I've spent time at a very large and well known hedge fund and I also have family at JS.

Regardless of what the individual you responded to thinks.. Firms like this have very difficult interview processes. They are looking for something "Special" and this excludes the vast majority of applications.

I took a taxi to my interview, and the taxi driver himself told me he drives many people to the location for interviews, and drives a lot of unhappy people back (failed the interview).

It should tell you something when even a local taxi driver knows how difficult it is to get into these places.

I will try to answer your questions as well:

1) I did support work when i was at "hedge fund" - They want people who can think outside the box and be a culture fit. their culture is well known, and you either fit in or you don't. There is no "faking it".

They generally hire fresh grades from ivy league schools. This way they can indoctrinate the culture. This is not always the case, but probably 70% of their employees were done this way.

2) Many of my former coworkers are now CEO's, COO's etc. Besides the money the culture encourages you to push past your limits and grow. One guy was a developer, he's now the CIO for an international makeup company..

At the firm I worked at, it did not matter what your role was. If you wanted to change groups, you would be given a fair chance to take the tests. if you passed, you were in the new role. The tests were INTENSE... but many "techs" moved to business roles over the years.

You might have a focus-in ability to grind on details - that will play.

There are many support roles, one is research, and that can mean sorting through a daily pile of a few thousand "documents" (ranging from a single paragraph to a thousand pages) and sorting them into groups, and then being able to rapidly summerise the salient features.

This bleeds into training AI to do the same .. while remaining aware of the nature of the material to be a human check on the AI.

There are also roles for people that can map or otherwise visualise data, pander to the needs of the core earners so that they never need reach far for what food, drink, personal life support they need, etc.

If you're aiming for support you likely want to present your discretion and ability to seamlessly play well with others as dynamics and demands change.

Often a background or a degree from a prestigious university in the arts. Bringing culture and energy to the office that focuses on people and humanity instead of competitive math type geeks. Some firms like to feel like patrons of the arts giving writers actors poets etc a better job than waiting tables while exposing the firm to there influences.

Very much appreciate the insight. I don’t have good odds as a formerly homeless high school graduate, then again I wouldn’t have seen myself in my current job 5 years ago, so will most likely give it a try anyway.

>> I don’t have good odds as a formerly homeless high school graduate, then again I wouldn’t have seen myself in my current job 5 years ago

Shows that you are both courageous and smart with a positive, vibrant attitude. Thanks for sharing your positivity, much appreciated and more likely than not you will succeed in your try. Good luck :-)

I wouldn't say most of these roles are anything different than you'd expect at most tech companies unless you are involved in the production trading/tech activity (trading-related ops, recruiting for traders/devs). Helpdesk/facilities usually isn't anything special.