The alarm goes off at 7am for me. I snooze a little and get out of bed. K wakes up at 730am and literally takes 10min flat to be ready and out of the house. Together we leave the house at 7.40am and take the 7.46am train every morning. It is always a race to get seats in the train if I be honest. Depending on luck, one of us might get a seat or on good days we both would get seats haha
We arrive at the train station about 35min later and walk to office, it is a good 20min walk for me. I usually arrive about 8.40am and about half of my colleagues are in by then. We greet one another good morning and sometimes ask each other how was the evening before, whether we did anything nice. I log in and start checking my mailbox, and decide what are the important things to be done that day. I go to the canteen on the first floor to get some breakfast. Most of the time it is peanut butter toast, sometimes I add a hash brown and some baked beans. Or it could be toast with a fried egg or boiled egg if I feel I should be healthy. Then I go to the coffee machine and get a decaf latte, or make myself a cup of earl grey tea with milk. Gosh it does sound like quite a sumptuous breakfast doesn't it? I guess they say we should start our day right!
Currently we are gearing up towards another quarter end, and we are monitoring how the numbers for each business are faring so far. I have also been looking out for published research papers, where analysts are predicting the upcoming Q3 results for all the big investment banks. It is my job to update my manager and my CFO on how our numbers are looking, and any hot topics to highlight. Naturally we are all on the private side so we aren't allowed to trade the bank's shares during this blackout period. I also have to come up with a very organised schedule for the next one month, where there are deliverables, all related to our earnings announcement at the end of next month. I used to think I am a very organised person but two years into this job I think my organisation skills have reached another level. My manager has very high expectations of everyone in her team, me included. But she is a fair and unbiased manager so I guess that is fine. She is also very open to feedback in both ways. She doesn't hesitate to give feedback about my performance, and actively seeks one from me, to see how she can improve as a manager. This is something which I don't get with past managers that I've had. Once quarter end comes along, we will work very closely with Group Reporting and Investor Relations on the messaging/ story for the quarter. We all work towards the day where we announce our earnings publicly. It's all one crazy, intense month as you can imagine.
Lunch is usually a simple affair. Most people have lunches at their desks. I do that too, but try to limit that by arranging lunch appointments ever so often. They definitely aren't as frequent as lunch appointments back home. And no, nobody takes a 1.5h lunch here, unlike in Singapore. Funny as it sounds, because most lunches are at my desk, I've turned to reading the news so much ever since I came to London, while eating my food. Much more than when I was back in Singapore. As the weather is turning cooler these days, I often prefer hot food such as a hearty soup, or a hot wrap or toastie. Sushi could do sometimes, but I need a steaming hot miso soup to go along. There are quite a few Asian choices in the vicinity so it ain't that bad.
Thankfully work on lull months does not require me to work long hours. I try to leave to catch the 6.50pm train, or sometimes the 7.10pm one. On very good days I can take the 6.25pm train and get home just after 7pm to start cooking dinner. People generally leave earlier on Fridays so I can leave as early as 5.30pm and start my weekend.
We arrive at the train station about 35min later and walk to office, it is a good 20min walk for me. I usually arrive about 8.40am and about half of my colleagues are in by then. We greet one another good morning and sometimes ask each other how was the evening before, whether we did anything nice. I log in and start checking my mailbox, and decide what are the important things to be done that day. I go to the canteen on the first floor to get some breakfast. Most of the time it is peanut butter toast, sometimes I add a hash brown and some baked beans. Or it could be toast with a fried egg or boiled egg if I feel I should be healthy. Then I go to the coffee machine and get a decaf latte, or make myself a cup of earl grey tea with milk. Gosh it does sound like quite a sumptuous breakfast doesn't it? I guess they say we should start our day right!
Currently we are gearing up towards another quarter end, and we are monitoring how the numbers for each business are faring so far. I have also been looking out for published research papers, where analysts are predicting the upcoming Q3 results for all the big investment banks. It is my job to update my manager and my CFO on how our numbers are looking, and any hot topics to highlight. Naturally we are all on the private side so we aren't allowed to trade the bank's shares during this blackout period. I also have to come up with a very organised schedule for the next one month, where there are deliverables, all related to our earnings announcement at the end of next month. I used to think I am a very organised person but two years into this job I think my organisation skills have reached another level. My manager has very high expectations of everyone in her team, me included. But she is a fair and unbiased manager so I guess that is fine. She is also very open to feedback in both ways. She doesn't hesitate to give feedback about my performance, and actively seeks one from me, to see how she can improve as a manager. This is something which I don't get with past managers that I've had. Once quarter end comes along, we will work very closely with Group Reporting and Investor Relations on the messaging/ story for the quarter. We all work towards the day where we announce our earnings publicly. It's all one crazy, intense month as you can imagine.
Lunch is usually a simple affair. Most people have lunches at their desks. I do that too, but try to limit that by arranging lunch appointments ever so often. They definitely aren't as frequent as lunch appointments back home. And no, nobody takes a 1.5h lunch here, unlike in Singapore. Funny as it sounds, because most lunches are at my desk, I've turned to reading the news so much ever since I came to London, while eating my food. Much more than when I was back in Singapore. As the weather is turning cooler these days, I often prefer hot food such as a hearty soup, or a hot wrap or toastie. Sushi could do sometimes, but I need a steaming hot miso soup to go along. There are quite a few Asian choices in the vicinity so it ain't that bad.
Thankfully work on lull months does not require me to work long hours. I try to leave to catch the 6.50pm train, or sometimes the 7.10pm one. On very good days I can take the 6.25pm train and get home just after 7pm to start cooking dinner. People generally leave earlier on Fridays so I can leave as early as 5.30pm and start my weekend.
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