“The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.”
– Peter Thiel
Excel
A round-up of guidance on the Advanced Formula Editor
The new Excel Advanced Formula Editor is a big step forward. Not only does it make it easier to create Lambdas, it also makes them shareable via Github. Paul Barnhurst has written a useful article on his Excel reviews site bringing together the best guidance currently available on the new formula editor add-in. Read more.
Productivity
The ultimate keyboard shortcut collection
Workflow efficiency on any app requires a grasp of the important keyboard shortcuts. Key Combiner is a web application that lets you organise, learn, and practice the keyboard shortcuts you use most often, as well as being able to browse public libraries for dozens of apps. It also helps you learn and memorise keystrokes to help you build muscle memory. Find out more.
Article
A Github repository of laws and principles
Dave Kerr has created a Github repository of frequently cited law and principles. It’s just brilliant. A few of my favourites:
Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.
Hanlon’s Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Kernighan’s Law: Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.
Learning
Project Finance Careers Hub launch
Paul Graham is the co-founder of tech incubator YCombinator. His essays are gems of clear thinking and insight. Posted for free on his charmingly old website. They are all worth reading. Some favourites: Write simply, A project of one’s own and How to think for yourself.
Article
Consensus and how experiments and societies end
Securities is the newsletter from science and tech VC Lux Capital. This article on consensus sits at the intersection of tech, investment, and democracy:
“Consensus, or the ability of different people to agree to the same set of facts and conclusions, is the key property of any functioning social system. When it works, decisions are rapidly made, morale is high, direction is clear and social organizations can be quite resilient and effective. A lack of consensus leads to stasis and sclerosis, of trying to “build” consensus rather than doing the actual work of execution.” Read more.
Modeller’s Miscellany Jobs
If you have a financial modelling related position you’d like us to include, please email miscellany@fullstackmodeller.com.
Financial Modelling Associate, MW Advisory Consulting – Birmingham, UK
Strategy Associate – Standard Chartered Bank – Singapore
Infra, Renewables and Energy Associate – Taurus Search – New York, United States
Financial Modelling Executive – EY – Edinburgh, Scotland
Finance Analyst (Entry-level) – Vodafone – Milan, Italy
Associate, Strategy Consulting – Singular Group – Munich, Germany
Financial Modelling and Investment Memo Writer – EMV Capital Ltd – London, UK
And finally…
