Back

I don’t typically post on socials, I’m more of a lurker, but I saw a post recently that gave me a bit of inspiration to actually put my own thoughts down.

When I first became interested in trading and investing, it wasn’t really from a deep academic angle. It was more of a simple idea build enough capital and skill in markets to give myself freedom to explore other things in life. Finance, investing, and markets were just the vehicle to get there.

My background is in Building Services Engineering, working within the mechanical side of the industry (ventilation, heating, domestic services, and associated systems). That’s been my core professional focus, but over the past few years I’ve found myself increasingly drawn into finance and markets in general. Not just as a side interest, but something I actively want to understand at a deeper level.

Like a lot of people, my introduction to trading came through ICT-style concepts and the broader “retail trading education” space. At the time it felt structured and logical, like there was a hidden framework to the markets that just needed to be learned and applied.

After spending time with it, I started to become increasingly dissatisfied. The more I tested and observed, the more it felt like the edge being presented wasn’t as consistent or transferable as it was made out to be. That led to a bit of a reset in how I thought about trading altogether.

Instead of continuing down that same path, I started digging into how markets actually operate at a more institutional level and how professional firms approach risk, execution, and strategy design. That naturally led me into quantitative finance and systematic approaches to trading. It felt less like pattern-chasing and more like something grounded in data, structure, and repeatability.

That shift has changed how I view trading entirely. It’s no longer about shortcuts or quick outcomes. It’s more about building a genuine skillset over time in understanding probability, risk, and systems properly.

On a broader level, I still don’t have everything figured out long term. For now, I’m just continuing to explore different technical areas, keep learning, and pay attention to what I naturally keep coming back to.