Turning 31 this year, currently an Analyst 2 at BB (GS/MS/JPM) doing capital markets despite having 3-4 years of industry experience. Am I behind?
I come from a country in Asia where I had to serve military for 2 years, coupled with the fact that I was also behind in school for another 2 years as I did not like studying growing up.
Against all odds, I managed to break into S&T at a BB but got let go after 1 year after the bank went through restructuring and then spent 2 years in a buyside firm before deciding to go back to sellside. Thoughts?
behind as an Analyst, sure. As a general 31 year old, I think you are still doing better than 90% of men your age. All perspective
More like 95% of 31 year olds!
Agree
Normally by early 30s you would be Snr associate or Jnr VP level in banking but obviously careers aren’t always linear like that. If you can promoted to associate within the next year then it’s okay (similar age to mba assoc)
Behind in banking definitely but like a 31 YO making $250K and soon $350K when associate is pretty fire vs everyone else lol
At least you didn't need to get an MBA to break in like many people do from 30-35. There's guys older than you in MBA programs scrambling to get weaker jobs than you
Don’t waste your life thinking if you are “ahead” or “behind”. You’ll die unhappy comparing with others. The truth is, you’re ahead of 90% in your age group if you’re in a BB. And in 10 years time, this wouldn’t matter.
No. Wall Street is younger than the rest of the industry. Coming from the middle market in the south I was shocked at my first networking reception.
The BB commercial banks are also younger than middle market. Age isnt relevant. Just dont stagnate. Even if it means jumping ship or going back to school. Growth can be hard in the analyst role because commercial banking isn’t as draining as IB. Less of an up or out culture. It isn’t out of the ordinary to be an analyst into your mid 30s if you had to claw your way up.
behind for what?
Behind in terms of ranking and seniority… you have other dudes in cities like Hong Kong hitting VP/ED by my age. Sucks when I think about it
We might have very similar backgrounds. Singaporean here, did 2y of army, did polytechnic (so 1y behind), did NUS for 1 year, before redoing my undergrad in the UK (so 3y, total of 4y spent at undergrad level).
31 this year and at assoc 2. Had to pause my career for 1 year to handle family health issues so I consider myself rather behind. If you are in London you would see tons of European being rather behind as well, as they do 7 years of undergraduate and masters before starting their first job. They typically have respect for older candidates as they have been through the same shit as well.
All in all, focus on yourself, and it is YOUR marathon to run, regardless of who else is running too
It’s all relative, I wouldn’t sweat age. I’m 27 and would take an analyst 1 role in a heartbeat. Would still earn more than most my age.
Something I noticed is if I close my eyes to comparison and ignore the linear path, I get to just focus on MY story, and enjoy the satisfaction of all my accomplishments thus far.
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