Discover more from Engineers’ Gate

Reframes on Tech Interviews, Life in New York City, & Running

Don't let your skills decline like Credit Suisse assets

Keep adding to your talent stack & connecting with people

Jennifer Widerberg

Mar 22, 2023

Reframe

We’re entering a strange time in banking. It’s been said history rhymes.

Articles linking the “emergency rescue” of Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse by UBS to rescue of US investment bank Bear Stearns by JPMorgan in 2008 are popping up daily.

What’s the same and what’s different?

Same:

Government Brokered Deal

Investors sue

Concern of global contagion

Different:

UBS & Credit Suisse Boards not involved in sale discussion

Bear Stearns: Bad bets on Mortgage Backed Securities & weak risk management

Credit Suisse: Yearly regulatory fines, loose financial controls as disclosed in 2022 annual report, loss of trust by the broader market reflected in stock share price

Coordinated global response

Pure speculation from those I spoke with is that they didn’t want US banks to drive up the price or get a look at the books. Who knows?

I’ll share a little behind the scenes shop talk with you about Credit Suisse.

They’ve had known regulatory issues and declining assets for years now.

Check out these numbers:

The Credit Suisse teams run lean with 20K+ less people than UBS. Their organizational structure was clogged at the top with managing directors reporting into managing directors. They were told each year they needed to cut another billion dollars. Yet no real consequences ever came as long as direction was on track.

People stayed for the generous compensation.

The company paid overmarket salaries to retain talent. Sound like a familiar Big Tech strategy?

The culture at UBS tended to be more buttoned up and less flashy. UBS’s pay structure was not as generous in the past tending to be under market with 10% bonuses. I know from recruiting people from there in the past when salary verification was still a thing. It seems archaic now that there was a time when we had to get a W2 and recent paystub to get a job offer approved. Raises tended to be 10% for highly coveted banks like Goldman Sachs and up to 30% for banks that struggled to attract tech talent due to their heavy use of vendor packages like BNP Paribas.

How will these worlds with two different styles, organization, and compensation ideas integrate?

Workers are being told to operate BAU. I’m not sure how that’s even possible. Can you imagine that?

In this game of musical chairs, not everyone will have a seat at the end. I’ve got more product and program managers looking for work than jobs right now. I see daily the benefits of remaining hands on with your craft to start your own business when desired or needed. Keep learning, keep adding to your talent stack, and connect with more people. You never know who will help most when you need it or who you can help. Don’t keep blinders on.

As for Silicon Valley Bank, each political side has their theory as to why it happened. One side says go woke, go broke. The other side says regulation roll backs without pointing to specifics. Each misses the mark in a way. The hard truth is that it’s likely someone was just bad at their job. And it’s hard to fire people. Lots of paperwork and documentation. Much easier for the person to get a new job or the company to downsize along with a group of people.

Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.

If you’re feeling at all uneasy about banking at all, check this out from James Altucher.

NYC

Still buzzing from my slice of zen in Tokyo & Kyoto. The surface barely scratched with everything to see, do and eat. I found myself wanting more. Missing the clean streets, silent and swift movement of the crowds on the street, manicured gardens with carefully grown pine trees, and the pinnacle sushi experience. What ramen and yakitori restaurants had I been overlooking? What Japanese inspired cultural gems in New York City had I not uncovered yet? I wanted it all and I wanted it now.

Then the Japan Society popped up in a search. I clicked on the link and found they just put out a new exhibit last week. As if it was meant for me to find. Their mission is to “tell the story of Japan while strengthening connections within New York City. Inspired by the Japanese concept of kizuna (絆)–forging deep connections to bind people together.”

A new exhibit by artist Kyohei Inukai just opened that showcased two distinct styles. In one room, traditional Japanese style sumi-e feeling like a peaceful rock garden and in another pop art with abstract screen prints. Many of the works in the collection had never been shown before. It felt like an exclusive treat. There’s something refreshing about simply reading the background of the artist and then seeing all the work arranged with no explanation.

You create your own frame for it.

What do you see?

How did it make you feel?

I especially liked the series of rock paintings at the end. In traditional sumi-e, the black paint is set against an all white background. No wasted brushstrokes, no planning. When you get up close to the pictures, you can see the slight glitter of the rocks, bringing them to life.

Series of pop art images shown in different colors & rock garden painted in traditional Japanese sumi-e — Kyohei Inukai's exhibit at the Japan Society

Looking forward to more events at the Japan Society in the future. They offer trip planning to Japan, language courses, talks, and family programs.

Running

With the Tokyo marathon in the rear view, it’s time to focus on the Boston marathon.

This would be similar to how you feel at work after you nailed a big release for your own side project knowing you’ve got another big release at your corporate job the following month.

Your body and mind know exactly what to do. All the keystrokes, all the workarounds, all the steps to take.

Success energizes you.

You just want to maintain your mental fitness and physical stamina to get the job done well.

Finishing strong.

I’ve run a few marathons back to back in successive months before. Each time running better timing wise in the 2nd marathon.

Preparing mentally for the trend to continue.

We stayed in Japan for 10 days after the race, taking time off from running to enjoy the stay. We did a lot of walking and some hiking instead.

Training centers around maintaining fitness. Instead of running long for 20+ miles, it’ll cap at 18 miles.

Less is more.

While training for Tokyo, I opted to keep longer runs on a flat track to mimic the course.

However, Boston’s course is flat or downhill until Mile 20, notoriously called Heartbreak Hill.

It’s ranked one of the hardest world marathon majors for this hill that pops up when many runners hit a wall and can’t keep going or end up walking.

Adding in hill runs during the week and incorporating the full Ted Corbitt loop for long runs in Central Park specifically for this.

For now, I’m taking it easy with two shorter runs per week and one long run on the weekend.

Thanks for reading along.

Let’s keep moving,

Jen