Hello Everyone, I'll keep this short and sweet.
I took an ER job out of school (after running my own little ER biz). Working on Wall St is great, I'm learning a ton, I put in the hours and I'm on the front lines. Outside of continually getting up to speed, I passed my Series 7/63 within two months of joining.
My problem is with my boss. I'll keep this to two bullet points so you get the point:
Expects 5-10 years experience and doesn't realize I've been there for 4 months. Aka, expects me to spot things only he would, you get the point when modeling.
Is unhelpful. Instead of saying "hey this is wrong, this is what makes sense" in 1 minute, he will call screaming at 9pm for two hours. "you should come to me if you don't know something" is his go to, but how do you know what you don't know.
I love investing. I've been a relentless startup investor for years through HS and College with my own money and have done well. I enjoy visiting these companies (weeding through the 99.9% which are garbage, companies under $50M) and finding the best ones.
Long story short, I'm thinking about leaving to take a "normal" finance job or even work at a startup per say. This way I can breath and do what I love (startup investing) on the side.
Look lets be honest, If I wasnt doing the job I would have been fired a month in, at the latest. Also my boss is a seasoned vet which is why I dont understand why he would expect what he does (and no Im not messing around, I work 16 hours a day through earnings. Maybe not as much as you guys but you get my point).
As a middle ground I thought of approaching him and having an honest conversation about where I am, but I doubt that would go over well. Granted I took a job, no training, and am still here/getting up to speed 4 months in.
It would be hard to leave and see my friends make a ton of money, but lets be honest you can make a ton of money if you're good at your gig (my neighbor owns a few gas stations and is loaded). Over simplified here, but just the idea. At 23, I dont want to blow a good opportunity either.
Thanks for the honest advice.
Thats a good idea. But it rattles me that with 30 years experience they don't value or see the person they are hiring?
I'm clearly not a seasoned vet. Granted I work hard.
Don't be a dick for a tick -
It takes two years to make it through banking in most roles... It's really hard to put up with shit, I know I was there and most other people in this industry were there. Keep your head down, work hard and once you get your first promotion you are free to leave (it shows to people that you survived and are worth your salt).
Good luck - you'll feel like quitting a million time just don't.
Do whatever the fuck you want - I don't care. I am just telling you what most people do.
It's not just you, nothing personal. Pretty much every associate / VP / staffer / MD I ever had above me in banking and PE was like this at one point or another, some better some worse. It is, unfortunately, it's just the way things go "on the street" as you say.
You can certainly bail if you're convicted this type of work environment isn't for you. However, there's something to be said for your long term career development by sticking-it-out through your 2 year program and rising to the challenge of finding a way to please your boss. Just my 2 cents.
OP, I definitely sympathize with your situation as I have had my fair share of terrible bosses. It absolutely sucks and you dread waking up in the morning and taking a beating day in and day out. This MD may be your first A-hole boss and it definitely won't be your last. If you are looking for a constant slap on the back high five for a job well done Wall St isn't going to be the place for you. Granted there are many great mentors/managers in our industry but there are also an inordinate amount of pompous ass clowns that expect the world when your ability can only deliver so much. So before you decide anything, just realize that finance and the business world in general are full of terrible people managers.
When looking at my career and at a path where I am deciding on leaving on staying at a role, I have always had a two prong approach. 1) am I still learning and being challenge on my job? If it has become monotonous, 2nd nature, and I'm just a robot that does the same shit day in and day out it's time go. With only 4 months into ER i highly doubt you are at this stage. 2) Am I happy with the people I work with, is there a camaraderie and will my colleagues and manager go to bat for me come comp time, are they looking out for my best interest and career growth. Often times I would find myself happy in 1 but miserable in 2 and vice versa and what I do is I make my decision based upon balance these two things.
It seems like you are uber happy with 1, i.e. you love the technical aspect of ER, analyzing companies ect ect but with 2, your boss sucks a bag a dicks daily with the temperance of a 2 year old. So instead of leaving the industry and settling for support finance role stick it out for another 8 months to get a year under your belt. Most firms won't let you do an internal transfer until you've been at a role for a year and most external opps won't look at you after 4 months on a job as you'll be seen as flight risk who is an unhappy millennial that thinks a job is all cotton candy caramel apples. like I recommended, stick it out for 8 months, continue doing what you do and learning as much as you can and trying everything you can to make your MD's life as easy as possible but eventually it'll make your life easier if he isn't screaming at you. The support finance role will make you want to scratch your eyes out and I guarantee you'll be miserable in 4 months and then you'll be in looking for your 3rd job in under a year.
I'm not sure what it is but kids these days when the first thing they do when they get hit with a little adversity is to quit move on to something else, even though what they are doing is there life's passion. If it's your passion, suck it up, find the silver linings of a role, nothing is permanent in life and when a new opportunity presents it self, take the proverbial bull by the fucking horns and grip and rip it.
Talk to your manager mano y mano if you think it will help or at least make your life a little bit less miserable for the remaining 8 months but if the dude has been the ER industry for 30 years and is a rock start analyst, he aint changing his ways.
A mentor once told me that finding the perfect career is a life time of trial and error and anyone that expects to find the perfect career on their first job is either ultra lucky or has no ambition.
Been there and done that. My first job (associate analyst) in investment banking was in ER as well. I was covering 13 stocks at one time and my MD - the research analyst would yell at me every 5 minute over the phone. He did almost 10 years at DB and CS but was covering slightly different sector than what we were doing at this time. So I get what you mean.
A few things that I would suggest:
Look deep into yourself that what your boss yelling at you is legit > like you really suck > or was he trying to put you down? This will happen throughout your career and you will need to take a good handle on this.
If you suck > make a list of things that you need to learn from the job > i.e. 1) having a good corporate access to the companies that you are covering, 2) having the right group of investors that will invest in the stocks that you cover > in the end, that is exactly what your boss is paid to do > if you can't do that > you shouldn't complain much
if you were doing all the above > and your boss is still bitching at you > learn as much as you can and leave > the easiest exit is to move to another shop covering the same sectors
let me know if you have any specific questions.
I have not taken the time to read everybody's response because the answer to this can be summarized in a few sentences.
This is not 'Wall Street' as a whole - this is the reality of life and your experience can be applied to any line of work. You can be an mechanic who just started, but your supervisor asks, "why the hell do you not know this yet?!?" Worse yet, you could be a nurse/doctor/etc and somebody really means, "why the hell do you not know this yet? Somebodies life is on the line"
No matter what - each boss you have will treat you different - whether good or bad. You cannot apply your one experience to an entire industry.
Gonna offer an opinion that I think is unlike the others.
Recognize that some people are just bad people managers. They're bad at understanding their own emotions, they're bad at conveying the message in a way that demonstrates social IQ. They get the message across, but they do so with a lot of "noise" too--their bullshit emotional problems ("I'm mad").
Just put your head down and work. Even people who are unfair in the way they make accusations are rational. At the end of day, MD probably knows he can't get better talent than you, if you've been truthful about your abilities. He may yell and scream, but at the end of the day he's not firing you over this shit, because the alternative is even more painful for him. You just have to get a thick skin and deal with his emotional bullshit because he can't himself. That's part of the struggle of being a junior in white collar professions.
This is business. The ability to respond to difficult personalities with charity and calmness is actually one of the greatest skills a businessman can cultivate--it will make you more of an asset to your boss. I have tamed historically asshole bosses by keeping this attitude.
Just don't lose control of your own cool, and when he flips out, keep it objective oriented: "I'm sorry", "what can I do next time", "how do we move forward from here".