Starting an Experiment

The Greenfield Labs News “It takes generosity to discover the whole through others. If you realize you are only a violin, you can open yourself up to the world by playing your role in the concert.” —Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997); marine biologist, diver, explorer

The Value Proposition I am currently conducting an experiment in Professional Networking and email-marketing and you are now a part of it (yes, you, <<>>). In return for your participation, I will share all my results with you. Full Participation, is of course, optional, but please know that I will try to make it as valuable to you as possible. Of course, you may choose to opt out at any time with no hard feelings on my end. “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. ”—F. Scott Fitzgerald(1896-1940); author The Experiment <<>>, I am sending this newsletter out to selected contacts from LinkedIn to see if networking truly works as well as everybody claims. My hypothesis: Networking does work but only in very limited contexts, and without offering something of value in return, it fails. The Methodology I am currently seeking employment, either full-time or contract. After several months of highly successful contracting, I am at the end of my contract (and extensions), and need more work starting early in October. Conventional Wisdom says that "networking is the best way to find a new job." I'll reach out to my network and see what kind of responses I get. I'll track all responses in these categories: unsubscribes, undeliverables, opened, click-rate, leads generated, leads outcomes. Typically, a marketing campaign is deemed successful if leads are created at around 4-5% of total. That will be my benchmark for success: 4% and higher = success; under 4% = failure. Isn't this exciting? There is so an "I" in team, and it's me!—inspired by Chris Avery's Teamwork Is an Individual Skill: Getting Your Work Done When Sharing Responsibility How You Can Help (What I'm Asking You to Do) Check out my resume and skill sets. I'm seeking hands-on Project Manager, Scrum Master, and Agile Coaching roles in small-group settings (small company or small department within bigger company). I have a lot of technical skills (database, scripting, operations) to offer as well. If you know of a position or know of somebody seeking to fill a position, pass my resume along and notify me that you've done so. I'll take it from there. “For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. ” —Alfred D. Souza (-2004); writer, philosopher Thanks for reading this far. I am most appreciative to have you as a connection in my network! Please feel free to contact me (dbgreenfield@gmail.com) with questions, concerns, and advice. David Greenfield “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”—G.K. Chesterton(1874-1936); writer Share this email: Contact Me: David Greenfield 1200 Wesley Ave Evanston, Illinois 60202 Add us to your address book view email in browser | unsubscribe | update your profile | forward to a friend

You're receiving this email because you and I are connected on LinkedIn. Copyright (C) 2010 David Greenfield All rights reserved.

Risk Systems Analyst

I'm with BCI, and I was curious if you or someone from your professional network might be interested in this opportunity:



Job Order:

DM0643-001-511



Title:

Risk Systems Analyst



Location:

Midwest



Summary:

The Risk Systems Analyst will be responsible for setting up new
parameters and functions in the Energy Trading & Risk Management
software/solution, including all user configuration choices through
reliability/integrity design, running risk reports, and implementing
new statistical methodologies.



Responsibilities:

Manage the day-to-day transaction activity within the Energy Trading & Risk Management software/solution.

Contact person for coordinating resolution of software performance issues between software vendor & user group

Prepare daily risk reporting/communication to interested parties, and ensure accuracy of reports

Control weaknesses identification/remediation recommendation

Facilitate the use of transaction and market data throughout the front & back offices



Qualification/Experience:

Bachelor’s degree in math based curriculum (i.e. Operations Research,
Statistics, IE, Econometrics, Computer Sciences, etc.) or equivalent
experience. Master’s degree preferred, not required.

Proficiency in writing algorithmic code including direct experience with large database manipulation

Experience with derivatives/complex software systems/mark to market accounting

Highly skilled with Excel

CPA or accounting experience

Significant progress toward CFA

5+ years of energy risk management experience preferred



Compensation:

Commensurate with experience



If you are interested in this opening, please email us a copy of your resume as an MS Word attachment.



Thank you,



Brandon Trujillo

BCI - Financial Services Recruiting

(312) 460-8222 x112

brandon@brokerageconsultants.com

www.bcius.com

The larger lesson: inevitable corruption of power; minimize power = minimize corruption

from: http://www.slate.com/id/2206433/

In an op-ed piece, the NYT's Timothy Egan
says that the complaint against Blagojevich "showed a man trolling the
depths of darkness," where nothing was sacred and anything could be
used for political and personal gain. "It would be somewhat comforting
if there were a larger lesson here, or a map out of the banality of
evil," writes Egan. "But there is no trend or modern twist, no evidence
of a greater criminal web, no overarching moral. Like a kid who beats
up old ladies just because he knows no other way, the allegations
against Blagojevich amount to what Fitzgerald called a crime spree, of
the political variety."

Wow! US Income Distribution 1967-2003

Stunning.

Senior C++ Developer

Job Order:
DM0556-001-811

Title:
Senior C++ Developer

Location:
Chicago, IL

Responsibilities:
Our client is a proprietary trading firm in the Chicago area whose focus is on the application of advanced quantitative methods in financial markets. They are in search of a Senior C++ Developer to assist in their high frequency trading operations. The candidate’s primary role will be to aid in our client research efforts. They use Microsoft Windows, Visual C++, MFC and STL.

Experience:
Strong background in object oriented programming
Programming using Visual C++ and MFC required
Experience using Python a plus
Minimum 5 + years industry experience required
BS or MS in Computer Science is required
Experience with SQL and C# is a strong plus


If you are interested in this opening, please email us a copy of your resume as an MS Word attachment.

Thank you,

Brooke Akins
BCI - Financial Services Recruiting
(312) 460-8222 x102
Brooke@brokerageconsultants.com

why government is NOT the answer to the current crisis. Quite the opposite.

from washingtonpost.com:

Absent from such conclusions is the central role the government played
in creating the crisis. Yes, many Wall Street leaders were
irresponsible, and they should pay. But they were playing the distorted
hand dealt them by government policies. Our leaders irrationally
promoted home-buying, discouraged savings, and recklessly encouraged
borrowing and lending, which together undermined our markets.

C++ Dev in NY

Job Order:

DM0626-001-1211



Title:

C++/Linux Developer



Location:

New York, NY



Summary:

Quantitative hedge fund manager seeks experienced computer programmers
with strong math and programming skills to work on trading
infrastructure.



Responsibilities:

Expand/maintain trading capabilities on various markets around the world

Coding connections to new markets

Optimize the performance of systems

Maintain/expand databases financial information

Perform basic systems administration to keep trading network running

Build risk management/performance tracking tools



Experience:

3+ years related experience

Degree from a top college or university

Excellent programming skills

Strong background in math, data structures, and algorithms

Strong C++ skills

Java knowledge a plus

Basic Linux system administration skills required

Solaris a plus

Knowledge of Perl, shell-scripts, DNS, NFS a plus

Financial experience is not required



Compensation:

Commensurate with experience



If you are interested in this opening, please email us a copy of your resume as an MS Word attachment.



Thank you,



Brandon Trujillo

BCI - Financial Services Recruiting

(312) 460-8222 x112

brandon@brokerageconsultants.com

www.bcius.com