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"Prospect in IB-M&A" Why do people on here scoff at those who work in firms like BMO or RBC?

Isn't doing Front office work there still an incredible job for a 22 year old?

The answer to your question is that, yes, a front office role at many of the firms discussed on this forum should be considered a professionally impressive achievement for new graduates. Hell, a front office role at many of these firms is impressive regardless of one's age.

Assuming most members are forthright in their placement and advice, you must remember that this forum is a vacuum. The professional experiences of this forum's members stand in stark contrast to the realities of many Americans. As to the endless ranking threads, I assume this is a result of insecurity, boredom, and sought after validation. The behavior on these threads mirrors a lot of the behavior that I noticed during my undergraduate years when fraternity and sorority rankings were constantly debated, argued, and scrutinized.

When you find that the absurdity of some of these topics is unbearable, make sure to scroll through the thread and take count of the number of verified users engaging in the conversation.

 
 

I think that, as others have said, it is mainly the result of boredom. And, you know, rankings have never been the focus of our greatest minds I'm sure.

However (ignoring any criticism of any particular firm), I think this is worthwhile for one and only one reason: in finance (or any other old and established industry) you see stagnating giants and this is clearly because a) the company is already big enough that it will just make money by existing b) the people who are left are just babies who never achieved anything of value in their life so now they have no idea how to keep growing the firm (i.e. how to make it a true BB) and are now just glorified paper pushers doing essentially nothing of value and living off the glory of the previous generations who actually grew the business

I think we should mock stagnating giants. It points to a culture of mediocrity and ineptitude. I'm not talking about any particular bank here of course.

 

I did phrase b) a bit extremely but it really is like this. I just think it is funny when you have giant corporations who hire the best of the best (at least on paper), have insane amounts of money to invest and yet you see them losing money all the time. That's what I mean by an stagnating giant and I think we should mock them either to push them to stop being so stupid or to just laugh and enjoy their ride to bankruptcy, where their massive bloat will stop hoarding resources and other more deserving institutions will get their lost business.

 

I think there's a degree of self-selection among people choosing to pursue the IB -- there's generally a big focus on getting onto the best "path," with "best" being driven largely by the names on your resume. We spend a LOT of time on here talking about which target schools to go to, and then which top BB / EB to get a job at, and then which MF to exit to, and then which M7 business school to attend. The problem with focusing on things like these is that you end up deriving a lot of your self-worth from the names on your resume rather than your experience at those places, so people with "good" names tend to look down upon those with "bad" names in order to justify the fact that they're actually miserable in their job

 

It's human nature to some extent. * FO vs. BO * MBB versus "Tier 2" consulting firms * "Big 4" vs. other accounting firms and even then, D vs. EY vs. PwC vs. KPMG memes * Military branch rivalries: Marines "eating crayons" vs. "Chair Force," lower PT requirements in certain forces, lower ASVAB requirements in others * "FAANG" "MAFAANG" or whatever the acronym is now

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.
 

I think that much of the mocking comes from others pushing too strongly in the other direction. As a member of this form for around a year, I've seen more shitting on IU and RBC in the past week than I have for months at a time. This is happening because people in a shitty situation still have a chip on their shoulder and want to believe that they are at the next Goldman Sachs. However, everyone sees right through it because nobody would actually choose IU Kelley over even the lowest semi-target.

 

Because they're nerds with an inferiority complex the size of Jupiter that needs their egos to be stroked.

Like, who cares? If you're a rockstar junior banker/trader/analyst/sales you'll succeed and thrive anywhere (obviously within reasonable bounds e.g. bulge bracket)

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

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