Climate Change and what's next for a career in IB
Hi guys,
As I await comments from the VP at 11 PM on a Tuesday night, I got into an existential crisis. I have spent the past 12+ months of my life miserable, working 80+ hour weeks with the occasional live deal crunch time 100-hour weeks. I joined IB with high hopes that 10-20 years down the line, I would have a great career, build wealth so that my child(ren) would be able to live a great life just like what my parents did for me. However, recently I read an article on CNBC "Climate change is making people think twice about having children", which echoed a lot of the points I was thinking about. I mean how will the world look like in ten, twenty, forty years from now? If the world will turn into a sh*t hole and I will also change my stance on wanting children, then why am I slaving away arguably the best years of my life? I come from a wealthy family in a developing country and among my friends I am the only one pursuing a career in high finance. Most are working chill corporate and startup jobs, heck some even directly went to work at their family company. They have been partying all summer, vacations in Europe, hanging out in my hometown. I feel depressed and the FOMO has kicked in. At this point, I am trying to wrap my head around whether I should throw the towel and just start eating the family wealth without having anxiety attacks from my phone pinging at 3 AM on a weekday.
Sorry if this was a long vent but wanted to hear what others think about will pursuing these demanding careers (IB/PE/VC/HF/MBB etc.) be worth it in 20 years?
I wasn’t born into a wealthy family so IB’s my only shot to make one
Agreed. I think motivation would be hard to come by if I was born with money and you should be proud you stuck it out this long. Just do us all a favor and don't become a politician. You don't understand the plight of the people and don't deserve the power to manage them.
My advice is to focus on controlling what you can control, and realize that EVERY generation has some sort of crisis that is going to end the world. War, nukes, plagues, climate change, etc.
My first job out of college was in commercial real estate. Hours were largely easy, but when I thought about waking up every day and doing that job, it made me sick, so I knew I wouldn't do it forever. Knowing what I know now and putting myself in your shoes, I'd stick out IB for two years. Then, depending on whether or not you knew EXACTLY what you wanted to do, I would do that, or go to business school if I didn't know.
Being an IB analyst straight out of undergrad is something that can really set you up well long term, whether you stay in IB or not. Companies look very highly upon them, in general.
Edit: I should add that for me, getting an MBA has been a great experience. It helped narrow my focus, understand businesses better, and greatly increase my network. Some people either see it as a waste or that the opportunity cost isn’t worth it. To me, in the context of my entire working life, an MBA is absolutely worth it, save for sales.
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