Care for eachother, Care for the Community, Look to Grow
Hi All,
Over the past few months I've been reading this forum for advice and the general thoughts on the industry. I think we have been slowly becoming much more angry at each other for odd reasons. I've noticed that pretty much everyone is angry, annoyed, or depressed. From interns at nontargets to Second years trying to leave banking, it seems that frustration has absorbed a lot of this forum.
Not to mention the prestige whoring (rampant forever here), but I was wondering what if we can change it? I mean after all we're all in this together. Each of our stories matter, and we are all different. We're trained to be so Type A we often forget that at the end of the day we are still in the top 1% of people. The average American makes less than the bonus (normally, not this year) of an A1.
And so what if you work in the middle market? So what if you work in FP&A? If you don't make it to CVP, what if we all agreed that that was alright? The amount of sheer luck to even get an interview at one of these places is astronomical and you should be proud of your accomplishments, even if it is Stifel, or Nomura, or etc. Be proud of who you have become, and how far you've come. You might not see your progression to this point, but trust me you have. Take care for yourself, you matter.
If you're from a nontarget (which statistically speaking you probably are), it will not affect you as much as you might think. There are as many PE funds that will still take you as there are fish in the sea. And you will still be paid enough for you to live a life worth living.
We should all be here to support one another. Don't take out your anger on diversity, or nepotism, or anything that is not in your control. Don't hate others, just congratulate them and move on. Your story is not theirs, nor is theirs yours. Focusing on the journeys of others will only cause you to have resentment. You are enough, and everyone is still proud of you. Take a step back.
To the interns, good luck this recruiting season. Don't give up, and shoot for your dreams. A bank you have an offer at is better than not having one at all. You have guaranteed an interview for most firms already by just having a SA, and if a PE fund eventually asks for your SAT fuck them, sounds like a shit culture anyway.
To the analysts like me, take the time to take care of yourself. The person next me fell asleep at the office redacting PDF's last night. I'm worried for his mental health, as he screwed up oncycle (after talking about it nonstop) and I just hope that everyone can understand that it is alright to appreciate your success.
To the associates and up, take care of us. We see you as mentors and we just hope we can make you proud. We're doing our best, and I hope you can acknowledge that.
When Patrick made this forum, I hope he saw it as a way to build a true community of people who care for each other. We are the only ones that can change the culture.
TLDR: Care for yourself and each other, be proud of your accomplishments, and look forward to life. It is alright not to hate people, or to focus too much on prestige.
Refreshing dose of positivity in this forum
I love this, thank you for posting it. I agree, we can change - each one of us.
I like this post - I try to congratulate people on their wins here, obvi bc I know mine is coming
Farting rainbows and shitting sprinkles after reading this.
EDIT: *YAWN*
This is the same guy who made a thread about how to approach a girl in private equity... I take it the newfound pessimism means she said no : /
It was a joke, take it easy.
And the community seemed to enjoy that thread, I'm sure you did too!
W thread
agreed, thanks for posting
To the surprise of nobody it’s an intern writing this… you’ll be with us in mind and spirit soon too, buddy
Yep. The natural stage of obliviousness
W thread. I’ve noticed the grind attitude is so pervasive in finance people it’s insane. I try to be a resource for people at my university, and I’ve had a few people come to me worried out if their minds about choosing X firm over Y firm, and it seems like they never take the step back to appreciate that the work they’ve put in has finally manifested in what they wanted.
Choosing between two of JPM/MS/GS summer analyst roles is one of the best problems someone could have as a sophomore. Stop and smell the roses people, celebrate the wins when they come, don’t be too hard on yourselves, and don’t miss the forest for the trees.
100%, especially the celebrate the wins part. If you don't appreciate your own hard work and take pride in your accomplishments, what's the point of them.
Great post. I think some positivity here is refreshing. I personally think the negativity might be influenced by the overall rough economy and much less flexible job market. I remember about a year ago there were a lot of lighthearted shitposts. A lot more genuinely helpful threads on finance but also life and culture. It seemed like the sentiment was that banking opened up a lot of doors and people felt well compensated even considering the hours.
The situation right now is a lot of us are still working long hours, but for lower comp and fewer exit opps than a year ago. I think IB and PE are still great careers, but people are understandably less happy. Still, we remain some of the highest paid professionals and it can be easy to forget how much worse it could be.
I’ve heard the situation today described as a ‘white collar’ recession. While the lower income job market is booming and fueling historically low unemployment, tech and finance workers feel more replaceable than ever with zero leverage to improve comp or hours. All while being asked to return to the office and drum up new business while the market is nearly dead. The effect is a compression of the spread between the lowest and highest earners.
Hopefully as the economy improves finance starts feeling like a better deal. I’d bet the more positive posts will return.
Wholesome
Thanks dude
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my man here on the peak of euphoria 😂😂😂😂😂
Love the plea for more finance culture on a finance forum. It's a bullpen / dealteam game and in my 4 years the culture has proven so much better than those on the outset seem to think. It amazes me sometimes how the team veterans can flip the mood around on long nights with curve ball witty sh*t and we might as well show more of it to those trying to break in.
This is new? lol :insert are you serious spiderman gif here:
Dude appreciate the positively a lot of us r down with the layoffs/cuts
New to the industry too mind helping a bro out with some silver bananas?
Have some Qs about lateraling to a smaller city but wanna stay anon cuz they take
I swear there is a post like this one every few months...
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