i'm leaving goldman after 12 years next week after our yearly compensation discussion. i started right after the crash (and one of their best years), i loved the culture out the gate. i am in the tech, often called strats, apparatus that straddles trading and technology. it's been a great place to be as the perceived "value add" against the exodus of voice traders.
but the culture has changed. we can't land the best and the brightest anymore. our tech stack is antiquated and arguably the company's biggest risk. we work long hours, and it somehow was able to get worse during this pandemic. the new mgmt has made comp allocations to the trading side of the business an after thought; a cost cut. little to no innovation or investment is flowing to this side. and they want us back in our seats, back on the trading floor, two feet from our overworked and diseased co-workers as soon as it's politically viable.
above all i (and many of my colleagues) have been promised for several of these years that compensation and work/life would improve. That "the firm's performance was soft" or "the division didn't get the allocation expected" or "this year was a challenging environment" but always "next year is looking much better." they've traded on their name. it used to mean something to be hired and work for goldman sachs. that means so much less now. they've made a point to say that compensation will be good this year, but, whatever it is, it won't be enough. it's not the money; at least, not all of it. i feel i've been fooled for many of my 12 years into thinking things will change. we've now been through a pandemic. we've watched out friends and families get sick or die, and the lockdowns and time at home have finally changed our perspectives on what really matters.
so, next week, i am going to take whatever it is they give me, and kindly submit my resignation. i'll be taking time to be with my friends and family, some of whom are terminally ill, and to plot my next move. i look forward to enjoying my work, respecting my managers and colleagues again, but it will be when i am ready. maybe a month from now, maybe a year.
If I've learned anything in my brief 10 year career so far it's that we shouldn't wait for things to change, almost especially if it's explicitly promised that they will change. It's not worth the risk of disappointment. If you want your work life to be better, you have to MAKE it better. Not wait for someone else to.
but the culture has changed. we can't land the best and the brightest anymore. our tech stack is antiquated and arguably the company's biggest risk. we work long hours, and it somehow was able to get worse during this pandemic. the new mgmt has made comp allocations to the trading side of the business an after thought; a cost cut. little to no innovation or investment is flowing to this side. and they want us back in our seats, back on the trading floor, two feet from our overworked and diseased co-workers as soon as it's politically viable.
above all i (and many of my colleagues) have been promised for several of these years that compensation and work/life would improve. That "the firm's performance was soft" or "the division didn't get the allocation expected" or "this year was a challenging environment" but always "next year is looking much better." they've traded on their name. it used to mean something to be hired and work for goldman sachs. that means so much less now. they've made a point to say that compensation will be good this year, but, whatever it is, it won't be enough. it's not the money; at least, not all of it. i feel i've been fooled for many of my 12 years into thinking things will change. we've now been through a pandemic. we've watched out friends and families get sick or die, and the lockdowns and time at home have finally changed our perspectives on what really matters.
so, next week, i am going to take whatever it is they give me, and kindly submit my resignation. i'll be taking time to be with my friends and family, some of whom are terminally ill, and to plot my next move. i look forward to enjoying my work, respecting my managers and colleagues again, but it will be when i am ready. maybe a month from now, maybe a year.