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The Struggle
 

DonVon's picture
IB
(King Kong, 1,915
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 10:30am
1963 Pabst Blue Ribbon Time.JPG

The "struggling artist' has become a fixture of popular culture. Just the other day I was watching TV, and saw this AT&T commercial in which a girl who was a struggling actress is constantly on the phone telling everyone about the part she received as "Coffeeshop Patron #5" in some movie. She has one line "lattee, please", and her neurotic nature has her asking the question of whether she should pronounce it with a French accent or whether her character would prefer tea. In any case, the commercial is about AT&T's unlimited mobile-to-mobile plan.

But this commercial got me thinking, as this girl is shown to work three different jobs to support her acting career. I am very much a "struggling" investment banker, and I think with the contracting nature of the industry and the static (or even increased) number of applicants to banks each year, the struggling investment banker is a far more common phenomenon than many would think.

But what exactly am I picturing in my mind when I think of a "struggling investment banker"? No, not the kid with the BB SA from Wharton, even though I will not deny the fact that even at Wharton it's a grind, it's competitive, and the road is very much a struggle. I'm talking about the kid who is on the grind at a boutique during the summers, working hard, and working unpaid, with the hope that he or she can leverage the experience to a full-time offer at a different firm or, better yet if all things are equal, convert the summer positions to a full-time analyst role at their current place of employment. I'm talking about the kids from non-targets, or the kids who went to targets and butchered everything. I'm talking about the person who searches WSO for "how to turn unpaid SA into paid", in the hope that maybe, just maybe, after three or four months of hard work, they'll receive a check for a thousand bucks or two, just to recoup in some small fashion the absurd amount of money they likely had to spend to take on the internship.

"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Check out my blog!

Comments

Falcon's picture

Great post. A lot of it is

CF
(Gorilla, 531
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 11:10am

Great post.

A lot of it is because many individuals believe that their experience at XXX firm might lead to their "big break" at breaking into IB. Breaking in is no easy task, which I have come to realize the more I browse this website and it can be a very long tedious process at times, especially when you reach a plateau stage and feel like you've done everything in your power to land an offer but come up empty handed.

Just keep in mind, a large chunk of the banking field is full of overachieving, highly ambitious people who only want to make it to the top of their field but can’t because its full of overachieving, highly ambitious people.

You're always competing with the next man.

Just a sophomore looking for an opportunity to start up this dream of mine.

Aldrich IV's picture

Nice post. "Go where you can

O
(Monkey, 36
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 11:26am

Nice post. "Go where you can eat the competition" this has always been my belief. Glamor and prestige are the enemy of success. But what do I know, its still all relative.

"I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome."- Julius Caesar

Ovechkin08's picture

Good post man, ultimately its

O
(Orangutan, 322
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 11:32am

Good post man, ultimately its all about the bigger picture. Why do guys toil in the minor leagues for a few hundred a week....so they might get a sniff at the big show and the big bucks that go with it

Human's picture

“The brick walls are there

PE
(King Kong, 1,891
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 11:33am

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"I am the hero of the story. I don't need to be saved."

Relinquis's picture

tl;dr... Struggling

RE
(Neanderthal, 2,186
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 1:50pm

tl;dr...

Struggling musicians, artists and athletes still get laid. No one wants to bang a fat white collar finance nerd that can't get a steady job... So if you're still pursuing the financier dream, make sure you have other interests, a social life and keep in shape.

relinquis... Killing the GMAT this December; Over/Under set at: 725 GMATs.

Relinquis's picture

Wow monkey shit for that

RE
(Neanderthal, 2,186
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 2:24pm

Wow monkey shit for that post? I gave actual, real world, advice.

I guess the comment hit someone too close to home...

relinquis... Killing the GMAT this December; Over/Under set at: 725 GMATs.

In reply to Relinquis
trailmix8's picture

Relinquis: Wow monkey shit

AM
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 2:40pm
Relinquis:

Wow monkey shit for that post? I gave actual, real world, advice.

I guess the comment hit someone too close to home...

haha it was prolly for the tl;dr not the actual advice.

In reply to Lotin
Gangsta Killah Blood's picture

Lotin: Just keep in mind, a

(Monkey, 39
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 2:46pm
Lotin:

Just keep in mind, a large chunk of the banking field is full of overachieving, highly ambitious people who only want to make it to the top of their field but can’t because its full of overachieving, highly ambitious people.

You forgot to cite me but thanks for using my quote:)

WSOusername's picture

I mean I love the struggle as

 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 3:29pm

I mean I love the struggle as much as the next guy, hell the whole appeal of IB to me was that I had no right doing it (non-target, no connections, etc.) and I love proving ppl wrong. The problem is, when something is really hard to get, i mean like REALLY hard, all it takes is the smallest little push in the opposite direction to get you to start questioning your decision. I mean point #1- have we not seen enough threads on here already about how not only are the lower levels god-awful, but how the higher levels dont interest ppl either (these from ppl on the INSIDE, btw. not some random outsider speaking theoretically). Point #2- the pay, while good it is certainly not achievable else where.

Point #3- I wanna work somewhere there is a STRONG connection between work and success. I mean IB has so much stupid shit surrounding it. Its not about what you know but where you went and what you did. Like it doesn't matter if you are MADE for a certain position, if you didnt go to X school, and have prior work experience at Z firm, and know Y ppl, and have kissed Q's ass, you're done. It wont matter that you are a better candidate for the job, the person who followed "the track" will have the up on you. I mean its one thing for college kids to be pretentious sycophants, but for grown ass men to have not grown out of it, is disgusting- and quite frankly speaks volumes on the field itself.

Point is, if you're gonna go all in- balls to the wall to achieve something, you have gotta be completely sold on the idea that its worth it. If you're not, you simply wont give a 100% and will go nowhere. Nothing would suck more than spending years to get to the end of the rainbow, just to realize that pot of gold isnt there waiting for you. You better make DAMN sure it will be b4 you set off. At some point you gotta realize that finance is a forest, and you're just standing there infatuating over one particular tree (that was a corny ass line, but the point is you'd b surprised how relevant your skill set is elsewhere under the finance umbrella if you gave them a chance)

GBS

In reply to GoldmanBallSachs
DonVon's picture

GoldmanBallSachs: At some

IB
(King Kong, 1,915
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 3:57pm
GoldmanBallSachs:

At some point you gotta realize that finance is a forest, and you're just standing there infatuating over one particular tree (that was a corny ass line, but the point is you'd b surprised how relevant your skill set is elsewhere under the finance umbrella if you gave them a chance)

Honestly, even outside of the finance umbrella. Most people who do IB are smart, driven, and can be successful anywhere -- I've definitely thought a lot about doing something that that will be more meaningful to me internally, but then I remember that all of those things will pay $35K.

"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Check out my blog!

Tommy Too-toned's picture

Yo Yo Always a role for

(Gorilla, 509
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 4:40pm

Yo Yo

Always a role for bankers, but it ain't where shit's headed.

There's a reason entry level people at Google make (( 120,000 / (52x55)) = 42 bucks an hour and bankers make ((120,000 / (80 x 52)) = 29 bucks an hour if weze assumin' 3 weeks holiday.

And if the Google folks fill the extra (80 - 55) = 25 hours per week with some bartending, they're prolly gettin' 10x pussy per year. That's a big pussy flow multiple

Tommy Too-toned's picture

My calcs be all wack though,

(Gorilla, 509
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 4:43pm

My calcs be all wack though, there's 52 weeks not 55, but y'all know what i'm sayin'

In reply to Tommy Too-toned
Human's picture

Tommy Too-toned: Yo Yo Always

PE
(King Kong, 1,891
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 4:47pm
Tommy Too-toned:

Yo Yo

Always a role for bankers, but it ain't where shit's headed.

There's a reason entry level people at Google make (( 120,000 / (52x55)) = 42 bucks an hour and bankers make ((120,000 / (80 x 52)) = 29 bucks an hour if weze assumin' 3 weeks holiday.

And if the Google folks fill the extra (80 - 55) = 25 hours per week with some bartending, they're prolly gettin' 10x pussy per year. That's a big pussy flow multiple

The first statement is not true in the long run. A banker's total comp increases at an exponential rate compared an IT guy's total comp down the road.

The second statement is erroneous because money has no direct correlation to success with women. If money were the only way to get beautiful women in bed, life would have become a lot easier.

"I am the hero of the story. I don't need to be saved."

WSOusername's picture

"Honestly, even outside of

 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 5:03pm

"Honestly, even outside of the finance umbrella. Most people who do IB are smart, driven, and can be successful anywhere -- I've definitely thought a lot about doing something that that will be more meaningful to me internally, but then I remember that all of those things will pay $35K"
35k is definitly on the low end, most of the non-IB finance jobs ive been looking at were the same salary (just not the same bonus...at least not what they used to be). Besides arent you making -1k a month now?

GBS

DonVon's picture

Yeah, I'm $-1K a month now,

IB
(King Kong, 1,915
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 5:23pm

Yeah, I'm $-1K a month now, but I wasn't talking about non-IB finance, I was talking about non-finance strictly.

Sometimes I just want to blow all of my savings on a piece of land and farm. Does anyone else have this desire or am I nuts?

"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Check out my blog!

In reply to Gangsta Killah Blood
Falcon's picture

Gangsta Killah

CF
(Gorilla, 531
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 7:57pm

Just a sophomore looking for an opportunity to start up this dream of mine.

In reply to Human
Tommy Too-toned's picture

Human: The first statement is

(Gorilla, 509
 
Points)
 on 5/21/12 at 8:04pm
technoviking's picture

I interned in a similar

O
 
Points)
 on 5/22/12 at 4:26am
In reply to Vontropnats
WSOusername's picture

Vontropnats: Yeah, I'm $-1K a

 
Points)
 on 5/22/12 at 12:32pm

GBS

In reply to technoviking
Gub_15's picture

technoviking: I interned in a

ST
 
Points)
 on 5/22/12 at 10:32pm
illiniPride's picture

I have never worked for free

IB
(King Kong, 1,099
 
Points)
 on 5/23/12 at 1:43am

Leadership can be defined in two words: "Follow Me"

chimpanzee's picture

^ Really good post, thanks

(Monkey, 52
 
Points)
 on 5/23/12 at 11:56am
streetwannabe's picture

OP, Great post. Currently in

AM
(King Kong, 1,388
 
Points)
 on 5/23/12 at 7:55pm

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

mokey1234's picture

OP, that was like a sad, sad

 
Points)
 on 6/4/12 at 8:18pm
In reply to mokey1234
DonVon's picture

mokey1234: OP, that was like

IB
(King Kong, 1,915
 
Points)
 on 6/4/12 at 10:41pm

"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Check out my blog!

mokey1234's picture

Wait what? Saw on your

 
Points)
 on 6/7/12 at 7:25pm
DonVon's picture

Yes mokey, all of that is

IB
(King Kong, 1,915
 
Points)
 on 6/8/12 at 2:23pm

"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Check out my blog!

In reply to Vontropnats
mokey1234's picture

Vontropnats: Yes mokey, all

 
Points)
 on 6/9/12 at 2:33pm
In reply to mokey1234
DonVon's picture

mokey1234: I also attend

IB
(King Kong, 1,915
 
Points)
 on 6/10/12 at 9:56am

"An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Check out my blog!

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