Does your stuff ever get sabotaged since all analysts work in open cubicles? paper stolen, pitchbooks ripped out, etc...
Since all the first-years in ibanking work in open cubicles, how common are theft and sabotage? I know it's a competitive atmosphere since there's the incentive of end-of-year bonuses and many analysts get kicked out after 2-3 years. So I figured there would be really cut-throat people who would on purposely steal your pitchbooks at the last minute or use your desk phone to call long distance to China or something.
Why am I asking? Because I interned at a major tech company last summer (not gonna say which). Nobody touched the interns, but the office politics was so bad that I frequently saw backstabbing, shittalking, boardroom fights, cursing, etc... One software engineer sent an email to everyone in the office demanding to know who was using his cubicle phone to make phone calls to China (he's indian) because the VP saw his phone bill and threatened to fire him. Another engineer had blueprints missing in his cubicle...he saw our colleague steal them, 2 days before the deadline...4 days later he came out and admitted "sorry I accidentally took your papers" with a smirk. But the damage was already done. Another IT guy, unable to solve the problem before the milestone, decided to steal his own computer and report it as stolen the next day in order to have an excuse (he was fired...this was 2 months before I started my internship)
So anyway, I was just wondering if this was prevalent in the more cut-throat finance industry as well. I figured the open cubicles would carry privacy and sabotage risks.
My experience at a BB couldn't be further from your tech company, and I'm sure most would agree with me.
Analysts typically have an us vs. them attitude. They all generally dislike the associates, VPs, and MDs on their team due to the pointless work they create for them. The incentive to sabotage another analyst's work does not exist. (If anything, you'd be tempted to sabotage your least favorite associate just to see them suffer, but I digress...)
It's hard to explain, but once you begin work, you'll see exactly what I mean. You and your other analysts won't be staffed on the same projects, there really isn't anything you could do to "sabotage" them anyway, and it just doesn't happen. Everyone wants to leave after two years, and the difference in bonuses is usually small, so this cut-throat nature is not prevalent in terms of analyst vs. analyst competitiveness.
I apologize if my jumpy response doesn't explain the environment clearly, but it's hard to describe until you work there. Just take my word for it.
If there is anything positive about the work environment as an analyst in investment banking, it's the camaraderie amongst the analysts. I never bothered to go back as an associate, but quite a number of the ex-analysts who ended up staying on as associates and beyond tended to mention that the dynamic isn't the same the higher up you go. Keep in mind that most analysts are single and at very similar stages in their lives (post college), and share similar interests, humor, etc. Once you get to the associate level, it becomes a hodgepodge of ex-IT guys who did their MBAs, ex-analysts who stayed on, etc - some of them married or engaged, some who become more devout in their religion compared to their younger days, etc - their personal lives are more divergent with less in common. And then as one gets older they spend less and less time in the office fraternizing with colleagues because the VPs/directors/MDs become even more focused on their personal lives - kids, family, volunteer/board activities, hobbies, vacations, etc.
Mayor Quimby is right about the "us vs them" attitude - since analysts don't get staffed on the same deals, analysts tend to bond around bitching about their deal team with their fellow analysts, etc. Chances are, your closest work friends will be other analysts.
Believe it or not there is CCTV in BB IBD floors.. why would any analyst risk getting fired just to sabotage another analyst?
Back in the day when HLHZ was in it's infancy, MDs used to approach multiple analysts to create the same pitch. The junior bankers with the best book got to accompany the MDs to the pitch. Created a very competitive environment with people constantly trying to delete files and sabotage work. Source: Someone who worked there a while back.
I've heard exactly that as well.
Wow that's messed up...
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