I wasn’t all the time a private finance nerd, however I step by step turned one out of survival. That is my story — and my commentary — of why being an “American nerd” has change into extra essential than ever if you wish to rise in your profession or achieve financial freedom sooner.
For context, I now not view the phrase nerd pejoratively as I did in highschool, after I was inspired to play sports activities, exercise, discover a girlfriend, and do effectively in class. As a dad or mum now, I’d be thrilled if my children changed into tremendous nerds. It is likely to be the one means they will thrive and stay unbiased in at the moment’s ultra-competitive world.
No girlfriend or boyfriend in center or highschool? Superior! Extra time to review and fewer danger of being a teenage dad or mum with a troublesome highway forward.
Not touring each weekend for membership soccer? Yay! More cash saved, fewer accidents, and extra time for studying an instrument, a language, or the humanities. In any case, solely about 2% of U.S. highschool athletes obtain any form of athletic scholarship to play in school.
As we speak, nerds clearly rule the world. Let’s dig in!
Rising Up Common
Since 1999, I’ve lived in New York Metropolis and San Francisco — two of probably the most aggressive, brain-powered cities in America. They’re magnets for prime college students from elite universities who come to make their fortunes. The competitors is relentless. In the event you can’t sustain intellectually, it’s arduous to remain afloat.
Once I was in public highschool in McLean, Virginia, I attempted desperately to get straight A’s. I’d heard from an older scholar again in Kuala Lumpur throughout center faculty that top faculty grades mattered, so I took that to coronary heart.
However irrespective of how arduous I studied, I couldn’t crack the code. I completed with a 3.65 GPA — a B+/A– common. Spanish verb conjugations tripped me up, superior math made no sense, and science academics have been brutal graders. After studying some SAT prep books on the library, I could not break a 1,200 on the SAT both. Ultimately, I gave up making an attempt to be a nerd and targeted on tennis and enjoyable as an alternative.
And boy, did I’ve enjoyable, maybe an excessive amount of of it. I bought into bother for shoplifting, combating, and pulling dumb pranks. Fortunately, I nonetheless bought into The Faculty of William & Mary. I knew my household could not snug afford sending me to a non-public college, so I stayed in state.
With a second likelihood, I vowed to not mess issues up in school too.
My Fortunate Break
My large break got here from a mixture of luck, timing, and hustle. One Saturday, I caught a 6 a.m. bus for a Wall Street recruiting occasion.
None of my classmates confirmed up, so after half-hour of ready, the driving force drove me to a random shed and switched out the bus for a Lincoln Towncar to drive me 2 hours up from Williamsburg to Washington D.C. There I landed interviews with a number of bulge bracket corporations. Thanks largely to a recruiter named Kim Purkiss, who believed in me, I joined Goldman Sachs in 1999.
13 years on Wall Avenue taught me that intelligence is simply desk stakes. Being good counts for perhaps 35%. The remaining is figure ethic, teamwork, appeal, and luck. Everybody is wise – so the true edge comes from being obsessive about studying and execution.
Enter the Tremendous Nerds
Working on Wall Street uncovered me to loads of tremendous nerds from prime colleges. However what shocked me was what number of of them have been additionally well-rounded, particularly when it got here to sports activities.
My instant colleagues at Goldman had each brains and brawn: my boss performed soccer at Dartmouth as a fullback, one other at Penn State as a linebacker. Later, my direct boss at Credit score Suisse had additionally performed soccer at Cal and was president of his fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE). The man oozed charisma. We had an absolute blast entertaining purchasers.
Nevertheless, after I went to Berkeley for my MBA part-time (2003–2006), I used to be instantly surrounded by largely tremendous nerds. Most labored in tech. About 65% have been engineers, and roughly half of these had come from India — most from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), the place the acceptance fee is round 1%.
Consider IIT as MIT or Caltech on steroids. Graduating from there requires each excessive intelligence and starvation. They have been scary good. These qualities now gas lots of the leaders working America’s greatest tech corporations — Google, Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, YouTube, and extra.
The Nerds Have Taken Over
Now that I’m a father, I see the “revenge of the nerds” in every single place. At my children’ colleges, most dad and mom are engineers, executives, information scientists, docs, cash managers, or entrepreneurs — alumni of IIT, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Duke, and the Ivies.
You don’t see lots of the “cool children” from highschool right here within the San Francisco Bay Space tech scene who performed varsity sports activities and dated round. Those that coasted on appeal or athletic means had their run. It’s the disciplined drawback solvers who constructed the methods the remainder of us depend upon. They’re the captains now.
As an investor, I additionally wish to put as a lot cash as attainable into corporations run by tremendous nerds and stuffed with the neatest workers. Certain, it will be good if most of these corporations have been American. DEI can also be nice to a sure lengthen.
However relating to constructing and investing in nice companies, means all the time trumps nationality or identity. And the truth is, America doesn’t have a monopoly on expertise or means.
The Poker Desk Epiphany
That fact hit me once more at a tech poker night time final weekend.
After placing my children to mattress with my spouse, I confirmed up round 9 p.m. anticipating a relaxed sport – perhaps a couple of drinks and laughs. As a substitute, I walked into what felt like a graduate seminar on statistics and aggression. Roughly 70% have been overseas professionals working within the U.S. in excessive paying roles on short-term visas.
To my left sat Akshay, a software program engineer who spent almost thirty minutes making an attempt to order espresso on an app although the desk was stocked with Pink Bull and snacks. Each couple of minutes, Arvind — the participant on my proper — would remind him, “Akshay, it’s on you.”
Ten occasions. Possibly extra.
Akshay would nod, look at his playing cards, after which drift again to his cellphone — evaluating costs, perhaps debugging code, or perhaps simply deep in thought. The entire thing was absurdly humorous and deeply symbolic. Whole focus, however in 17 totally different instructions, and fully socially unaware of his poor poker etiquette.
In the meantime, the sport itself was intense. Solely $1/$1 blinds, however pots swelling into the 1000’s. A room stuffed with analytical, aggressive minds — engineers who wager possibilities like they have been working machine-learning simulations.
I noticed I used to be on the improper desk. I’d come to unwind; they’d come to optimize and take my cash with a vengeance.
The Hand That Saved Me
After two and a half hours, I used to be barely breaking even and pondering of calling it an evening. Then got here the hand.
I seemed down at Ace-Queen of diamonds. After a couple of limpers, I raised to $8. Three gamers referred to as. The flop: Ace of golf equipment, 3 of diamonds, 5 of diamonds. Candy! High pair, prime kicker, and the nut-flush draw. What a dream.
The small blind — Sondar, one other engineer from India — led out for $25 publish flop. I clean referred to as. One other participant referred to as behind and one other folded.
The flip got here the 7 of hearts. Sondar checked. I made a price wager of $25 to see the place my opponents have been at. The third participant folded. Then Sondar check-raised to $75 complete.
That transfer bought my consideration. It smelled like two pair, perhaps a straight. I assumed for 25 seconds, stared at him like an murderer for 5. He stared again calmly. I referred to as.
The river: 7 of diamonds. Bingo. Nut flush.
Sondar checked once more. I paused, requested him how a lot he had left behind, and he reply with $130. I slid out $115, leaving him a small cushion. My purpose: make it too tempting to not name as a result of even when he misplaced, he’d nonetheless have three $5 chips and a chair to combat once more.
“Ugh, I hate that river,” he stated, exhibiting the desk 4-6 of golf equipment for a straight.
He stared on the board, then at me. Two full minutes of wiggling in his seat, typically, along with his arms raised up and fingers behind his head. I didn’t transfer. However I beloved each second of it as my very own coronary heart began beating faster.
Lastly, he pushed in his chips. Name.
I flipped over the flush. He groaned, nodded, and patted the felt — the common poker expression for “effectively performed, you fortunate bastard.”
Obsession Might Be Even Extra Highly effective Than Smarts
A few fingers later, I cashed out for $680 after shopping for in for $350 and tossing $35 to the host for meals and drinks. I had survived the nerd gauntlet. Now it was time to squeeze in 5 hours of sleep earlier than pickleball at 7 a.m.
On the drive dwelling, I couldn’t cease pondering: this desk was America in microcosm. A bunch of good, aggressive, math-driven folks — all chasing an edge, all fueled by obsession. In the meantime, right here I used to be, making an attempt to battle whereas by no means taking calculus.
I’ll come throughout as laid-back, however I’m obsessed too. I’ve logged 1000’s of poker hours and watch poker movies for enjoyable each day. Additional, I repeatedly wager 30X – 300X larger within the inventory market than my buy-in, so it is arduous to push me round at a $1/$1 or perhaps a $5/$10 desk. That night time, luck, blended with a hidden obsession poker was my security web.
In the event you get obsessive about one thing, you may finally get smarted sufficient to successfully compete towards your opponents. Generally you win, typically you lose. That is life. However at the very least you might have a combating likelihood to win.
Turning into an American Nerd
To succeed at the moment, it’s not sufficient to be charming, athletic, and even naturally good. It’s essential out-learn, out-analyze, and out-focus others.
In an interconnected world, you’re competing with sensible, hungry folks in every single place — a lot of whom deal with mastery the best way Akshay handled that espresso order: with complete dedication, even when it’s inconvenient.
For many years, America has thrived by welcoming formidable, proficient immigrants from everywhere in the world. That openness is a part of what makes this nation so dynamic.
However as world competitors intensifies, these of us already right here can’t afford to coast. International locations with decrease per-capita incomes, like India and China, naturally produce people who find themselves pushed to grab each alternative they will discover. While you’ve seen how arduous life could be elsewhere, it’s simpler to understand — and maximize — what’s accessible right here.
Over time, privileged People danger taking prosperity with no consideration. We get snug. However the remainder of the world is finding out, grinding tougher, and catching up quick. The one actual solution to keep forward is to continue to learn, adapting, and obsessing over enchancment.
So if you wish to thrive in trendy America, you or your youngsters have to change into an American nerd — curious, relentless, and deeply invested in your craft. As a result of whether or not it’s on the poker desk, within the workplace, or in life, the neatest and most disciplined gamers often take the pot.
What do you suppose — is America dropping its mental edge? Have you ever observed sure professions or industries the place the “nerds” are clearly profitable? And in case you’re a dad or mum, are you encouraging your children to embrace their internal nerd, or hoping they discover steadiness someplace in between?
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