Should I move to the sell side?

I was in a similar situation- I moved to a small credit shop at a pretty big discount, but I was told that they would make it up via bonus (young and naive mistake). Two years later, same awful salary. What made it worse is that our performance was solid. I would soon find out from former analysts that they ALWAYS underpaid and NEVER made it up with bonuses.

To answer your question: Going back to a solid bank in an experienced role should not derail your career. In fact, depending on the bank, it could certainly bolster your exposure. But here are the issues:

• There are limited openings for these 'experienced associate' roles, and they typically are given to the those in-house.
• You could try entry level positions if you can swallow the pay cut, but this is equally difficult b/c you're not straight from undergrad.

Again, nothing wrong with going to the SS, and I know several who have made the round trip from BS to SS back to BS (at least on the credit side of things). But you to understand that landing a SS gig nowadays isn't a cakewalk.

FYI- I received interest from two lower tiered banks that I passed on, despite a very healthy increase in pay. After 6 months I finally received an offer from an Asset Management firm.