I am not liking my IB summer internship. Is this industry not for me or should I stick it out?
I'm surprised there aren't any other threads about this on WSO, so I thought maybe I was misinterpreting my experience. So I'm at an Ivy-level target school, and I have a bulge bracket internship this summer. A couple of weeks into it virtually, I've found out a few things about the field and myself. I find analyzing/thinking about businesses interesting, I like and am good at creating narratives/presentations, and do like thinking about complex problems. All of these skills I am sort of good at from the feedback I've gotten, though my qualitative skillset is more my strong suit.
The first couple weeks of my BB internship have been ok, at least when I am doing the things I listed previously. However, this hasn't been 90% of the work I'm staffed on. It has been a lot of grind-y work like making small adjustments to powerpoints or making models that no one looks at, for really long stretches of time. I've gotten through it, doing ok but certainly not top bucket. I think I like the culture/people, everyone is very honest about their intentions and very ambitious. I like being surrounded by so any ambitious people.
But fundamentally, it seems like the analyst I work with is doing much of the same, a ton of very quick excel work, all being drawn into huge powerpoints. They are not particularly very interesting or challenging by themselves, though I guess doing it for such long stretches of time is the challenge. I have realized that though money is a pretty high priority for me, I feel like this isn't as engaging as I thought it would be. Also, it seems like I am ok working insane hours, but not when the hours are only to do random excel/PowerPoint work. Does anyone even look at the dozens of graphs in these hundred-page powerpoints? These huge pitch decks? What is the point of all those late nights if this is the outcome?
And when you look at the hour adjusted wages of IB, in addition to the fact you'll be living on Manhatten unless you want a long commute on top of your insane hours, the lifestyle the money affords doesn't seem so rosy. I like to read a ton and work out, and I would definitely be able to do a lot less of that working 70-80 hours a week. Long term I want to be an executive in an industry/sector I find engaging or interesting. I feel like a prestigious IB stint is a good set up for that.
I have a JPM/GS/MS/BAML internship lined up for next summer, and I am not so sure if I should accept it at this point. I put a lot of time into getting where I am, but I am not so sure now. However, I am an over-analyzer sometimes. I always am challenging what I am doing/believing, which sometimes makes me indecisive. I am wondering if that is the case here. Should I stick it out and accept the offer for next summer? If I want to eventually work as a corporate executive isn't this good experience? Am I just doing the shitwork as an analyst/intern?
Would be interesting to hear all your thoughts. I am surprised there are no similar threads at all. I have considered management consulting as a similar pathway to the things I want. But I want to really think it out before making the jump.
Very reasonable and honest self assessment. Realize that in any industry, you're going to get stuck with the busy / grunt work at first (could last a few yrs). Eventually you'll be able to delegate to the new grunts and work on more interesting stuff.
That said, your description of what you enjoy seems to align far more with consulting. Figuring out what makes a business tick, improving it, IDing issues and resolving them, etc. Granted you'll also be doing grunt work but to a greater executable outcome and would get significant client exposure much earlier in your career (than banking).
Perhaps you could recruit fof a consulting spot next summer.
Interesting, will continue to look into consulting recruiting for next summer.
Though I think I could find one, I don't think it would be at the MBB level. My background is really finance heavy (2 finance internship, investment group, etc). "Prestige" wise it may be less than the top tier BB IB offer. But, I guess I shouldn't focus on that, if it is something I don't seem to like.
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