Goldman Sachs Analyst Crashout
Copied verbatim from LinkedIn:
was a Healthcare and TMT investment banker at Goldman Sachs. And what I saw inside would break most people. We don't talk about how Zoe had a seizure on the floor during our 2023 internship. We don't talk about how one intern flagged it to the staffer - "She isn't doing well." We don't talk about how that intern went back in after it happened and said, "I told you." We don't talk about how he didn't get a return offer. But I will. Because when I came back full-time, I ended up cross-staffed with TMT on a Healthcare-TMT deal. The VP on that deal worked us past the brink. 40-hour stretches. Deliverables assigned at midnight, due by 9am. Told I was "good to log off," then punished the next day for needing time to get back to the office. At one point, another analyst was quietly given a day off - 1 wasn't. I reported it. Once. Twice. Three times. No change. When I finally went to the staffer, she yelled: "I don't have time for this!" I resigned shortly after. My bonus was held back. They sent a cease & desist. I'm 23, broke, and facing court over my apartment. But I have my voice. And I'm not afraid of what happens next. Goldman Sachs isn't just a bank. It's the centerpiece of a system that builds prestige off silence - and then dares you to speak. I'm done being silent.
Thoughts?
Nothing wrong with exposing shitty behaviors.
Extremely messed up if true
That said, I don't trust what people post on LinkedIn. If this came from Litquidity or even on here I'd take it more seriously but on LinkedIn, you never know if this was one guy who slipped through the cracks and got fired for performance and now is using "toxic culture" as a way to land on his feet
Not defending toxic cultures at all. My point still stands though. People post anything on LinkedIn to try to be famous.
Good for that guy to expose their toxic culture. The younger generation is much braver to speak up on platforms which is great to see. Although it's still sad that nothing will change. They don't care at all.
Was an analyst at GS and can confirm; FIG and Industrials have equally brutal, selfish and non-empathetic cultures. The thing that sticks with me to this day is how little anybody on your team cares about you, during or after your time.
One would think after you work 100s of hours for people they would go to bat for you or always serve as references etc. but no. GS is a factory that thrives on giving mostly insecure young people a bridge onto better things on Wall Street in exchange for indentured servitude and abuse. It's an extractive, no value-add (not unique to pure investment banks though) hellhole. Wish I knew what I do now before accepting the offer...
Applaud this person for sharing their voice
Of course it was probably worse than I could imagine (intern at a small boutique), but would you say now it is worth it? I see you're in PE now. Was that your dream role? Are you happy now? Would you do it over again, or would you completely avoid it in the first place? Just curious about your take as FT 2026 recruiting is about to ramp up.
No. Almost everyone gets into high finance thinking they are going to be the next guy or girl to make $x billion and be on the front page of the WSJ. Movies like the big short sensationalized what the industry is really like; nowhere near as exciting nor are there opportunities for that kind of blowout money-making. PE is the same exact thing as banking with the difference being marginally better hours, you are bidding vs. selling, and the stress is even higher because partners at the funds you are in have skin in the game whereas bankers are just glorified real estate agents.
Reality is that the business has institutionalized most of the big opportunities away, there is no need for new firms to form, especially in PE, as I assure you there is more than enough capital chasing opportunities. Hedge fund glory days are over in my humble opinion - algorithms, passive management (e.g. index funds) and the Citadel-type platforms will dominate public markets investing, doubly so once AI starts to become more dominant force over the next decade.
Ask yourself - can you beat the S&P 500 consistently by picking names? If the answer is yes you should take your shot (as many people have and will, none of them are original or have a competitive advantage), if you fail, you will be out of business in less than five years working for a mutual fund somewhere. Will there be a Michael Jordan level athlete every now and then (see: Bill Ackman) who manages to do this? I suppose so, but even he has had some brutal and tough down years.
Look up the IRRs of the latest vintages at all the biggest names in PE. I have friends at MFs and nobody is above 10%. Turns out printing money was easy when market was ripping across sectors, you could lever for free and just sell your business at a higher multiple, guaranteed. Now you have firms trying to sell their PortCos to themselves to cover-up for overpaying when everything was going up. Call me crazy, but I think that is fraudulent...especially when the marks you make to determine valuation before actualization or realization are set by YOU.
All in all, if I could do it over I would have focused on building a more tech / AI / blockchain fluent skill-set that would have made me a very desirable commodity in Silicon Valley, not just some excel/ppt monkey who can be replaced in 5 minutes at a bank / PE shop. Very disillusioned...
i was a FGLI student who got into an Ivy with no undergrad business via Questbridge.
originally, i had no idea what i wanted to do and majored in the humanities, but then GS was doing an OCR event at my school, so i signed up to learn more about the firm and industry.
i got paired with an alumni at the firm who was also a humanities major and i thought that she would be helpful to another humanities major who was interested in finance.
WRONG!!!
she immediately started grilling me on technicals, brainteasers, and never even asked me to introduce myself.
the conversation ended with her telling me to not even bother at all and that i would not be getting a job here.
other GS representatives seemed to just enable her behavior at the event.
later on, i found out that she got the job through a family connection.
what is up with these hardos that they would do anything for a feeling of power? if even over those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
i had better tractions with EBs later on and the people there were worlds apart nicer.
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