobs for overseas MBA holders is much more compared to non-MBAs. I also suggest pp think twice before exploring quant finance because of the level of tehnical difficulty. I don't think those who don't like math should take such courses. Partly also availability of jobs. There are those who think they want to work a few years in other jobs first before going in. I advise them not to waste time because age matters and competition is stiff.

okay thanks.

What a joke. You call this gibberish below "simple analogies"?

What is the topic about? Civil service Director pay. How on earth this garbage above has to do with a Director's pay in Civil service?

And seriously, what's this nonsense about being surrounded with technical talk everyday? You mean your colleagues all talk like that? This is just a feeble attempt to impress others who have no experience in the finance/investment sector.

Earlier on we had quite a robust debate between some experienced finance professionals on the nature of the private equity industry, lots of insights and not once did either of the participants spout this esoteric nonsense you keep doing. IIRC QXP is also from investment banking, I never see him write in a deliberately confusing manner you are doing.

i think you first need to read the postings carefully to understand the evolution of this discussion before spouting all these. I wasn't the one who started talking about copulas. By analogies i meant simple things like default risk and risk free rate. Yes we talk about this at work everyday. And if you can't differentiate between the nature of work of private equity professionals (mainly valuation of equity investments with no need for much math) then you ought to keep quiet. I wasn't even talking to you in the first place. And i got into this to defend the worth and benefits of being directors in the service.

Please bring all this finance stuff somewhere else guys and not derail the topic.

Get straight to the point people, so after all this arguing, I just want to know is it worth it moving from the private sector to the civil service, in particular IE Singapore and SPRING, assuming I do get at least a 10% pay increment jumping from private to civil service. This is also assuming I want a career change and to make contacts that might turn out useful when I return to the private sector.

Peace,
AT
Don't get pissed with me, someone just tell me what to do!

what do spring singapore do??

need to frequent go overseas?

Bean,

IE Singapore helps local companies venture out of Singapore, growing Singapore's external economy.
SPRING helps local SMEs grow and build competencies/capabilities in Singapore.
The thing is that Singapore is indeed a vibrant economy in this region, yet she's very much dependent on foreign MNCs. I believe you can't be a great nation with a truly economy to be proud of if the foundation of that prosperity doesn't come from home grown entrepreneurs and companies.
You'll notice that in these foreign MNCs, it is almost always a foreigner sitting at the top, no matter the performance.

Cheers,
ASHT

I left a Stat Board many years ago for the finance industry and have been very successful. Unfortunately, I have interviewed and even hired civil servants like you who go out there with your civil service mindset, technocrat approach to problems and generally unforgiving nature. Let me tell you that it doesn't work. Except for a very small minority of quants with PhDs in physics, math and finance, being out in the finance industry is largely about EQ , while years in the civil service works to destroy that. To succeed outside, you have to think out of the box, be controversial, tell stories, be funny. Basically, forget all the training to serve your Minister well and not screw anything up. Forget about MX scales, increments and all that garbage as everything is about the next bonus. To succeed, you need an unstructured life, where you give up your friends, work 18 hours a day, fly all over the world meeting people and promoting things that you created. Its about you now, not the minister. Lastly, I find that people who leave the service before 30 are generally OK. 30-35 have trouble adapting, but many still have the energy. Over 35, they tend to be fixed in their mindset and usually don't work out.

1. I'm not your stereotypical civil servant. That is perhaps one reason why I'm leaving even though I'm doing okay in service.

2. The other forumers here have requested to keep to topic. Let's respect that and close this.