Best job to have while learning to trade

[Big Bad Barney]

Hello there,

I am learning to trade and I still have a long ways to go. My current job entails serving hordes of retail customers (some nice, some not nice), and I can't say I enjoy it all that much. It's tiring...

So I have been contemplating. What job can I get that enables me to learn to pratice trade on the job? Is there such a job where one can be paid to sit at a desk and do your own thing? ...well, I suspect that's not realistic, but thought it might make for interesting discussion.

Do seasoned traders have a need for lackies? Perhaps the government will pay me under the guise of being unemployed? Art gallaries need someone to sit there all day right? Perhaps I could look after children while trading (haha jks)?..

Thanks heaps for any thoughts or ideas
John

[Bog]

You could find a job as a trader and learn to practice trade on the job.

[iambic_pentameter]

I'm lucky in that I've been self employed since 2003 and work from home, so I've had a lot of time to be active in the markets.

In 99% of cases, any trader who has gone full time probably did so after having been in employment - some have been unlucky/lucky enough to get redundancy but the commom theme is that they got profitable whilst having a job before making the leap.

The way forward might be to spend one of your days off trading and use any annual leave to have a week where you are trading 'full time' to see what it is like.

Best of luck with it

Iambic

[brimson25]

I took voluntary redundancy because I hated my job.

I was (briefly) profitable at poker, then definitely wasn't.

Trading has been a slog, and is gradually getting better.

It's a hard way to make an easy living alright.

[ANGELS15]

Hello there,

I am learning to trade and I still have a long ways to go. My current job entails serving hordes of retail customers (some nice, some not nice), and I can't say I enjoy it all that much. It's tiring...

So I have been contemplating. What job can I get that enables me to learn to pratice trade on the job? Is there such a job where one can be paid to sit at a desk and do your own thing? ...well, I suspect that's not realistic, but thought it might make for interesting discussion.

Do seasoned traders have a need for lackies? Perhaps the government will pay me under the guise of being unemployed? Art gallaries need someone to sit there all day right? Perhaps I could look after children while trading (haha jks)?..

John

There are other ways to 'trade' you can look at automation. My main activity is to do in-running trading where I'll back horses pre race which I believe will shorten or lengthen either during the day or during the race and then offset them later. It's fairly easy to set up automation to do this so that you can get on with your work etc and check the results later.

I use this as an example as it's something I've learned to do over many years. You may not be into racing. The point is do you have some skill regarding sports markets that you could use to devise an automated strategy? Or have a look at some of the online videos which may give you ideas etc.

[stueytrader]

Similar to some points above, I am lucky to have employment (mostly home based) that gives me flexibility to trade also.

It's hard to suddenly go 'full time' I'm sure - hard enough to trade part time and be profitable.

Perhaps you could look for some for of employment that can give you the home working flexibility though, if that's possible for you. It fits best for me, lot better than past when I was office bound!

[trader44]

"(It's hard to suddenly go 'full time' I'm sure) i would second that .. remember going full time means its your only source of income and you have to be able to deal with the pressures of it

[Derek27]

A part-time job is surely the best option, with hours that leave you free for the hours of your chosen sport. However isolated and quiet a job is, you will always have your trading interrupted at an inconvenient time.

[Emmson]

A back shift security guard would be ideal.

[eightbo]

Manual trading deserves your complete attention and will create stress spillover so I'd advise not mixing it with work.

Consider hours worked rather than job type:
I worked 4 days on, 4 days off, 12-hour shifts (often nights) for a bit which meant I was averaging a good amount of hours per week whilst having several full days trading available in the week, and not missing any particular weekday which may be important to you depending on the markets you trade. I squeezed in bonus afternoon sessions when I was working nights.

[Kafkaesque]

I can't say I enjoy it all that much. It's tiring...

All your own "suggestions" for debate are hints, and do correct me if I'm wrong, that you're aching to get away from your current situation more so than knowing that you really want to trade for a living. Certain "hard to get your foot in the door" does have unpaid internships and what have you, but I'd say trading is too niche for that to be an option. There's no viable way to learn while doing something else to pay the bills, best as I can tell.

You're approaching the issue the wrong way around, would be my advice. It's hard, in fact near impossible imo, to go from an 8-9 hour day of not enjoying life all that much and feeling it's tiring, to setting down in front of screen and flicking a switch to become someone with the positive outlook needed to spot trading opportunities and to perform at your peak.

Don't mean to come across too much like Tony Robbins, but unless your attitude changes towards your current job to something along the lines of leaving for work thinking that you're going to have an awesome day and you're going to be brilliant at it, then what's the flipping point? And more than that, you've got next to no chance at being awesome and brilliant when you get home to trade. Worse still, should I be wrong, and you do have a chance and do make it, what if trading as a job and chore is not something you enjoy all that much and is tiring? You'll have been unhappy for years, for the sake of striving for some unknown quantity that is trading.

[Big Bad Barney]

All your own "suggestions" for debate are hints, and do correct me if I'm wrong, that you're aching to get away from your current situation more so than knowing that you really want to trade for a living. Certain "hard to get your foot in the door" does have unpaid internships and what have you, but I'd say trading is too niche for that to be an option. There's no viable way to learn while doing something else to pay the bills, best as I can tell.

You're approaching the issue the wrong way around, would be my advice. It's hard, in fact near impossible imo, to go from an 8-9 hour day of not enjoying life all that much and feeling it's tiring, to setting down in front of screen and flicking a switch to become someone with the positive outlook needed to spot trading opportunities and to perform at your peak.

I appreciate the note on this, for me I dont think that's the case tho. I've been doing what I've been doing for 10 years and im typicaly the reliable guy at work because I have enjoyed it in the past....im an introvert doing an extroverts work though...and I've come to the conclusion its not for me long term...the job is burning me slowly out...

I know i can't flip a switch, just quit, and go and trade for a living. There are certain realities involved As an aside, I also have dependents to support....

I'm more of an automation sort of guy, and i do that in my spare time, but, I guess I want more spare time to spend on it If I can cut a 4 year trip to profitability down to 2.....that'd just be nice

I am currently contemplating contacting small business owners that might have the flexibility to work something out...
As suggested earlier, security, they do nothing 99% of all day...although, id hate to be focusing on my stuff while the bank gets robbed
Slow small retail stores might be an avenue...
Graveyard shifts somewhere is probably where I should be looking...

[napshnap]

I think it's cool and useful to have professional programmer's background: you learn some trading / betting patterns and automate it. It doesn't require to quit your main job or lose your skills. Maybe it's even better than being just a professional trader / gambler without programmer's skills.

[alexmr2]

Anything which allows you to have as many afternoons at home as possible because it's the practice that counts.

There are jobs with shifts that could fit around trading however you would need to be realistic with sleep if it was night shifts. I have a friend who only works weekends and 2 hours each weekday morning. He doesn't trade but that would be ideal.

I have had jobs where I had free time on the internet, however I would certainly not be trading with real money at work because something or someone could come up and distract you. Since I lost my last job around a year ago I have been making almost enough to live on purely from matched betting but I did have quite a bit of savings, but now I have so many accounts restricted that I wouldn't be to live off matched betting alone.

If you can't get a job where you can fit the hours around trading then I'd recommend saving as much money as you can to live for 6 months and then being unemployed but spending every afternoon you can on practicing. It also depends on what stage you are at because I'd say it takes at least 6 months, but likely more, of being on almost every day to become profitable from scratch

[Derek27]

If you can't get a job where you can fit the hours around trading then I'd recommend saving as much money as you can to live for 6 months and then being unemployed but spending every afternoon you can on practicing. It also depends on what stage you are at because I'd say it takes at least 6 months, but likely more, of being on almost every day to become profitable from scratch

Sorry to contradict you, but I would advise anyone never to give up six months of their working life, never mind saving up to do so, simply to learn what is undoubtedly a difficult profession to learn and master!

You can learn computer programming or web design and be fairly confident of gaining the required skills if you know you have the aptitude, but for trades like hairdressing, plastering or sports trading, you may find that you just don't have the knack to master the craft, so it's quite a big gamble. It would make sense to reach a stage where you are profitable before actually taking the plunge.