Age when starting FT
What is the usual age of people who start working FT in London in IBD? I've heard that Germans are usually older, but what would you guys say is the average age of your analyst class or intern class?
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22-23. The youngest was probably 20, and the oldest was probably 26.
Started FT at 21 and i was 2-3 yrs younger than others in my class, including both European & UK masters students
dont be surprised if you see europeans that are 26+ 🤣
Laugh all you want but at the end of the day its those 26+ yo Europeans that get 90% of all PE/HF opportunities. Cope harder
Is that because of the Masters degree or because of the additional european language they are fluent in?
Least obvious 26+ yo An1
Hope you enjoyed getting talked down by ASOs 3 years younger than you LOL
Cool story unc, what was the Vietnam war like growing up?
Even graduates from Mediterranean counties in Europe can start quite late sometimes (ie, 28y/o)
Yeah, I know some Europeans (usually German-speaking) who started as analysts at 28-29
Average age of Analyst classes in London would be 23-24yo with Brits averaging 21-22 and continental Europeans 24-26yo
We had EU 24-26 year olds doing the summer internship. Brits between 20-22.
In any top BB/EB its a basic weighted average really: 20%x21y (Brits) + 80%x25 (EU) = ~ 24.2y
Also important to note that a pretty big amount of inexperienced BSc Geography kids crash out early after a year or two which then significantly raises the average age for AN2s, ASSO1s
curious about what avg FT age in the U.S. is
22
21
Quite common to see 26+ in London for those that come from the Big 4
One thing to remember is that for many 20-22 year olds, an A1 job is a completely new environment so it's hard to sustain the hours, resulting in burnout. The tip I read a while ago here on WSO is that the industry is more tolerable for A1s aged 25-26 given they've had a bit more life experience. Where I worked as an intern, it wasn't surprising to have interns aged 30 onwards (albeit on an MBA track but it doesn't change the point)
In my experience, working until midnight and beyond is much easier at 20-22 vs. at 25-28, since you have more energy and no real responsibilities aside from work (kids, relationships, side hustles/exit plans…)
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