Feeling like wasting time working in IB

I know I sound like a fucking pussy, but I feel like I'm wasting my life away working this "prestigious" corporate job. 

Long thought IBD is the ultimate dream, only to find out that I don't really learn the ins and outs of companies, don't put that much time "understanding strategic rationale" or "developing high-level strategies" for clients. I'm doing a lot of bitch PPT work, crunch some super random numbers in Excel, and managing processes that often seem to be rather tedious.

The word I'm looking for is soul-sucking. I now know why fellow monkeys refer to this job as soul sucking. 

Why do I bear with all that corporate bullshit, let incapable brainless shitheads give me instructions on what I need to do with my life? 

Why do you? 

33 Comments
 

I mean it really comes down to what you value at the end of the day. Do you enjoy making more money than your peers but don't mind giving up your personal freedom and at any moment an email could ruin your weekend? Or do you enjoy having visibility and the ability to make plans on weeknights, weekends, and not get disturbed when you take a vacation? Nothing is black and white but honestly the trade-off comes down to a little extra $ that you probably won't spend anyway vs. autonomy. Have seen both sides being in corp dev now and there are definitely positives and negatives to both.

 
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OP, I hear your concern and it's not uncommon. Personally, I remember coming out of undergrad and going to IB with tons of excitement only to learn that I was basically admin on deals and started getting jaded to the whole process. Also--and you probably gathered this--most jobs are like this. There's never a greener side just different shades of brown.

A couple of personal 'whys' 

- Knowing my first job was a potential means to my desired ends

- Finding opportunities to learn valuable things

- Network

- Treating 'corporate speak' and 'corporate BS' as a game where I was just a professional player and not a personal one

- Sifting out the bad employees from the good ones and aligning with them

- Getting surgical on my exit ops

Some people may say 'just keep your head down' and/or 'do it for the money' and--frankly--those are pretty valid pieces of advice for someone early in his or her career. Just don't let it overtake--or worse become--your personality. 

Not sure if that helps you at all, but my 2 cents.  

 

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