As I was surfing around on WSO the other day, I came to an obvious realization. There's almost no way that everybody who's looking to pursue a career within finance is actually passionate about the various demands that match the description of some of the jobs that many prospective monkeys drool over.
80+ Hours, Excel, Powerpoint... Hooray!
My question to you, WSO community, is extremely simple. Why exactly are you doing this? Aside from the obvious sugar-coated answer that you would hear in an interview when asked the notorious "Why banking?" question, where do you honestly see yourself at 45-60 years of age?
When I think of most finance guys, I like to make the generalization that they're waiting to be posted on a beach somewhere with a cooler full of Corona on one side and a smokin' trophy wife on the other, gladly making tuition payments for their kids attending XYZ target school.
Do you consider yourself different from the crowd? Maybe you're dying inside to jump into politics or start your own non-profit down the line?
Dreams, aspirations, ambition... What's your end goal?
Make the money now so I can do whatever I want later in life.
Does it still work like that nowadays? Unless we differ on the concept of 'later' quite greatly.
What else do you want to do? With an engineering background you have some good choices, but for pure business/finance guys you have to climb a very long corporate ladder in any industry except finance, unless of course you start your own business, which is desirable, but difficult.
Goal is to be PTJ Jr.
Silicon Valley
or "Silicon Alley" ?
The goal is to make enough money not to be motivated by it anymore. Hopefully I'll reach a point where I can decide what to do with the rest of my life without having to worry about money, that'd be pretty great.
Honestly, I'm in it for the prestige even more than the money (although I know I would be compensated very well). Ever since I truly became interested in business, I've always wanted to experience the feeling of working on a deal that ends up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and such. Now I know that is not personal prestige at all (and very few attain that) but just working on a massive deal of that level would be success enough for me in the medium term.
Not sure if its even attainable as I'm a couple years out of my bachelor's, will keep trying though.
Create a life you don't need to escape from.
ArcherVice above nailed it down pretty well.
Most people on these boards are in their low twenties, with that said if you play a quick game you'll realize the answer is you have no idea.
Quick game: Think about what you wanted to do just 4 years ago. Is it still the same today? Probably not.
So with that predicting what you want to do in 20-40 years is next to impossible, interests will change and so will your friends.
If you want to go into Wall Street the best candidates should 1) genuinely be interested in finance and 2) be genuinely interested in either transaction work or market based work.
If you are neither of these your chances of moving up the ranks becomes near impossible. As much as everyone says "all finance people are miserable" all that really says is "I have only talked to people in the analys to associate level".
The guys who really like finance stay for a long time.
If you are worth a few million dollars and literally do not work if you do not have to... What this means is you probably like your career right?
That's where you want to be.
Make no mistake about it 3-5 years you'll be eating sht sandwiches all day and making someone else rich but if you actually *like the career you're going to tough it out.
When you're young the next 3-4 years seems like an eternity when really it is just 3-4% of your entire life.
If it is actually something you have a real interest in, then you're going to be just fine. Worry about 45-50 problems when you're closer to 40 not 20.
I came from an engineering background with solid grades and could've worked lots of place. However, I switched over to IB, so let me attempt to explain why it's not a "Dead End".
Looking at the career trajectory of an engineer, doctor, traditional corporate businessman, etc., one has to admit that it is a very SLOW rise to the top. For almost any amount of extra work that you put in, it's still very hard to zoom ahead unless you invent something great and own the patent yourself. The problem with hoping to achieve success through inventing something and obtaining a patent for it is that: 1) most times you will research a bunch and hit a dead-end (experiments fail to produce intended results) and 2) if you do manage to invent / patent something great, you will probably have done it through a university or corporation which will take 75% of the rewards of your discovery.
Wall Street however is a different magical land where if you work hard, you will be rewarded well. I had 0 business classes , 0 accounting classes, and 0 friends in IB, but networked my ass off and got a position as a summer analyst. That can happen in no other field. Looking forward, I'm expecting even better results during fall recruiting since I now have genuine experience and won't be bullshitting my way in. At the least, one must admit that the career growth is very exciting, and no one works on excel / powerpoint as a senior banker that much. My boss basically just golfs and meets with people. That is awesome.
Also, I think that there is a certain mentality that one has to have in order to enjoy this kind of stuff. We'll call it the "hunter's nature".
When I was a kid, I used to stand outside of a PGA golf tournament and sell water bottles all day long once a year when the tournament rolled around to my town. Most kids on the block would find that boring and play video games instead, or maybe do it for a couple hours and then quit. I, however, would stand out there all day selling bottles, keep track of the budget every night, get my dad to drive me to go buy more bottles, and load up every space of our 2.5 fridges (mini-fridge included) with water bottles for tomorrow to keep them cold for my customers. I'd rake in a solid $600 bucks in a weekend because of that focus and dedication, but God knows I didn't care for the money all that much at all. I actually just threw it into a savings account and let it sit there since my parents gave me $20 a month anyway.
The exciting part was the hunt for the money, not the money itself.
In banking, the exciting part is the constant hunt. Getting a new deal gives a good thrill, and there is a good level of camaraderie to pushing through a rough week to see it come to fruition.
That's my reasoning behind the decision to work a "Wall Street" job. I'm sure that lots of other people just do it for the money itself, but I actually enjoy the fast-paced, hard-working nature of the job. OR perhaps I'm just the A-hole that everyone gets annoyed by for actually enjoying banking. :D
I'm sorry, but I completely disagree with this. Wall Street is still a slow rise, and the networking example you gave can happen in any field. Not hating on Wall Street jobs, just pointing out my observation as well as many others in the industry.
As someone currently finishing up an engineering degree, I have to disagree with jargon, particularly with the networking statement. From my experience, although the alot of basic engineering work is very straightforward and a degree doesn't really seem necessary, there is no way to get into a specific technical field like engineering by networking, no matter how hard you try. You simply must have the degree. I'm gonna assume the same is true of doctors or basically anyone else involved in a STEM field.
I have to agree with trk1, that Wall Street seems to an exception where someone from almost any background can get their foot in the door. Yes, you have to be a rockstar in your given field to get a job, but if you're willing to put in the legwork, you don't have to necessarily come from a specific skill set.
Money makes the world go round
There are parts of IB/Finance that I enjoy more than others but I think thats probably the same with any career. I'm working my way to the point where the majority of my day is spent on those things that I enjoy more.
A wise man once told me, "if you don't know exactly what to do next, pick the choice that will leave you with the most open doors." That's exactly why I'm in finance for now.
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