Current and Former UBS Bankers: Do You Regret Joining? Was It Worth It?
I personally had the worst experience of my entire life there and was treated so poorly. I would never in a million years do it over or go anywhere near that bank again.
IB is tough everywhere, but I felt like UBS had a noticeably worse culture than what most of my peers were dealing with at other banks.
The culture was deeply broken and toxic. Constant weekend work for pitches, all-nighters, deal flow was low, and the bonuses were so disappointing.
Not to mention the bank seemed to have a disproportionate number of internationals on visas which honestly ruined the culture and it was miserable working with some of the international EDs and Ds. It felt like many of them stayed longer than they wanted to because it was so much harder for them to quit.
Has anyone else had a similarly awful experience? I’d be curious to hear if this was just me or if others felt the same way.
Congrats on UBS!
1000% not worth it. UBS was a complete waste of life for me.
Quitting was the best day of my life. F UBS
What you doing nowadays?
It’s a scam
Interns you have 1 chance to save yourself, do not accept the offer. Shop it around
Not getting the return offer is better than getting it and working at UBS.
Try to lateral to GS/MS/JPM if you can or even WF
This is true. Recruit FT to another bank ASAP!
Me watching my 21 year old self accept the UBS offer
Friends don’t let friends work at UBs
Join if you want your MD to buy a second mansion
I was laid off from CS right before the merger and consider it one of the best things that ever happened to me
Lucky bastard!
Former UBS GIG, came over from CS. This actually wasn't my experience at all. I was on real deals, culture was good, but just became clear that runway was running out. Glad I did it but also glad I left before the wheels came off the place. Just my experience. I personally didn't have a toxic culture but can't speak for every team at the bank.
What made you decide to leave?
Also GIG is probably the best group at UBS at this point .
Lots of top ppl left I heard. A shell of its past.
Being intentionally vague but short story is the MD for the subvertical I was in left
^ hit the nail on the head. i’ve generally enjoyed my experience but it is my no means as flashy / fun as other banks. UBS is a great spot to do a few years, recruit with the legacy name brand, and leave once ur two years are up
Very much group dependent. Some groups are relatively chill, some are sweaty/miserable.
If you’re in a group as an intern and you don’t like it, switch groups or get return offer and lateral to a different bank. Strongly regret doing my 2 years in my specific group.
Yeah that's exactly it, if you want to just do 2 years and done it's fine. If you want to make a longer run, less so.
Agree, UBS still has good people, but it's gotten brutally political even at the analyst/associate level. Some of the mid-levels and seniors there are among the worst on the Street. The exits still happen, but it's basically two buckets: people who got lucky on-cycle, or analysts sitting in one of the few silos with decent deal flow. If you're not aligned with a good MD, your life becomes pitch hell, endless decks for the long list of MDs who haven't closed anything since 2021/2022. Recruiting off-cycle from UBS is impossible because most people have nothing of substance to talk about.
Del
I just left, couldn’t take it anymore
It is a common story in banking. The firm relies heavily on the prestige to keep people working brutal hours but the reality of the daily management and politics often does not match that status. If you are already feeling this way, start looking for your exit now because those firms rarely change their stripes regardless of how much they talk about culture in internal meetings.
An IB on Paper, a PR Marketing firm in practice
from the sounds of it everyone will be a former ubs banker soon once they close up shop.
Thank you for the insight S&T intern
Thank you for the response analyst
Wasted 4 years of my career at UBS. Closed 0 sell sides. Dont join UBS
3 years at UBS, 0 sell sides to date
We are being told to go to this poll and vote that we don’t regret it
Congrats on no regrets!
Was UBS ever anyones first choice?
Yeah, was my first choice. Was debating btwn UBS or Lehman Bros but picked UBS for better stability
Did you go to a target school. I have a hard time believing this.
3 years at UBS, no closed sell sides
1 year, 0 sell sides, 500 logo splashes
No regrets. Recruited on-cycle early, got a top UMM offer, been coasting since. UBS makes that easy, barely any live deal flow, and what little there is goes to a handful of tryhards in each group who get paid ~5k more for 20+ more hours and similar if not worse exits. If that's not you, you can avoid a lot of work. Mostly pitches, so it never feels high-stakes. I'm doing ~60 hrs/week vs. ~80 for friends at top banks.
Bottom line: great WLB compared to other shops, but don't stay past 2 years or you'll likely lose optionality due to lack of experience. It's good if you're coasting or one of the tryhards getting real deal reps, bad for everyone in between, grinding hours with nothing to show for it. Groups like M&A, HC, and FIG are miserable where you can't coast. But in the more "meh" groups like Tech, Consumer, Sponsors, some subsectors of GIG, coasting is very possible.
del
Problem is mainly M&A, FIG, M&T where you can’t coast. Miserable hours and you get paid same as chill groups where you slack
Best thing I ever did was accept DB ft offer over UBS...have a buddy in Tech there and seriously think he's losing his mind.
Tech may be the most dysfunctional group in terms of revenue per headcount but it’s far far from the worst group culturally at UBS
Which group is the worst?
Greater than 50% regret… I hope i get a return offer and can shop it
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