The old fish player is truly stable.
Qin Chang led Ding Zhitong to a nearby small restaurant specializing in breakfast, open from 7 AM to 11 PM serving only breakfast items. The 9 AM rush hadn’t begun yet, so there weren’t many customers, but the kitchen was already bustling. The air was filled with the aroma of coffee, scones, toast, and buttermilk biscuits.
Qin Chang ordered an omelet for himself and recommended the blueberry pancakes for Ding Zhitong. As a local veteran, his suggestion proved spot-on. The pancakes were cloud-soft, dusted with fine white powdered sugar, and topped with freshly made blueberry sauce. Ding Zhitong ate with gusto, her appetite awakening as she felt increasingly comfortable.
“It’s been about a month since you started work, hasn’t it? How do you feel?” Qin Chang finally asked.
Ding Zhitong, still eating, merely looked at him with a wry smile, as if to say it was complicated.
Qin Chang seemed not to need her answer and continued, “JV was already 27 when he joined M Bank. This is his third year as an analyst, which is quite crucial for him.”
This statement was both within and outside of Ding Zhitong’s expectations.
On one hand, it aligned with Song Mingmei’s speculation – JV was an older, experienced analyst facing potential elimination. On the other hand, she was surprised that Qin Chang seemed to anticipate the situations she might encounter working with JV on this project, and had come specifically to discuss this with her.
” I didn’t enter the industry early either,” Qin Chang continued. “I studied mathematics for both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, originally planning to pursue a Ph.D. and spend my life in academia. Then, due to unexpected circumstances, I changed plans and joined M bank, initially assigned to the product group like you. At first, I thought knowing how to build models would be enough, but after a month, I realized there were no opportunities to build models from scratch. Most of the work was tedious – pulling all-nighters to craft company profiles, changing colors of titles in PowerPoint, aligning icons, copying and pasting news from the internet, and spending a week verifying thousands of transaction records. I’ve done it all.”
Qin Chang chuckled, reminiscing.
Encouraged by his amiable manner, Ding Zhitong asked with a smile, “Did you feel disillusioned then?”
“A bit,” Qin Chang nodded after some thought. “But considering the money, I eventually adapted and stayed until now.”
Ding Zhitong found herself smiling more, surprised by his frankness. People who choose and stay in this job have their reasons, and for many, it’s about the money.
“However,” Qin Chang added, “I did try various ways to reduce my working hours back then.”
“How did you reduce them?” Ding Zhitong asked.
Qin Chang replied, “By slacking off.”
“Slacking off?” This was unexpected. She thought the veteran would encourage her to work harder, not slack off.
“Yes,” Qin Chang confirmed, “Slacking off using every method I could think of.”
“How exactly?” Ding Zhitong was now curious to hear more.
“First, don’t worry about Facetime or PTTB,” Qin Chang said, looking at her. “If you don’t need to work overtime, don’t be afraid to go home early. Even if you do need to work late, try to finish before midnight. Rest when you can, and unless necessary, never pull all-nighters.”
“But…” Ding Zhitong suspected this was why he wanted to chat with her today, but she couldn’t agree. She thought to herself, “You can do this as a senior, but I’m just a first-year analyst. If I go home early all the time, won’t my superiors give me low scores?”
She kept these thoughts to herself, but Qin Chang seemed to guess them. He smiled and asked, “What percentage of seniors do you think care about this kind of superficial behavior?”
Was this a case analysis question? Ding Zhitong felt like she was back in an interview, pondering how to approach the answer. But the effects of her all-nighter were still present – her eyes were as red as a rabbit’s, and her brain had stopped functioning.
Qin Chang noticed and said, “Everyone has been through the intern and analyst stages. We all understand how it works. Going home to rest and continuing the next day will yield better quality work than pulling all-nighters. The vast majority of seniors don’t want to see you wasting energy on unnecessary things.”
Ding Zhitong still didn’t understand. All the overtime and all-nighters she had pulled in the past month seemed necessary. How could they be unnecessary?
“Moreover,” Qin Chang continued, “the most important thing is that you must first stay alive, then worry about how to stay and get promoted.”
“Stay alive?” Ding Zhitong didn’t understand what he meant.
“Yes, alive,” Qin Chang nodded. “I mean it literally. Don’t think that overexerting your body won’t have consequences.”
Ding Zhitong realized he had hit the nail on the head. She did think that way, possibly due to her childhood experiences. When Yan Aihua had already gone abroad, she lived with her grandmother. Once, when she tore her pants while playing, her grandmother was more concerned about the pants than her, reasoning that her knee would heal on its own, but the pants would need to be replaced.
“But…” she started again.
“You think you can’t do it?” Qin Chang asked.
Ding Zhitong sighed deeply and nodded. She had always believed she was efficient, but with the workload as it was, how could she not work overtime and pull all-nighters?
“Alright then,” Qin Chang returned to his relaxed tone, “let’s start with fragmented time. Do you get motion sickness?”
“No,” Ding Zhitong shook her head, not understanding why he asked this.
Qin Chang continued without hesitation: “If you’re not prone to motion sickness, you can read and reply to emails in the taxi on your way to work. While queuing for lunch, contemplate how to structure your reports and build your models. When waiting for your boss to review your results, don’t idle. Instead, open the project plan to see what’s next and prepare the necessary templates and materials. Before bed, plan for the next day. If you can’t sleep, mentally review your tasks, prioritizing them by urgency and importance. This approach has an added benefit – it’s an excellent sleep aid.”
Ding Zhitong laughed, unsure if Qin Chang was joking. These tips might be useful, but they seemed like a drop in the ocean.
“The second part is technical skills,” Qin Chang continued. “At the most basic level, master all keyboard shortcuts. Observe Deborah – she can barely tolerate how slowly most interns and junior analysts use Excel. Those who survive and advance share one trait: they find efficient ways to work smarter, not harder.”
Deborah was indeed like that. Ding Zhitong realized Qin Chang was serious. Having not slept all night, she felt a bit dazed and worried she might forget his advice. With no pen and paper at hand, she took out her BlackBerry to take notes.
“Also, familiarize yourself with all types of common documents, like prospectuses. Know exactly where to find specific information. Then, understand the underlying logic of all models on the public drive. Learn how to build them faster and more accurately…”
“Do you know how to use Bloomberg’s API – Application Programming Interface?”
“I… know a little,” she stammered.
“Master it as soon as possible. Prepare several customized worksheets in advance based on your habits. They can be lifesavers in urgent situations.”
Ding Zhitong nodded eagerly, waiting for him to continue.
“The third part is communication,” Qin Chang went on. “First, communication with superiors. Take DeborAh for example. She has high standards but is also very practical. If she assigns you a task you’re unsure about, voice any foreseeable difficulties or potential issues right away. Mentioning them beforehand shows thorough consideration. Bringing them up afterward sounds like complaining. Nobody wants to hear complaints.”
“Next, communicate with colleagues in your team or other departments. For general inquiries or requests for information, emails are more suitable than phone calls, which can be long-winded and lead to omissions. However, for negotiations, don’t hide behind emails. Call directly – it saves unnecessary back-and-forth, and phone recordings can still serve as evidence.”
“Lastly, outsourced teams…”
“Outsourced teams?” Ding Zhitong hadn’t considered this, assuming they only provided standardized services and couldn’t be held to high standards.
“Yes,” Qin Chang disagreed. “You must utilize all available resources effectively. Indian teams, Guangzhou teams, Manila teams for KYC, PowerPoint formatting, and basic Excel analysis, as well as third-party suppliers. Know which tasks you can delegate to them. Don’t take everything on yourself.”
Ding Zhitong nodded, but she already knew most of this.
Qin Chang had more to say: “Besides utilizing resources, remember their names. Kumar, Dev, and Rajish in India; Vera, Ah Fay, and Monica in Guangzhou; Jejomar, Joseph, and Maria in Manila. Learn each person’s work style and delivery speed. This way, when you submit requests, you can estimate completion times and output quality. If you’re on a tight deadline, you’ll know who to ask for help. If problems arise, you’ll know who to contact.”
At this point, Ding Zhitong suddenly realized she had already made such mistakes.
JV’s approach to outsourced teams was the opposite of what Qin Chang described. He never engaged in small talk, treating them like faceless tools hidden behind the system. This even included the Indian team, as he used an abbreviated name and spoke with an American accent, easily passing as American over the phone. Influenced by this, Ding Zhitong had already worked overtime twice in her first month due to errors and delays from outsourced teams.
“Factset and CapitalIQ also have support teams. Using them effectively can significantly reduce the time you spend on due diligence. Call them when you’re free to discuss your usual needs. Have them prepare Excel templates with linked formulas, which are very useful for quickly updating comparable companies and transactions…”
“The same goes for Bloomberg. With a terminal costing $2,000 a month in service fees, don’t hesitate to ask for help with anything you don’t understand.”
Qin Chang spoke quickly, offering practical advice. He never told her to work harder, only to work smarter – like an intelligent person.
Ding Zhitong typed furiously on her BlackBerry, struggling to keep up. “Wait, wait, could you repeat that last part?” she asked occasionally.
Qin Chang chuckled and paused for her.
After he finished, Ding Zhitong looked at the long list of notes on her BlackBerry and asked, “How long did it take you to master all this?”
Qin Chang thought for a moment and replied, “About a year or so.”
“What about before that? I feel like other first-year analysts are doing better than me…” Ding Zhitong doubted she could make it, having barely squeezed into the job. Being eliminated seemed almost inevitable.
“Have you heard this saying?” Qin Chang looked at her and asked, “If you pretend to be something for long enough, you will eventually become it.”
Ding Zhitong was startled. She had always believed in this principle and had thought about it recently.
“This place needs smart people who know how to collaborate, not grim workaholics,” Qin Chang continued. “Before you can become that person, you have to pretend. Approach the most tedious tasks with the most sincere attitude and the smartest methods, but never show anxiety, stress, or fatigue on your face, not even a hint. Being outgoing and positive is politically correct here. No one cares about your complaints or breakdowns, nor will they earn you respect.”
At this point, Ding Zhitong had a moment of realization. JV was a perfect example of what not to do. He had been using his hard work and complaints to show his indispensability, and he was leading her down the same misguided path – constantly typing, skipping lunch, ignoring conversations around her, and working long hours, becoming more emotional when extremely tired.
At that moment, Ding Zhitong looked at Qin Chang. He hadn’t told her these things earlier, but if he had, they might not have made such a strong impression.
“Also,” Qin Chang added finally, “no matter how busy you are, give yourself at least one day a week to rest properly and spend time with friends. Otherwise, your body won’t make it through the year, and you’ll lose your friends before you know it.”
The breakfast ended on that note. They walked back to the office together, chatting about trivial matters, which helped her relax a bit.
All the other advice was recorded on her BlackBerry, but that last sentence kept echoing in Ding Zhitong’s mind.
Back at her desk, she scrolled through her chat history with Gan Yang. She realized their only substantial conversation in over a month was about winning the New York Marathon lottery. The rest were just quick exchanges: “What are you doing?” “Have you eaten?” “Are you off work?” “Go to bed early.” Most of these were from him, with her rarely initiating conversation.
Throughout the day, she kept thinking about Qin Chang’s advice, finding it increasingly impactful. She wasn’t too worried about her health, believing herself to be invincible. But she thought about Gan Yang and asked herself: if things continued like this, could their relationship survive?
She knew she had to change.