In celebration of the partnership between the Rady School of Management and Jacobs School of Engineering, the Rady School hosted a discussion with Engineering alums Greg Warner and Paul Temby who have moved into the investment industry. This collaboration across schools allows the two intellectual powerhouses to feature true work scenarios and show students interesting career options between engineering and business.
Earlier this month, Warner and Temby spoke to an audience ofstudents, faculty, staff and friends of the UC San Diego community to share their expertise on investing. Rady School professor Michael Melvin served as a moderator for the discussion.
Lessons learned
Warner and Temby emphasized the importance of “getting your hands dirty” – being in the investment business involves learning by doing and seeing, making mistakes and growing. Some jobs also require meetings with clients and selling the various services investment companies provide.
The typical entry-level position may involve “back office” work – dealing with trades and paperwork and interfacing with clients through their retirement plans and internal customer relationship management systems. As workers learn the ropes, they may get more professional designations so that face-to-face client interaction increases.
Career Advice
Warner and Temby offered career advice that went beyond the typical skills and competencies needed to succeed in investing.
“If I could go back and tell myself anything, my younger version would have been like ‘How did you get there?’ I would have said, ‘You have no idea what’s in store for you. Just build really good skills that are durable that no matter what career you’re in you can use. Chill out, and enjoy life,’” Warner said. “The answer isn’t what you’re going to be doing in 30 years, it’s whether you enjoy what you’re doing right now. Whatever you’re doing, have passion for i.”
The two experts also spoke of the benefits of ethics in investments, accentuating the importance of civility, treating people with kindness and avoiding the temptation to cheat others for personal gain.
Warner and Temby suggested a traditional method to stay ahead of the competition – being a lifelong learner.
“I would suggest studying business books and investment books, and pick up a book that a president of the company would pick up, and learn as much as you can,” Temby said.
In their closing statements, the investment gurus shared more valuable life lessons on success. They encouraged the audience to take an inventory of their skills, career interests, likes and dislikes and passions and challenged them to perform routine audits to ensure their careers align with their goals.
“Thinking about your next job – think about it as if it’s a two way street – what job I’m going to do vs what type of employee will the organization be hiring,” Temby said. “Figure out how you will support the organization and figure out what you’re good at, and who would value you, and go there.”
With 104.7 million US based accounts (over 1 billion worldwide) and 72% of users reporting they made a purchase based on something they saw on the social network that turns 9 years old next July; it is no wonder 70.7% of US companies will use Instagram this year. 
The Rady Graduate Career Connections organized the Bay Area Trek, arranging visits with dozens of incredible companies, including many Fortune 500 companies. The team sent out a survey where students each allocated 100 points to the various visits they’d like to attend. I chose to visit PayPal, LinkedIn, and Google San Francisco. There was a Bay Area Trek prep meeting about a week before the trip where logistics and etiquette were addressed. Each student also received detailed information and contacts for each company, along with a student point of contact for each visit. Every detail was covered for us; all we had to do was get ourselves over to each location!
and LinkedIn had huge campuses with multiple buildings, this Google location was near downtown San Francisco within a larger building that overlooked the Bay Bridge. There are several other large companies like Amazon located within a short walking distance from Google. Our group was greeted by panelists and UC San Diego alumni, Philip Jia and William Lee, along with UC Berkeley Alum Shahed Sajadieh, all of whom happily shared their stories about how they became “Googlers”. After learning more about Google’s hiring process, company culture and team values, we were guided through the most amazing tour that included a plethora of fun, open, and lively, yet quiet workplaces that were ripe with enthusiasm from the hundreds of employees we encountered. The creativity of this firm was palpable. Each conference room has a fun name and each floor has a theme. Of all three companies that I visited, this one was my favorite!
Soft skills – social and communication skills, including team work, leadership and public speaking – have always been part of Rady’s MBA curriculum. As the School has grown, Rady has both expanded its soft skills-related curriculum for MBAs and has added such coursework to our specialized Masters’ programs. An emphasis on leadership, teamwork and communication is a cornerstone not just for the MBA, but for the Master of Science in Business Analytics and the Master of Finance and of Professional Accountancy programs as well.
eam developing a new and trendy approach to convenient and functional Smart Bags, earned third place.
About Dr. Magda Marquet
According to 
