#74. Principal Analyst (Friday, December 9, 2022)

What was your best day…of having your way of doing things get vindicated?

Note: Let me shatter the fourth wall for a moment and say that the most recent-occurring entries on this list are being placed fairly conservatively. Because, by definition, I don’t know what their full implications will be, and it’s better to set reasonable expectations (and be pleasantly surprised) than the other way around.

When it comes to career and all the good and bad around it, everybody has their own unique series of stories. On my side, I’ve already touched on bits and pieces (#115, #113, #110, #102); but to set the right stage for this one, let me quickly re-summarize everything here (including some parts I have yet to get to in detail).

I start off by making a real mess of things in my undergraduate, despite being in an excellent joint math and finance program at Waterloo. I struggle majorly the first two years, and despite a few semi-related internships later on, get through all four years without establishing much of a clear direction (#113).

From there, I do my Master’s in Economics at Duke, and when I get that offer from the institution back home, I take it and commit to public policy as my career track. Shortly into my time there, I realize that the institution is really a perfect fit for me – both my skillset, and the fact that I’d much prefer answering academic questions (#102) and serving the public than making a ton of money for some private bank.

I get promoted to senior analyst early in 2016 (#115), but the two years following are a whirlwind. I get close to applying to PhD programs before backing out (#110) then switch functions from debt management to foreign reserves. I also run into some work issues that I conflate with some personal issues, and I get into an unhealthy mindset that gets steadily worse.

Then 2020 resets my perspective (as it did for many). I get back on a more healthy path, though my career development has stalled: by mid-2022 I’m still a Senior Analyst, and there are a few colleagues who have surpassed me.

Still, I know I’m close to being promoted to principal analyst. But it’ll be a challenge: those are competitive positions that all internal staff (and sometimes external candidates) can apply for. I’ve already failed multiple times in the past year, and I’m starting to question if there’s something about me – my ignorance of office politics, my lack of assertiveness in pushing my own interests (versus those of the work itself), etc. – that’s permanently holding me back, despite my work and personality having always been highly-regarded by my managers and peers.

In a way, I know a promotion shouldn’t matter: my interests lie in my team’s work and their accomplishments as a whole, and making more money or having a higher status means don’t mean as much to me. At the same time, I do want to be a position of greater positive influence; while the fact that everyone is naturally advancing means that I have to be doing that as well to avoid falling behind.

October rolls around, and Celdieu Perodin, the current principal in the policy team for foreign reserves (where I was)¹ and one of my best work friends, takes a 18-month secondment² to another government-related institution (in Ottawa). So there’s a temporary Principal position open.

Celdieu and others tell me I should be the front-runner, especially since I’m the only person left on the team (full capacity is four, so we’d been running two short for a while). But I’m also told there’s a lot of interest and this will be a highly competitive process.

In any case, I prepare intensively for this interview and do reasonably well. I think.

If I don’t get it, then I’d be at a real critical point career-wise – the first time since 2017 (#110). But right now, my focus is back on the work itself. Totally on-brand for me. With Celdieu gone, I go the extra mile – beyond my official job title – to take care of things for the foreign reserves in a chaotic few weeks. There are some high-stress moments, but in the end I acquit myself pretty nicely. I don’t know if that’ll all matter in the end; but that wasn’t the intent anyways.

Either way, a week later my director messages me for a two-minute chat. I know I’m getting the answer, one way or the other…

I got it. Now the real work begins.

In addition to that and the director, we also had a trading team with two portfolio managers – one in Ottawa, one in Calgary – for each of the four desks, plus two or three research assistants.
Secondment means you’re still technically employed at your home institution, but working elsewhere for a year or two (by agreement of the two institutions).