The first things that strike me is the importantness of choosing the right job in the early phases of one's career.
(p.s. I'm using my own words after digested Edwin's book)
Lesson 1:
For example, if you're keen in a career in banking industry, then as early as your internship, you must choose a bank (or superbank like MAS). To me this is something which I did not thought is important but Edwin did. To put it bluntly, there is a guideline on choosing a company during internship and look the 3rd points and you get what I mean:
Priority #1: MAS and any bank (local or foreign)
Priority #2: If you can not get any bank, then go to their subsidiary like trading, insurance or other financial industry etc
Priority #3: anything else is irrelevant and wasting your time (again. In my own word)
Lesson 2:
If you're already working in financial industry or a bank, and you're planning to further your studies. Some people will choose MBA. This is not a good idea because the main reason for MBA is net-working. If you're already working a bank, you'd already enough opportunities to network. Instead, a Master in Finance or Economy will add more ounces to your power.
make sense?
Lesson 3:
Edwin run thru the front end, back end and operational of a bank. It gives me a integrated view of how things works and how fraud. Of course, he can not go into details as this is not a text book. The good things is he use solid/personal example eg. 911 what he was doing minutes before and he turn around his bank loss position in treasury within the next 10 minutes. ( again in my own word).
Lesson 4:
Write a book and leave your legacy.
You know, Edwin is diagnosed with the same illness as Prof Hawking (well-known for black hole).
This book is his meaningful contributions to the society.
Whether you're a engineer or a banker, I'm sure that you'll enjoy reading this book.
[/align]