What is it like to work on Wall Street?

When the words "Wall Street" are mentioned the some of the things that comes to a lot of people's minds is the stock market, stocks, bonds, hedge funds and trading. Wall Street has been around 1792 according to encyclopedia.com. Essentially for over 227 years Wall Street has been around helping established businesses and banks maximize their financial gain as well as sole investors. At least that was the original goal for Wall Street when it was founded. Monday through Friday Wall Street opens at 9AM and closes at 4:30PM. James Platt who is a former web developer for the Associated Press News recently opened up about what it was like to work on Wall Street.

Platt began his journey working on Wall Street in 2003. When Platt was asked how the move to New York came about here is what he had to say "I moved out to New York in August 2003 the day after the blackout I got a job after a month living there at the Associated Press. I worked there I want to say about six months as a temp accountant," Platt said. He then went on to work for a brokerage company called the GFI group.

Platt described the back room work environment at GFI as being "tame and quiet," Platt said. However, when Platt was brought to the trading floor for the first time his he description changed. The trading floor is mixed with a ton of emotions good and bad given the stock market is constantly changing by the second. Here is how Platt described the trading floor work environment "When you get off the elevator there's this rush of energy, loud noises, and yelling testosterone everywhere," Platt said. Platt worked the second half of his Wall Street career on the trading floor. He compared the experience to being at a fraternity house.

As we all do once a certain chapter in our lives comes to a close we reflect. Platt was asked what enjoyed both the most and least about his overall work experience on Wall Street. In Platt's own words "I enjoyed not having to work a lot of overtime and the money what I didn't like sitting behind a computer all day," Platt said. Working anywhere has it pros and cons overall one has to evaluate both and make the best decision for themselves.

In conclusion, Platt worked on Wall Street for seven years where he came into contact with a lot of intelligent individuals from all different parts of the world. He worked as temp account, web developer and even had brief stint working for a few brokerage companies. His advice to someone who wants to pursue a career working on Wall Street is "make sure this is something you really want to do and that your morals can handle it," Platt said. Platt's reasoning for that statement is "I know a lot of people who turned into lifers. I know a lot of guys who were trying to find cures to diseases, become doctors, and engineers but the settled once they realized how hard it was," Platt said. Once this goes back choices. The people in which Platt referenced chose to make money in a comfortable setting opposed to a challenging one. There is nothing wrong with that but one has to ask themself are they really happy?