Career Advice - IB
Hey, I'm a student currently finishing my freshman year at a public target studying engineering and statistics. I've realized that banking is probably what I want to go into, and I feel like I am a little late in the game, at least in terms of networking and learning more about the industry. This summer, I'm interning at a PE-based search fund and a real estate startup and I am just looking to learn as much as possible (I know doing two internships might be a lot but I'm willing to work for it). I realize that my background is preparing me quantitatively, but I still need to learn a lot of the technicals and accounting fundamentals soon.
I was just wondering if anyone could provide me any insight on what I can do to better put myself in a position to be successful moving forward. Is it difficult for people engineering backgrounds to break into banking or trading? What is an effective networking strategy especially with Covid-19 still forcing people to stay at home? And finally, why did you choose to pursue IB outside of the lucrative pay and exit opps?
Thank you in advance for your responses.
Freshman spring isn’t “late in the game.” Just start reading about the industry, studying, etc. then start making networking calls in the fall. If your school has pipeline-esque preprofessional organizations, try to join those in the fall as well.
To the second part of your question, I wanted to keep challenging myself after undergrad and liked the competitiveness (of the industry itself, and the means of entry). ~3 years in, I’d say the best parts have been how important my job (even still) feels for a 25-year-old’s, the people I’ve met, and the amount I’ve learned. In some ways, it’s felt like (admittedly sometimes pretty crushing) pseudo business school (content-wise, at least), except you’re paid $X00k, instead of the other way around.
There are tons of engineering background individuals in banking. As you said it prepares you massively in the quantitative side of things. As far as preparation for banking, you're completely fine. I'd advise to just do as much reading online, watch banking youtube vids, skim this site for industry knowledge, and start reaching out to people thru your school's alumni network for advice and start building your network. You'll realize building your network is probably the single most important thing for breaking into banking. And you should focus on quality and not necessarily quantity. Building meaningful relationships and it'll pay dividends. Best of luck.
I got into IB end of first semester senior year and still got an internship. You are not late and have plenty of time.
Take some finance classes and modeling courses online. As far as your story goes, be original and just say how you got interested. Lastly, network with alumni and people with common interests first (i.e. sports) linkedIn lets you do pretty good target searching.
Thank you guys so much for your insight and kind words, it truly means a lot to me. Just one more question. I know the expecte GPA for banking is about a 3.7. I am probably going to end this year with about a 3.6 ( I didn't do too well in multivariable calculus :( ) and I wanted to ask how I could still be competitive with this lower GPA? Engineering GPA's are on average much lower at my school than other majors and I am not sure how recruiters/senior bankers would view this.
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