Any Muslims in IB/High Finance? What's your experience been like?

Hey everyone,

I'm an incoming freshman at NYU and am planning on pursuing investment banking. I was just curious if there are any Muslims here working in IB or high finance and what your experience has been like.

For some background, I'm a Muslim guy. I pray around 3-5 times a day and I don't drink or smoke. I'm definitely not the perfect Muslim by any means, but I do try to practice my faith. I've been around parties and people drinking in high school, but I've never really participated.

I was mostly wondering what it's actually like once you're in the industry. Do you usually have time to pray during the workday, or is that unrealistic with the hours? Also, since drinking seems like a pretty common part of networking and team events, what's your experience been if you don't drink? Have your coworkers or bosses ever cared, or is it generally not a big deal? I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has ever felt left out or if people are pretty respectful about it.

I'm not really looking for a debate about religion or whether finance is halal. I'm just interested in hearing from people who've actually been through it and what their experience has been.

I'd really appreciate hearing your stories. Thanks!

4 Comments
 
Most Helpful

People are generally respectful and do not care if you drink or not at networking events. You can simply have virgin and non-alcoholic options in such settings.

With respect to prayer times, you need to be strategic about it. As long as it doesn’t interfere with your job, I don’t think people will notice UNLESS you give them a reason to notice (e.g., frequent pattern of missing scheduled calls). You wouldn’t generally draw any scrutiny as long as you’re doing your job.

Lastly, to answer your opening question, yes, there are many Muslims in high finance (IB, PE, and HF).

 

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