Easily the worst analyst in my group.
There are probably a million posts like this but hit the desk a few weeks ago and I can already tell I am the worst analyst in my group and its not even remotely close. I made a bunch (and I know people say everyone new makes mistakes and its understandable) but a BUNCH of mistakes and even making the same mistake multiple times. I know my perception is already god awful and every associate knows me already as “that analyst” and probably roll their eyes when they see I am staffed with them.
What do I do from here? I think just unfortunately I am learning things and adjusting/ramping up 10x slower than your average analyst. I feel wildly wildly incompetent and useless and an idiot. I honestly don’t even care about being bottom bucket, its probably what I deserve. I guess just the point of this post was to hear if others feel the same way to help ease my anxiety and stress. Thanks guys.
one of the worst analysts in my group...who was known as "that analyst" and frankly was left to work on really mundane crappy pitchwork, surprised us all when he sent his farewell email around and announced he was joining a decent MM PE shop. I was genuinely happy for him. I think in general IB work is pretty stupid and the culture borders on sociopathy, so arguing over "rockstar" and "bad" analysts is sort like arguing over who is the best and worst Taliban torture camp guard or something. I'm not that impressed if someone "crushes" powerpoint and excel modeling. But some associates/VPs really get themselves off over this.
no one will really care or know outside of your group. just keep your head down, study your LBOs/case studies/technicals, and kill recruiting. You got this!
No worries man. I am totally fine working with "bad" analysts, as long as they want to help. What people think is "bad" isnt really that bad if you know what I mean?
You guys get a million emails, tons of really hard to decipher comments, and have to deal with senior bankers expectations who have been doing the job for 20 years and don't remember what its like to not know finance concepts that well.
I was pretty bad when I joined. I used to make merger models off the templates only and totally didn't understand what I was actually doing. Just filled the inputs out from previous work. I didn't have time to figure it out because I was getting work shoved down my throat with tight timelines. Only after like a year did I start to actually understand minimally what I was doing. The only reason I was ok is I worked exclusively on a big deal with the most patient/kind person in the bank who basically hand held me through the motions and taught me everything. I got a decent review from that person (and they could have really destroyed me if they wanted).
I am really empathetic to "bad" analysts/associates that join as a result. Sometimes its just working with a sociopath on that first deal that "seals" your reputation unfortunately.
Not to derail the topic, but I just threw this side-note to a text-group of some turbo-autist-giga-chad types and we generally agreed that Taliban torture camp guards could actually provide a lot of value if they perform tasks that are a bit more basic than just guarding the camp. For example, if the average "torture VP" has about 30 mins to come spend with the prisoner, the 23 hours and 30 minutes that the guard would spend with them could actually be used in some very sadistic ways to break down the prisoner for the next day that the "torture VP" would come back for his/her 30 minutes. It could be as basic as waking the prisoner up every 20 mins they try to sleep so that they never hit their REM cycle and have their probability of spilling the goods elevated way above average.
To the OP, man up, if you're psychologically down on yourself like this, you will continue to screw up as the negative feedback loop in your brain becomes stronger. Continue to do your best until they fire you or you end up surprising everyone to the upside, which statistically is much more probabilistic if you are known as "the analyst". You mentioned you hit the desk 'a couple weeks ago', so the sample size is still too small.
Read Phil Helmuth's "Positivity". "You are always in the right place in the right time" as Phil says throughout, I think it will help your psyche.
I think it's a plus that you can acknowledge and accept how bad you are right now. That's actually a big plus, a lot of people can't even get that right and think they're great when they're not. You're just going to have to try harder than the rest. What type of mistakes are you making? Make a note of it, and go over it before you go to sleep so you don't make it again. It's gonna suck but practice during whatever free time you have left until you start catching up. See if you can find a mentor to help you and ask good well thought out questions. Find the best analyst and see if you can pick his brain, if he's a douche then just watch him and pick up some of his habits. You'll get better, you just have to put in more work than other people. At least you want to get better.
Feel free to pm me and we can set up a call and I’ll give you some tips.
Username checks out
Even if you want to be a killer analyst and get top-bucket bonuses, amazing references, etc. (strong assumption that you even do want that), all that matters is developing good relationships with seniors. The random associate who doesn't like working with you doesn't mean anything in the big picture. Get coffee with Directors/MDs, and do the really easy, high-visibility shit and absolutely crush those low hanging fruit. Send out press releases / news articles as soon as they come out, try to participate in meetings, etc.
I was in your shoes (3rd year analyst now and leaving soon) - I was trash at the job and would make stupid mistakes way too often. Soon realized I have two options:
1) Actually try to build those skills from the ground up, gain mentorship from strong associates, become a technical god who always goes above and beyond to produce flawless work (fuck that lol)
2) Just get by on the stuff above but become highly visible and liked by the people who actually matter for my review and in turn get great feedback while doing minimal work
Obviously I picked option #2 - I don't want to be a career banker nor do I give a flying fuck what the miserable 35-year old MBA associate thinks about me when he catches that I missed a footnote. I have a core group of seniors who will vouch for me, I have waaay less anxiety around my work, and all around just enjoying better vibes.
I saw a similar post a month or so ago, so I'll give similar advice as I did before. Overall, it's counter-productive to say you're making a BUNCH of mistakes without trying to specify what mistakes you're making in on certain tasks. My advice would be to isolate where you struggle the most and build from there.
What specifically are you struggling with? Turning decks? Running Comps? Building operating models? Diligence processes? Buyer lists? Here's some advice for some of those coming from an A3
Turning decks: Slow down. Any senior banker would rather have a deck ~30 min late than ~5 min early and having spelling / grammar errors. Print out your decks and compare it to the markup- a lot of times printed copies turn up more errors than just reviewing your work on a screen. Check things 3+ times when you're starting, with the last time taking a ~1 min walk around the office to reset your eyes
Running comps: leverage other bank's work here. Many IBs publish various industry comps in market updates they provide. Try googling "XXXX investment bank industry updates, "industry whitepapers," etc. If you're aware of a fairness opinion in the space, those almost always publish relevant comps
Building operating models: so much of banker's work is just leveraging prior outputs made from similar processes. If you're making an operating model, many times you don't have to start from scratch. Leverage other work as much as you can from a model skeleton standpoint
Diligence processes: you need to stay hyper organized at all times. Keep a running tally on where documents are published in the data room to start
Buyer lists: it really depends on the industry, but CIQ buyer screens, pitchbook buyer screens, and just straight up googling can generate ideas. It's always better to have more buyers that are tier 2/3 rather than a handful that are tier 1 and not many additional ones. Be sure to build lots of support into your proposed buyer (how large are they, have they done any recent deals, similar geography, similar customers / end markets served, etc.)
If you're able to tell me what areas you're struggling with perhaps I can assist more