Quit Today
Collected my bonus. Quietly packed my belongings. Got up and left. No goodbyes, no explanations, just a simple resignation email and a quiet departure. Did I burn a bridge? Probably. Do I give a fuck? Absolutely not.
I stuck around long enough to get my bonus payout and left. All that matters to me. This profession is inherently interesting - working on arguably one of the most important aspects of the U.S. economy: Mergers & Acquisitions.
However, everything else associated with this profession is literally dumb as fuck. You're brainwashed if you don't see it - and you're a flat out idiot if you see it and you're okay with it. Fragile egos, endless politic cock-sucking, mountains of useless work, toxic environments, the list goes on.
Just venting, but happy to be gone. Hope some of you wakeup.
If you aren't having a good experience, work under crappy senior bankers, can't handle the pressure, etc. I feel bad for ya. But don't act like those that succeed are losers just because you couldn't make it.
There is no cope here brother. It is simply a function of caring about the quality of my life - spending 12+ hours a day in a cubicle under fluorescent lights sacrificing everything and anything within your personal life to make an hourly-adjusted ~$30/hr because "Investment Banking" is a cope.
It's a cope within yourself because you're too fucking scared to act on your shitty miserable life, again, because "Investment Banking." The only decision being made out of weakness is continuing to put yourself through a miserable profession because you don't know what else to do with yourself or you're scared to take a risk.
That's what makes you a loser. If you're one of the few that actually enjoy this profession and the bullshit that comes with it, then it doesn't apply. It applies if you're miserable, know you are, and stick around anyways.
That isn't me.
Idk man, plenty of us have really good outcomes once we hit VP/Director level. My WLB is not bad at all and comp is more than I need.
My first comment was outright mean. But in my defense, I just don't like when people project negativity onto others for their own benefit. And I do think your post included a bit of projection. It just came off very "Hey I had a bad experience so this whole industry and anyone in it is gay" which is what a lot of Analysts come here to effectively post.
Also, part of why that mindset annoys me is because it's typically espoused by those who entered the industry for the wrong reasons to begin with, with an immature desire for easy money, prestige & sex appeal. Then these kids who grew up on Wolf of Wall Street realize that's not true and that their expectations were silly and all of the sudden it's like "Well all of you are gay anyway and anyone who likes this is a loser" and they same-day quit, throwing the rest of the team in a shit position. It's fucking annoying. Your ex-coworkers are probably in a bad spot for the time being. This job is hard and you were warned, you aren't a hero for seeking out a career you hated and then quitting immediately to the great disruption of your team and colleagues. Not cool stuff.
That said, shit happens, your former colleagues will deal with it and life will go on. Sorry you had a crappy experience, no doubt it happens too often in this industry. Best of luck moving forward and finding something that you like better.
Congrats on the Cascadia Capital super day. Hope your wealth management internship has been going well!
Wtf is this comment?
Are you trying to step on my toes?
I’m the one whose condescending, trolls and is mean to all the whiny losers on this site. Know you’re role, especially since your posting anonymous, and stay out of my wheelhouse.
hahaha. respect
*your - you’re a dumbass
It's okay I'm still in high school pretending to be a big shot online because my frickin step dad took my x box away
Seems like the bad senior banker type
There can be a lot of bullshit in this profession but there are also a lot of good groups so I find it funny how a lot of quitters need to disparage the job to stroke their ego that it’s not that they can’t do it but that they’re better than it (not necessarily referring to OP here, lots of valid reasons to quit, but it is something I see often here)
What firm is this? So people can avoid
Baller. Want to do the same when I get mine
Hero!!!
You call us idiots if we accept the flaws of banking and look the other way but prior to fucking up your career you accepted it yourself for years
You're sadly mistaken if you think that quitting a job will fuck up your career. So you're either naïve, stupid, or just a pussy.
If anything, you're risking your career posting to WSO trying to fuck on SA's because you can't get pussy anywhere else. Focus on yourself brother.
😂😂
Fair response. Just pointing out your hypocrisy
So you're saying spending your entire college career trying to break into IB, just to quit after one year is somehow the prudent or optimal decision?
That's certainly my thought process.
How is the past relevant to a decision being made today about tomorrow?
U work in ib and don’t understand sunk cost?
I very much understand sunk costs. They're Ls that you take and move on. It's not some shit to brag about though. OP sucked on the L and it's fine but let's not begin with the chest beating this is certainly not the optimal outcome.
Well done. Nothing feels better than quitting a job you hate. A lot of people will say it's not smart to burn bridges or quit without having something else lined up. Objectively, they are right. However, sometimes you need to burn that bridge in order to reset mentally.
I felt that I had had enough of a prior job and quit on the spot. Horrible decision objectively, but I never felt better. Took a few days to relax and after that, I was more motivated than ever and had a new job within 3 weeks. Agreed that people who don't see the extreme flaws in IB are brainwashed. The only time IB would ever make sense is if you are at a bank with good WLB and culture or intend to leave within 1-2 years and just do it for the exit opportunities.
Why not put your two weeks in and quit? You don’t have to do much anyways during those two weeks but it’s a sign of respect and won’t burn any bridges.
I had a close friend of mine who was in my group who quit without giving any notice and burned a lot of bridges. Unfortunately she fucked over a lot of people by quitting so abruptly, made them barely sleep while the staffer scrambled trying to find people to cover. She wasn’t able to get any references post leaving even though she was a good analyst and word spread around the whole office of how much of a childish move it was. Not a huge deal I guess but finance is a small world and you might need references for the near future. Putting two weeks where you duck around/do minimum isn’t that expensive.
I understand that you think it’s cool to be like fuck you guys, this was so shit and I hated everyone but it’s just immature. Don’t get me wrong I was very tempted to do the same multiple times especially after bonus but I wasn’t immature enough.
If your only avenue of professional networking is within your immediate workplace - that's your first mistake. No one thinks abruptly quitting is cool except someone who does it for the wrong reason.
With regard to your example and your conniving tone in your response - who gives a fuck? You're going to dictate your entire future over MAYBE not getting a reference from one professional experience and simply continue to suffer everyday becuase you might fuck your team over when they'd can you in a split second? I see where you're coming from, but even still your delusion is alarming.
Immature. You are not suffering for long, you are literally working two extra weeks as a sign of respect to your teams. Yeah fuck the firm you think, but in reality the only people you are fucking over are your teams. I'm sure some people are dicks and deserve it but I'm also sure there are some nice people you worked with that you are showing no respect towards.
You aren't doing it because you think you are cool? You are literally running to a forum to brag about it and tell everyone that they are stupid for being in banking and/or not agreeing with your approach.
I'm sure your parents raised you better. Have a great night man.
Shut the fuck up dude. She doesn’t owe the company or her team anything. They took the risk that she would do something so terribly inconceivable as abruptly quitting after no doubt being abused for a long time and probably doubly suffering giving how male heavy it is (possibly overstepping here.) Plus I’m sure all of the other team with any shred of common sense would’ve understood
Not all the teams understood. Our group was (no longer in banking) very busy and everyone was always drowning in work so losing a second year is going to cost you sleep especially if they were staffed on busy deals (like my friend was).
Imagine you are on vacation and the second year is handling the work while you are gone but now they quit? Guess what happens? Now you have to work during vacation. Exactly what happened to an associate that was fucked over in our group from the quitting.
Everyone knows that banking is fucking rough and that culturally it is shit. It is written fucking everywhere. Boo hoo you had a bad time during your first year and found out that what people said was true so now whatever you do is going to be warranted and understood by everyone?
Don't they just cut you your check and show you to the door after you put in your 2 weeks anyway in banking? They don't want you hanging around taking info.
No? At least in my experience when I quit they let me finish my two weeks which I spent helping out my teams ramp up new analysts on the models/decks that we were working on that I had previously owned. The teams were super appreciative and actually helped me a shit ton in terms of references and connecting me with their friends.
After those two weeks, then I had to do a garden leave and chill for a month to not take info.
Congrats brother always love to see homies quitting IB for other pursuits, this job is full of pussies
.
Haven't read the entire thread but seems OP never said anything about a girl. The fuck is that straw man argument?
Nevermind. you incel losers.
Most companies not in finance follow topgrading for hiring which involves using extensive reference checks. I don’t get why you would burn a great potential reference.
Do you work in HR? You’re only getting legitimate reference checks like you stated at Director and above levels.
If a company won’t hire you because you quit your first job because you couldn’t stand working 80+ hour weeks then it’s not a company you should be working for lol
1. No
2. Quitting is fine, but my point was not to burn your ONLY reference.
If OP wants to make over ~$120k - $150k a year, yes they will be checking his references lol
I've had reference checks for two different Associate level roles in both IB and PE (4-6 years into career). For one, my references (Directors at my first bank) had to fill a written questionnaire and, for another, they had phone calls with the hiring manager (offers were already imminent in both cases). I was a top performer in my first banking job and left on great terms so it wasn't an issue at all for them to take the time. But just an anecdote. In my view, it's not wise to burn bridges and lose good references from your first job regardless of how you feel.
besides blue collar jobs, every office job deals with politics, egos, cock-sucking, and useless work.
maybe you can find a super relaxed environment, but again, you will become frustrated because of how inefficient they are, how they don't give a shit about their work quality and that impacts your work, how you need to carry some useless workers that have below avg IQ, etc., etc. and yeah, support the same shit, just on different matters, for an even lower paycheck
i'm not sure from where people got the idea that work is something that people wake up and go because it's super fun and it helps them improve in all aspects of their lives. Work is work at the end of the day, you don't need to like it, you just need to be efficient at it.
Meanwhile, there are occupations that people actually find interesting and that help them improve multiple aspects of their lives. If that is an option, why should people work 100-hour weeks doing something they don't like in a toxic environment?
It's not like we're in the 1800s where your options are to work in a coal mine or starve.
list some examples
But you’d have to face the horror of all horrors aka the middle-middle class?
Yea, But you get to act hard at weddings, school functions and finance group circle jerks when you say where you work.
Even though they won't have time to attend any weddings or school functions.
I have had both PE firms and HFs ask for reference checks that required me to go back to my former IB colleagues. Better hope you have some other references because it’s highly unlikely anyone at your bank will say anything to help you.
Lesson to everyone - do what you can to not burn your bridges. It’s both a negative to your reputation and an anti-positive in that you definitely won’t have any favor that could lead to future opportunities. I’ve burned a single bridge in my career and frankly my boss was really the one who burned it, I just knocked it down. But I built other bridges in that role and it more than paid off.
Agree with this. Quitting through the normal channels is fine, sometimes things just work out (I’m currently working through my notice period before leaving finance). Walking out when bonus hits? No way I’m hiring someone who did that.
I am not gonna bash the OP as I have been there when I was younger. But I think this can be a lesson in maturity for others hoping to or about to start in IB. I find it difficult to believe that people who take the time and effort to recruit and break into the industry did not at some point learn how hard and stressful this job is. Yet despite all the red flags up front and warnings, it seems a good chunk of analysts especially act surprised when they start working and get super salty to the point they start doing unprofessional things. You put in all the hard work so why blow up relationships at the end like this? At least preserve your reputation and not burn bridges. After all, for most people, the relationships you built are usually the only thing that was worth looking back fondly on.
If there is no other takeaway I hope more juniors start paying better attention to what they're signing up for before they end up in a sweatshop hating their life.
But honestly that's way easier to say. The majority of IB jobs are sweaty, not everyone can work at a lifestyle group and it's pretty hard for a college kid to tell the signs of good/bad culture with their lack of experience. I see both sides.
Congrats and I’ve ascended to this mindset as well.
However what I’ve realized is that the job itself is personally manageable, it’s the people that make this job hell on earth.
I will quit my current role eventually because of the people and try to find a different team at a different bank which isn’t loaded from top to bottom with sociopathic, inconsiderate, caustic pieces of shit.
Same. But I called and said I was resigning. Nothing lined up, I want to take a few months off and then will be looking for something new.
This take is simultaneously terrible and accurate. Here's the business model lads:
Investment Banks Provide:
Sure, other jobs provide one or several of the above (consulting), but the IB analyst role is a goliath at creating corporate machines in a way no other role is. They know this, so paired with compensation they know they can take:
If you are smart, you realize this is an asymmetric trade as long as you are learning. Once it tapers off, it's time to leave. If you are staying in IB for the money, there are probably better ways to maximize your income/free time matrix. Sounds like you got there OP and I'm happy for you, but don't be so ignorant you crap on the career.
The job is great as an intro career and almost nothing beats it. I despised IB probably even more than you, but after leaving for several years and being in alternate environments, I dig into my IB skill set all the time. The job is amazing early training for investing, entrepreneurship, finance, sales, ops, virtually any role it is such a good first job. But once the learning tapers--its time to gtfo!
If they can fire you in a day, you can resign in a day - “at will” employment should go both ways.
EV positive move is probably not burning bridges…but makes this all the more badass.
I think you did the right thing. Too many people burn out in this industry.
I didn't do my analyst years and joined banking quite late but I find this job much more tolerable than my previous ones now that I'm in my third year as VP even though the hours are somewhat higher. I've made lots of connections at clients of which at least a few would be interested in having me work for them in some capacity I think so perhaps I don't stress too much about whether I'll get the axe. I've also consistently been around top bucket so while that's not a guarantee I'll be enough of a revenue producer to survive as MD, it also makes me feel hopeful there might be a future here. My hours are generally around 55-60 a week of real work and 70 would be a busy week on a live deal, etc. I'm not in some killer group like GS TMT or Qatalyst but in a good group at a bank a 2-3 tiers down with comp slightly higher than street.
I think it’s kind of pathetic that VPs have bucket rankings
Ask gangsters f*** that's what you do it stick around long enough to get what you want don't make no ways collect your check and sayyour good byes
Everything you mention (fragile egos, endless politic cock-sucking) also exists in other jobs.
I highly doubt that being able to handle any of the issues you mentioned is close to being "brainwashed" or in need of "waking up".
You're projecting when you talk about being "sacrificing everything", "scared", "weakness", etc.
"Enjoy this profession and the bullshit that comes with it": sounds like you have a massive chip on your shoulder.
You were warned about how difficult the job is. I assume you were diligent enough to do your own research: Why did you accept an offer in the first place? And if it was different than what you expected, whose expectations were those?
"Stems from an inability to manage client expectation, properly and effectively manage workstreams, and doing work that actually makes sense instead of making your superior happy.":
It seems you have significantly limited work experience; do you think all clients are easygoing and reasonable? Complicated clients not only exist in IB, but they also exist for certainty wherever you move:
I'm inclined to believe that you simply weren't up to doing work beyond what you expected or thought a client needed.
I'm curious:
What was your position, understanding, or knowledge about *all* interactions and a relationship with a client to decide, unbeknownst to all the other people in your team, what "actually makes sense" and what doesn't for a client? I honestly don't think you even had the faculties to make that call.
Also, I've been enough in the industry to see seniors like myself standing up effectively to unreasonable requests that add no value - cutting through nonsense is also part of the added value to clients.
You seem like a person that trash-talks about things that are not up to your expectations. Regardless, and fortunately, the fact that you don't like things doesn't mean they're as how you've just described them.
You didn’t quit quiet enough if you had to boost your ego by posting here.
Good job, take a lollipop!
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