Expectations vs reality of being a first-year IB analyst
I am curious how other people's expectations of being a first-year analyst vs their reality of being a first-year analyst have played out
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I'm a lot more miserable and had more emotional breakdowns than I imagined
Seconded lol
Why was this? The hours and grind?
Weak genetics combined with a silver-spoon upbringing. Sad!
Thought everything would be a lot more serious - team is actually pretty cool and seniors are generally friendly and respectful. Didn’t realize how much of a toll long hours would take on me - constantly pretty tired and generally feel bored, although I wouldn’t say I’m unhappy or miserable by any means. Also thought I would have learned a lot more by now, I definitely have in my coverage industry but not so much finance knowledge.
I think this is pretty common for coverage groups.
Long hours definitely took a bigger toll on me than I imagined
Modeling is touted so frequently from college student prospects and in interviews - the job is 95% PowerPoint edits and administrative tasks to move a process along (updating buyer logs, uploading data room files, sitting in diligence calls just to monitor) that don't take much if at all any brainpower. There can be very interesting modeling exercises in complex situations, but even when modeling if its a relatively straightforward DCF / LBO, there's probably a template from a prior project that you modify slightly and use.
The very late nights (3-5ams+ especially if consistent for a while) take a pretty bad toll mentally and physically. If you end between 12am-2am most of the time, its not too bad when you get used to it.
Looking upwards at more senior people, really only MDs have somewhat control over their time (also depends how strong their client relations are). Every level below that you can expect to be on call pretty much all the time.
How often are the very late nights?
Really just depends on your group. Knew people in other groups that literally never worked that late. I ended up having weeks at a time going "very late nights" at certain points on pretty much all of my live deals.
if you’re in a good group (aka a busy group), it will be consistently be 2am as a first year… don’t let people tell you otherwise
OP, reason you don't see any other comments is the highest voted comment summed it up too well.
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A few thoughts on this topic:
- As someone mentioned above, the job is way less technical than most people think (most of the time is adjusting slides, arranging calls, writing emails, doing screenings, sending documents to the printing room, and other admin stuff)
- No matter how much effort you put in, 90% of the work you do during your first year will be trash and will have to be re-made by your associate
- Coming from college, you will surely underestimate the level of detail in this industry. (Using comas instead of semicolons to separate footnotes on pg 12 of the appendix will piss off your VP and will affect your review)
- You will not attend 90% of meetings with clients (and if you do, you will not open your mouth during the meeting)
- Senior bankers tend to be much nicer than what is said on this site, usually problematic people tend to be middle managers
- All the modelling you might learn in college, or in courses such as Wall Street Prep or TTS is pretty much useless. Most banks will have their own standard integrated models or templates which tend to be much more complex
- Weekdays working until midnight or 1pm are not that bad, your body can get use to it
- You realize that very few things are more scary than the sound of your phone receiving an email during the weekend and being more than 2 hours away from your laptop
- Finally, 85% of your success and happiness will depend on which associate you are staffed with. Working with a supportive, and caring associate that bothers to provide guidance and detailed feedback against working with an associate / VP who micromanages and has no patience is key (unfortunately this does not depend on you)
What do you mean by screenings?
Look for companies in a particular industry and region.
For instance, your VP may ask you to elaborate a list with all the building material suppliers based in the US with revenue over $100m.
Geez
Returning IB intern starting FT in the fall. Would you still recommend doing the practice modeling courses (3 statement, dcf, lbo) from Wall Street prep anyway? Or how would you better prepare for the job from a technical perspective?
Don't waste your time, banks pay for training your first few weeks for you to refresh this, and unless you're in a pure M&A team you won't model nearly as much as you think anyways. Enjoy every ounce of freedom and free time you have left
if you're looking to recruit on cycle, it's worth it to do some light LBOs in June / Training before you hit the desk. Otherwise mostly everyone will tell you to not do anything and enjoy the last ounce of freedom you have. Each group and bank has different best practices they try to teach their juniors, and I've found that teaching smart 1Y analysts from a blank slate is easier versus when they've done a bunch of prep, but do whatever suits you. If you really want to prepare for the job, learn how to set up your ppt quick access ribbon (align, size, group, etc) and you'll be fine.
The final bullet tho..
Truest thing I’ve ever read
That last point really hits home. I’m staffed on an equal number of deals between two associates, but spend 90% of my time doing work for one of the associates because he pings me every couple of hours or sends a massive email asking for an immense amount of detail to be provided for every single item involved in the deal.
Lol spot on with the model templates. I asked my associate why something was the way it was on a template, and we was just like "idk someone made it like that a decade ago probably, and that's just how it stayed"
Comedy lol
Find the best “culture” and least amount of hours group at your bank, prep for PE like your life depends on it, and GTFO asap before you lose your soul
What is the best way to find out the actual amount of hours each group works during the interview process? You can't just ask them outright.
Pro Tip: Always call alums of any IB group you're considering joining to get a real, honest opinion of WLB and group culture.
Also, once you get past A1 - A2, it really isn't unheard of to inquire about group culture & WLB during interviews. Just make sure you ask someone around your age who seems cool & that you trust. If you can't find someone like that in the group, it's a sweatshop fosho.
Anyone can do the job that has half a brain and great work ethic, that’s the reality.
Week days are manageable, but constant weekend work is what really makes you re-evaluate this job.
Politics at the senior level is also something I majorly underestimated.
Can you elaborate on the point about politics at the senior level?
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