1st day internship work until 2 am (fucked up)

At EB Right now. It's already 9pm talked to analyst who told me I'll be working until 2am on average (including today). I've been "reading" the compliance book since 2pm since there's not a lot to do on my first day.

I think I fucked up and chose the wrong profession.

 

Sounds shitty but use the time wisely. Dig into some models, read up on old pitch decks/deals. Master your excel knowledge and shortcuts. Learn VBA or something. Bond with the other analysts.

This is your time to shine don't waste it.

"Out the garage is how you end up in charge It's how you end up in penthouses, end up in cars, it's how you Start off a curb servin', end up a boss"
 

If it makes you feel any better, accepting a summer internship =/= choosing a profession. Taking a FT analyst job isn't even that big a commitment. I'm not sure what the current percentage is of analysts who exit IB after a two years to a different role, but it's pretty high, and most of those roles (PE, HF, startups, corp dev, etc.) are quite desirable.

My advice, FWIW: Work as hard as you can, learn as much as you can, and aim for a return/ FT offer, even if you wouldn't accept it in a million years. It will give you considerable leverage in OCR.

 

It's amazing how people trivialize sacrificing two years of your early twenties on this website. These should be the best years of your life and spending them slaving away at a job that doesn't make you happy / consumes your entire life won't be something most sane people will be happy they did down the road.

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
 

^^^ This. Generally those that trivialize it are college students that have no perception of what it's really like... Can't blame 'em though. I was the same way.

I'd say that unless you genuinely enjoy/are excited by finance and are okay with having your life tethered by the whims of your seniors, there are far greener pastures than IB, speaking from experience.

 

No one is trivializing it, and yes, if your career aspirations have literally nothing to do with finance or business in general than you shouldn't spend 40 hours a week, let alone 80, in IB. But the ever replenishing cohort of people happy to take FT analyst jobs are making a rational present value calculation.

Most of us will work for 40 years before retiring, and the IB analyst job will open doors for the next 38 years that would otherwise be closed or really hard to crack open.

 

About to pack up., It's 2am here. So far it's been ok. Team is alright, I like the other interns. MD seems like a genuine scary person. We can hear him scream all the time. I hope to never interact with him. Analyst recommended me to never talk to him and also adress him with Sir/Mr. If I happen to bumb into him.

Executive Director is funny. Yes, he's a little sadistic but still, he's funny. Even his racist and sexist comments are usually hilarious. Also one fucking hot Analyst. She seems like a extremely career minded person and kinda scary. But I would still smash.

Everybody has their toothbrush here. I bring mine starting from tomorrow as well. Also, culture is kinda heavy on the binge drinking after work.

Nevertheless, I don't think I'll start here FT. I'm already in contact with a few headhunters, including PER who wants to talk with me about a potential Investment Analyst role after undergrad.

 
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EUROPETARGET:
About to pack up., It's 2am here. So far it's been ok. Team is alright, I like the other interns. MD seems like a genuine scary person. We can hear him scream all the time. I hope to never interact with him. Analyst recommended me to never talk to him and also adress him with Sir/Mr. If I happen to bumb into him.

Executive Director is funny. Yes, he's a little sadistic but still, he's funny. Even his racist and sexist comments are usually hilarious. Also one fucking hot Analyst. She seems like a extremely career minded person and kinda scary. But I would still smash.

Everybody has their toothbrush here. I bring mine starting from tomorrow as well. Also, culture is kinda heavy on the binge drinking after work.

Nevertheless, I don't think I'll start here FT. I'm already in contact with a few headhunters, including PER who wants to talk with me about a potential Investment Analyst role after undergrad.

This group sounds miserable.

 
 
EUROPETARGET:
About to pack up., It's 2am here. So far it's been ok. Team is alright, I like the other interns. MD seems like a genuine scary person. We can hear him scream all the time. I hope to never interact with him. Analyst recommended me to never talk to him and also adress him with Sir/Mr. If I happen to bumb into him.

Executive Director is funny. Yes, he's a little sadistic but still, he's funny. Even his racist and sexist comments are usually hilarious. Also one fucking hot Analyst. She seems like a extremely career minded person and kinda scary. But I would still smash.

Everybody has their toothbrush here. I bring mine starting from tomorrow as well. Also, culture is kinda heavy on the binge drinking after work.

Nevertheless, I don't think I'll start here FT. I'm already in contact with a few headhunters, including PER who wants to talk with me about a potential Investment Analyst role after undergrad.

Damn bro that sounds like the worst experience ever. Good for you knowing to get out ASAP

 

I’ve heard some horror stories and lived through one myself. A lot of boutique tier firms insist on the optics of long hours just to feel more legit. One of my friends told me his VP said straight up, ‘we don’t really get that much dealflow compared to the big players so we make up for it by working longer and harder’.

 

My first day of an IBD internship in an EMEA satellite office (guess which country) I strolled in at 8:30 AM excited to learn about high finance, only to leave the following day at 5:45 AM. On that remarkable orientación day I learned that as an intern I will spend most my time in the downward dog adho mukha svanasana position.

That proved to be true, as for the next nine weeks I worked every single weekend and on some protected lol Friday nights, massaging numbers in a model or making boxes rounder in PPT.

If you are on a similar boat, I suggest you jump ship once done. But in the meantime, learn as much as you can.

 

If OP accounts are true (I am not doubting the veracity of your statements) then this must be one of the most poorly run teams at your shop, and I'm in HK which is known for shitty work culture.

It makes zero sense to force an intern on day 1 to work till 2am. OP added marginal value (maybe moral support cracking a solid joke here and there?), more likely zero value add and you just soured his/her experience for the rest of the internship.

I respect my interns, and in turn they respect me and work their ass off if/when the time comes, people want to please and work hard when they are respected you respect their time. This sweatshop mentality needs to be wiped from our industry. No doubt we work long hours and they are required but there is a time and a place. Day 1 for an intern is neither the time nor the place, sorry mate for such a shitty introduction to the industry.

 

Agree. So I work in a niche field of project finance and somehow the team structure is like a consulting company, with people called managers and all that. My MD is very chill and once he told me: if you do not have anything due today and your comments are not coming in tonight, go home. Yes he's that sweet. My manager, well, he likes to tell me "I might need your help" or "i might have something for you" then after an hour or two he disappears and comes back after 30 minutes and tell you he actually does not have anything for me. LoL.

Persistency is Key
 

The culture in FFM is honestly disgusting. I worked at an MM there so hours weren't bad, but I don't understand why Germans have such a boner for facetime, useless shitty turns, appearing stiff and preppy as fuck 24/7, and thinking they're a BSD cuz they work in M&A. At BB IB in NYC now and the people are 10x more chill, and I say that as a non-American. WHU/FS students and graduates are probably the most insufferable people I've ever met in my entire life; the Stern/Wharton hardos are not even on the same planet in terms of how much I want to kill myself when I'm sitting next to them for 16 hours a day.

 

Yesterday was fucked Up. VP told me I do great work and a few hours later he ripped me a new asshole because I did horribly wrong. He was about 5 minutes in his monologue when I told him that he opened the wrong document... After saying sorry multiple times he told me that at least I didn't get hit by a stapler or mobile phone ... Awkward smile

Honestly, peers from my uni who are at smallcap/lmm PE funds and smaller vc's seem significantly better than me. Personally, choosing an EB and trying to get into an UMM PE Fond is not my way. I realized that chasing prestige/money is fucked up

 
EUROPETARGET:
Yesterday was fucked Up. VP told me I do great work and a few hours later he ripped me a new asshole because I did horribly wrong. He was about 5 minutes in his monologue when I told him that he opened the wrong document... After saying sorry multiple times he told me that at least I didn't get hit by a stapler or mobile phone ... Awkward smile

Honestly, peers from my uni who are at smallcap/lmm PE funds and smaller vc's seem significantly better than me. Personally, choosing an EB and trying to get into an UMM PE Fond is not my way. I realized that chasing prestige/money is fucked up

d

 

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"That was basically college for me, just ya know, fuckin' tourin' with Widespread Panic over the USA."
 

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