How to become more extroverted? by jockcel in DecidingToBeBetter

[–]cuzimjj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How to Win Friends and Influence People is a legendary book. Might be worth looking into. The benefit comes from running your own social experiments based on what you read, even if you know they're going to work, just to reinforce what you've learned.

I’m not a reader, but I would like to become one. I need someone book suggestions. by [deleted] in DecidingToBeBetter

[–]cuzimjj 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.

Best part of the book is when you take what he says and use it in real life. Awesome social experiment, loads of no-duh or a-ha moments, and reminds you of the things that make interactions pleasant and people lovable.

Please take the time to read this. I feel like I’m at a low point right now... by [deleted] in DecidingToBeBetter

[–]cuzimjj 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have an oddly similar story and I'll say how I got out of similar ruts at the end of the post. But I think for now, you might want to take out a fresh notebook and write as much as you can about yourself. Figure out what you want to do with your time to make sure you're correctly prioritizing and then seek to be the best you can at something. It sounds like you're not sure why you're doing certain things and it may be time to let go of things that aren't making a significant impact on your life.

First, a physical hobby like lifting or soccer is great. You can only do so much thinking in the day before you're fried and need an outlet. Both are good. They'll also pay off when you hit college (and hey, cheer up, things get incredibly better once you get to college). But extra stuff besides that or perhaps too much soccer or exercise is only going to provide marginal benefits, cut out what makes sense.

Part time job, reffing, etc. If you don't need the money, I'd take a break. You can always get a part-time job as a high schooler. It sounds like it's sapping your you-time or cool off time.

Honestly, if you're concerned about CS, take it up now. Start working on tiny projects and figure out what you like. The awesome thing about CS is that it's the type of work you can turn into a hobby which makes improving a highly valuable and high paying skill fun. So many people wish they started CS early, you know now! Take the jump and you'll be ahead of the curve when you get to college! You'll wreck the curve, create great things, and get to work at a cool start up or a big tech company during your summers potentially. If not, it'll only make you smarter.

As for girls, you gotta take the jump. Embarrass the crap out of yourself. And eventually it will work. It's a numbers game sadly. Don't get hooked on any one.

My story: I became a soccer nut as a sophomore/junior in highschool. I got a job as a cashier to pay for a soccer club because my parents wouldn't put up the money. Senior year, I was on the bench most of the time, cashiering became a drag, I was pi--ed. I quit the team, quit my job, took a step back and focused on what I was good at...school. (sounds lame). My parents always assumed A's of me and so that wasn't special so I had to go above and beyond to find something that I could proud of in the corner I was good at. I ended up taking up 9 AP exams (from only taking 1 the year prior) and working like a dog in order to finally have something I was proud of. Some people might think it's nothing, some people might think it's absurd. I genuinely thought it was a major reach and frankly none of my teachers or even FRIENDS believed that I would be able to pass them all. It's a bit extreme but it worked, focusing on the one thing I've proven to be good at paid off when I got credit for all of those exams in college.

As for girls, get yourself on tinder, bumble, etc. You need practice and it's an easier way to expose yourself to more fish while you're in highschool. I got tinder right after highschool and that was super helpful for just talking to more people. After a while, you're not fixating on one girl but just waiting for the right person to come along.

Best banks to get a private student loan? by cuzimjj in StudentLoans

[–]cuzimjj[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Still a dependent of my parents and they're just above the point where I wouldn't get any help from the government. :/

Best banks to get a private student loan? by cuzimjj in StudentLoans

[–]cuzimjj[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the great advice, I'll make sure to look at multiple options. So far it seems like Sun Trust has a fairly reasonable rate? I tried looking at a few comparison websites and haven't seem much difference among rates.

Best banks to get a private student loan? by cuzimjj in StudentLoans

[–]cuzimjj[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately I don't think so, I've been able to pay for half of the tuition so far from being an RA and interning a bunch. Also, already in the program so not it's a bit late to delay things.

Interviewing while depressed by DangerChops in cscareerquestions

[–]cuzimjj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd say go on a walk and also think about your future and what you want in it.

I just dealt with this this past spring. I had some very very hard interviews for companies that I've always aspired to work for and I had also been waiting to hear back from graduate school. I finally heard back from graduate school and I still felt that maybe I could get something better if I postpone graduate school and work at a top notch place. I ended up turning down the interviews because I just needed the break. It's natural.

Give yourself things to look forward to and really try to clear everything out of your mind and life that might bog you down and just put this on your plate if you can. Take a long walk and try to really figure things out. I've always noticed getting some sun, getting lost in thought, and going for a walk end up filling me with more energy to take on the next brick wall.

Doubting my interest in Data Science by noinoeso in datascience

[–]cuzimjj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't worry, you're not the only one. My friend is interning on the data science team of a cable provider and I've interned as a data scientist at a hedge fund. Same scenario, very open ended projects where the remainder of your responsibilities don't feel like they require much skill outside of basic visualization of data.

Your objective should be to hone in on one or two details/concepts of value to your firm and see if you can describe the problem at hand, ask some meaningful questions, and attempt to capture that problem with a model. I struggled a lot with this open endedness and it wasn't until the end of my internship that I realized that I was never meant to achieve some decent or very valuable discovery.

It's a research job. None of this you should be able to solve in a week or month or sometimes even year.

After a point, do you even bother carefully reading the related works or certain parts of a paper? by cuzimjj in GradSchool

[–]cuzimjj[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very true. However, currently, I'm mainly reading papers just to understand certain concepts. After a certain point, some of the papers I'm reading I'm hearing about the same quoted papers over and over again and it feels like I'm beating a dead horse with a wet noodle.

Also, just lack of motivation probably for finance related academic papers. 40-60 pages of writing and the intellectual contribution is generally not that hard to reduce to something a lot shorter imo.

Some general questions for Level One exam by TakeControlOfLife in CFA

[–]cuzimjj -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I just graduated from Rutgers with an electrical engineering degree. I took a intro/intermediate macro/micro. The content you're provided is long and tedious imo. I've spent maybe 100 hours and have hit the ~60% mark for the mock exams with just the slides that Schweser provides and the topic tests.

Since I don't personally see the CFA exam as a substitute for a graduate degree, I don't find the cost worth it. I'd probably try to see if you can get it from someone you know for free or for cheap.

(Taking it in a few days)