Why the hate on operations?

Operations people will max out at $500-700,000 per year even if they hit MD, which is not likely to happen and they do boring stuff. Bankers have their eyes set on $5 million and do more interesting work.

That is precisely why operations sucks - simply not nearly enough $$$ and boring work.

You're posting on a message board which has a majority of users working in/striving for investment banking jobs. Obviously most people will look down upon operations since they are striving for something different, and higher up on the ladder.

It's like going to a message board for Democrats and asking why everyone there dislikes Republicans..

Is fairly stable. Decent pay entry level and you don't need to be strictly Finance/Accounting major.

Lots of $ RELATIVE to the work you are doing (trade support, clearing trades, balance reconciliation, confirmation processing, other bitch back office work)

Also less stress IMO. Hours may be bad (7am-9pm) but depends on group.

If I'm young, I would want $, prestige, excitement in a job. But say I'm 47 with 2 kids, wife, and old parents. Wouldn't want to pull crazy hours in IB/PE/HFs in the long run...so I guess Operations has it's up and downs.

I'm a college senior now, did my stint in Ops and also back office Finance. Neither is glamorous or truly exciting to tell you the truth, but for those like me non from a target without a super high GPA, you have to start somewhere yes?

HAHA. There is no way the city of New York can run as smoothly as it does without garbagemen, either. Just because operations people are necessary doesn't mean that it's a job you would EVER want. Operations people HATE their jobs.
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Exactly. Glad to hear you are open minded.
Not everyone either wants or is cut out for one particular lot in life.
Too many people with the heard mentality.

Are you seriously looking down on someone that makes $500-700K? lol

I know that's nothing compared to what Bankers could potentially make (although many would burn out/get fired before even coming close to their original goal in terms of compensation), but you have to respect someone that makes that much money.

By the way, I know that ops analyst usually make 55K + 10K bonus to start, but what's the salary progression like from analyst to associate to VP, etc.

Oh yea, my ex-gf works in Goldman Ops and HATES her job. I'm not kidding...during the first 6 months at her job she was constantly crying/depressed...SCARY!

$$$ - True IB does make more $$$, but not really that much in terms of $$/hr! Ops hours on average are like 9 to 7. Yes there are departments that work 7 to 9 but that are mostly one or two departments, not all of ops.

Boring work - Ok Ops does not have exactly make headlines on the financial pages. But speaking personally I don’t find punch in numbers into standard models, making excel presentations, and get yelled at because the number is light blue rather than dark blue, exactly the more interesting job. The senior people make the deal not analyst or associates!

The above only applies to entry level position! But do u think MD in ops is working on reconcile accounts? Still I must admit higher up the $$ does make a big difference. BUT at analyst level, especially for all BB across divisions… get down to earth (because you are the lowest form of creature in the organization), shut up and do you work.

Saying ops people hate their jobs isn't exactly a fair statement. Many people have no interest in doing front-office type work and are very happy with their regular 9-5 jobs that do not pay as well. This forum is definitely a very, very small subset of the real world and can skew your reality as to what is "normal."

I'll give one example:

A relative of mine currently works in ops at a VC firm (head of finance). He has been offered a position on the deal side as a partner numerous times. However, each time he has rejected the offer because he does not want to travel a lot and work late.

Thanks for the comments... I'm glad that most people here do think that operations contribute at least something to the firm. At first I thought there might be rife between the divisions because they barely communicate (*equities in dallas), but it looks like the majority of haters aren't even working yet. :)
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