6 months in...am I where I should be?

Would love to hear the opinions of current second year analysts...I'm 6 months into banking and while I feel like I've learned a ton, I'm still constantly being taught new things, whether it'd be new financial concepts or deal process-related. I understand that the learning curve will be steep but part of me thinks I'm not progressing well enough with my analyst class. So my question is, when does banking really begin to "click" for you and when do you feel comfortable enough with the day-to-day work? 

10 Comments
 

Are you learning new things? I.e. are the new things you're being taught subtle modeling tips, advanced industry knowledge, or a niche thing later in the deal that you couldn't have seen before? I bet when you started an index match seemed impossible! You've come farther than you think.
 

As long as you're getting better at catching text comments, picking up modeling to some extent, and able to handle most basic non-model excel backups, you are fine. This job is hard to pick up and even harder when you didn't have a real internship because of covid. It's great you're still learning, if you're able to do 75% of your job on your own and have questions about the other 25% you 're doing great.

Make sure you try things a few times instead of just saying "idk how to do this help", also write down what you did to try to fix it before asking. Both of those show you're actively trying to work through / solve problems on your own and will help your learning a ton

 

Despite but anyone says the apprentice model of banking means that your learning process is driving by the transactions your staffed on. Anytime your staffed on a new type of transaction you need to tell your team that it's your first time.

So far all I've been staffed on are follow ons and sell sides.... so that's all I'm really any good so far lol

 

I didn't start being a "good" analyst until 1 year in. By that time, I had closed two deals, so I had an understanding for the process. Before then, I just did whatever my associates told me to do, and I had to receive direction from them a fair amount. Now, I'm on calls with the MDs and client and start making the deliverable myself. Don't get me wrong, I still need direction from associates / VPs at times, but I'm much more efficient and have a broader understanding of what the MD wants

 

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