no need to do IB.
Do your own thing!
do what you want to do
what did you want to do when you were young?
take more risks
this is a made up finance world, full of made up problems, full of people who don't care
do what you care about
think about what gives you meaning in life
pursue that
Finance didn't make me happy, and it didn't make most of the people around me happy
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It does seriously suck
Seems like its pretty much too late to do anything else I wanted as a kid though. It’s too late to be a professional fighter or musician. I mean it was too late when I was born because I never had any talent for either despite enjoying both recreationally. At this point it seems the best I can do is continue in a career or industry that has aspects I enjoy and aspects I hate, while pursuing interests on the side. Aka, like 99.99% of people.
its funny, I had the same thought. But came to the realization that the destination doesnt matter. Its not about acquiring x amount of money, or x job or x promo. Thats not fulfilling. The journey is. You DO NOT NEED to actually become an NBA player or professional music player, but the journey to this goals is what will give you meaning and a fulfilling life. I realized that after quitting roughly 2 years ago!
I'm reneging on my PE offer for this very reason. I know that it's just going to be IB 2.0 and I've decided I'm happy with "downgrading" to Corp Dev and having some semblance of life again.
No hate to the people that continue in these fields though, just not for me.
you are the fucking man, proud of you and fuck everyone. A fool and his time are soon parted.
Damn…..are y’all ok?
couldn't be any better man. Go do the thing you are avoiding and supposed to be doing, thats where you'll find the meaning you are lacking.
Username checks out
I realized this after my internship. Took my dream job instead and never looked back. Good riddance!
curious, what is your dream job?
SWE at a high growth SaaS!!
My guy learned some new words and wanted to put them to use.
OP’s sharing his thoughts and it may advise some of the readers here to go down a path that’s better for them. It’s not wrong of him to do so; there’s no need to berate him for it. It’s also not sanctimonious of him, nor is it anything else that you’ve described.
Being threatened by my vocabulary isn’t a good look, guy. Sorry you are a fan of one and two syllable words?
OP has a habit of coming on down here from the mountain to share the good word with us benighted drones on a regular basis, but it’s kinda tiresome when he does it ad nauseam. We get it, OP didn’t enjoy his short stint in finance and now he wants us all to know the enlightenment he’s found (and we should find, too).
If you guys hate this career so much just leave - the theatrics are old hat by now. Believe it or not there are people who love being in the chair you hate and many others aside from you waiting for their shot. All the hand wringing and histrionics on your way out the door masquerading as wisdom just underscores that you all still have no clue what to make of yourselves, only that you want to blame it on your boss, or your clients or whatever else. Yawn.
This isn’t new or valuable content. Wash out juniors have been preaching this view like it’s gospel since time immemorial. Go find the post on this site from a decade+ ago where the metals and mining analyst left abruptly and went busking in the streets (fun fact, he came back to finance a decade later…).
For some reason banking attracts a ton of novitiates who, upon not being able to hack it, need to make up this elaborate hallmark nonsense to justify their two weeks notice. Janitors, garbage men, and migrant laborers all have it a lot tougher than OP and his ilk, and somehow manage to stay off the soapbox. Of course it doesn’t matter whether you guys figure it out too, but my hope is that you do.
as other user mentioned, I give two shits if you do it or not, I just want to offer a perspective that is shared so little. No need to get defensive and or trying to justify your own actions. I am not seeking anything other than the facilitation of new thoughts between people. Wish you all the happyness man.
That’s rich. You’re coming onto a finance board to tell us all to quit our jobs and “do what we were meant to do” because you just decided to quit and try your hand at it…yet I’m being defensive? Sure, bud.
And let’s also be clear - your message isn’t one that is “shared so little”. On the contrary, I have been on this board for 10+ years and over that period I have witnessed a long and slow slide into the current state of affairs, where the majority of posts are now meta-trolling, people who are asking why they shouldn’t do Silicon Valley instead, and people like you who have nothing but shallow views to share with undergrads who don’t know the difference between your views and mine and take them both at face value, blind leading the blind.
You know what would actually be refreshing and new around here these days? A couple posts from people who like the career and all it offers instead of constant blubbering threads from juniors who should just decide whether they’re going to sack up or move on and spare us the theatrics.
Anyway, I’ll leave you guys to it.
Leaving IB without looking back, but can’t say that I’m not glad I didn’t do it. Not only for the experience and (hopefully) now-opened doors, but also the earned perspective on what’s important in life.
Many people in IB move too fast and work too hard without stopping to consider the WHY in what they are doing, both in a work sense (how many terrible pitches ideas did you throw at a client just for the sake of pitching) and also a life sense (money is nice, but after all your basic needs are met, I’m not sure there’s much extra fulfillment to juice out of it)
Totally agree, I think 1-2 years is perfect, afterwards the returns are not only marginal, but I would argue negative. Can't agree more as a place to start out, but GTFO fast, imo we are too smart but scared to chase other things
agree with you, with how smart people are, I'm like why the fk are you still here after 5 years? Unless they are truly passionate which is rare. just think more why's need to be asked. appreciate the response and your thoughts.
I think there’s two buckets of people who stay in IB long-term.
The first, and likely most fulfilled, group of people actually enjoy the grind, the competitiveness of winning deals, being able to find creative solutions for their clients, etc. And these people will likely be the most successful out of anyone in their cohort.
The second group of people, which I think we see much more when looking at our associates and VPs, stay because of fear. Maybe it’s because they worked the same type of job out of college since graduating and are afraid to take a step back in another industry. Maybe it’s because they bought that fancy sports car and expensive mortgage and are afraid of quite literally losing everything.
And the last type of person is the most dreadful of them all: the people who truly have not found their purpose in life, so they seek to fill that void by blindly seeking money and prestige.
Think we see a lot of the latter on this forum, especially with directionless college students. But then you get a little older, get that first bonus and fancy car, and you realize how little joy it gives you. Hope a lot of these kids will grow out of this mindset as they mature, and if not, they’re in for quite the rude awakening
Ok depends on where you do it… I don’t regret my stint at a top BB but if it was any other shop I wouldn’t have done it
fihnuance Is temporary
but the pain and growth you experience is forever
curious, what do you do now??
work a remote job thats like 10 hours a week! lots of opportunities from networking and linkedin. Took a pay cut but not as much as you might think, make close to six digits but not quite, but I can do anything now ahah.
After my analyst stint I realized the industry is really for losers - people for the most part have no real passion and are severely deprived of character and morality - of course there are a few exceptions. Let them wallow in their filth. I had a $375K / yr MF PE offer and turned it down for a startup for less than half that comp. Couldn't be happier, never looked back.
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