Back office survival guide: About zombies and robots

I finished my last article with the sentence “There are actually several ways to break out of operations” but before you break out you need to survive first. Believe me, the back office seems to be more relaxed than it actually is.

Depending on what markets you cover it might happen that you work from 2pm to 1am from Monday to Wednesday and from 7am to let’s say 5pm/6pm from Thursday to Friday. (I know still not i-banking hours) Monkeys on the early shift cover the Asian and European markets, whereas monkeys on the late shift cover the American markets. After doing this for a few weeks your body gets confused until you finally feel like a day walking zombie. Well, apparently zombies do a pretty good job in operations.

Poorly staffed and having a lot of employees in zombie mode, the back office appeared to me as some sort of obstacle course. While your boss yells at you because another colleague booked several trades on the wrong account, you have Mr. Ivey- league trader on the phone who friendly reminds you that you are a sunk cost and should be replaced by robots. In the meantime another colleague has a guy from collateral management on the phone (another back office /operations functions besides trade settlement) and asks him to meet him outside after work in order to discuss their dispute like men.

I am pretty sure while reading this article (thanks for not rage-quitting) you asked yourself: Why is this kid telling me fairy – tales. Is he for real? Yes I am, unfortunately. Now let me follow you through the rest of the day of a young professional in operations. After allocating the trades to the right account and calming down my colleague I had a pretty restful afternoon – until my boss got a call from risk management.

“Who the hell did not make the margin payment yesterday?” Remember, everyone is in zombie mode and doesn’t respond at all. After watching my boss losing his shit, I finally asked him if he would like to have some assistance on this matter. Big mistake young monkey! Believe me, you don’t want to get sucked into issues you are not responsible for.

But who is to blame for that epic failure? After harassing several employees, my boss revised all documents and came to the conclusion that another employee made the mistake. I don’t care what religion you believe in but this is the time to thank your god that someone else made the mistake and not you.

Well, I don’t know how you would feel in this work environment but everything happens for a reason. I stopped counting how often I asked myself: “Why did I go to college? Not for this! Please give me a reason to quit!” But quitting is for losers! So keep on hustling and work yourself up.

 

worked in backoffice operations for Credit Suisse (Euro shift) for a while working from 3 pm - 5 am for 6 mth in trade settlements, totally hated it, left for yet another back office job doing documentation, hated it after a year - left without a job, and have now been bumming around for 3 months lol - story of my life

 
Best Response
Unforseen:
I treat my back office with the upmost respect. I would never lose it or insult them. They are my go-to people when I have to solve transactions/account issues that I don't want to solve.

I think it goes both ways, when I was working BO, there were definitely some traders that had the "treating you like a sunk cost mentality" like the OP describes, but the majority of the traders/FO people are definitely more like Unforseen, and are very respectful and treat you as part of the team. Which is definitely the way to go, because BO people can do a lot of things that can make a traders life easy, but they absolutely don't have to, especially if that person is a dick.

The OP story is pretty accurate though, it is also very easy to figure out who screwed what up because every system tags every action and every click with an ID, and I definitely know the feeling of finding out (usually from the boss) about some sort of incorrect FX or margin issue because something was sent out impropely, and then finding out that it was not you. Its one of the most stress releiving feelings ever.

 

I think it also depends on the company’s culture. I made the experience that some companies really treat the BO and MO staff as part of the team with information flowing back and forth in order to make each others life easier. Unfortunately I also saw the opposite. You can’t really feel like being part of a team when you are located on the other side of the city, have inferior labor contracts and when your division is organized in a separate legal entity. But in general it depends on the people you work with. (Or for)

 

I'm serving my notice at the Treasury BO of a BB. Managed to make the move to a Middle Market PE/ M&A firm as an analyst. Ops is definitely not a life that is worth living again. It teaches you a lot morally, how to manage yourself, temper, patience, perseverance, etc, etc.

I work in a shift which starts at 8 PM and ends at 6 AM. Enough said. Glad to be moving soon.

 

Tempora cupiditate et labore ullam aliquam. Rerum aut quis asperiores. Alias dolor ratione incidunt quis porro eum fuga. Quam velit nobis nihil maxime voluptate at sapiente. Blanditiis ab atque vero enim.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”