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Career Resources
you suck...
how could you possibly hate i banking??????
ermen,
I feel ya. There are nights where you associate makes your life absolutely suck. Take a deep friend. Call up someone from training and just vent. Then, recollect yourself and think about how hard you worked for your job, and how many others are so eager to have your job. Think about your long-term plan, where do you want to be? PE? B-school?
dude, IB sucks. dont quit though, this is the way to get yourself a ferrari, greenwich estate, etc. Dont let it get to you
just suck it up fro 2 years. you arent weak; it can definitely suck at times, but you'll be done at 23/24 and you can do what you really want, even if its outside banking. either way, banking is impressive on a resume whether you apply to jobs inside or outside the finance sector.
yeah man. pitch books after pitch books. i feel ya bro. i feel ya. and to be honest i don't think i'm working as hard as the others out here. i've been in ibanking for 8 mths. i've been on 1 deal (which was front page stuff) but that its. i've been doing pitch books ever since. haven't even done a "live" model and now? i was just ask to do an industry memo! shit! arrggh!
yeah its true that others envy where i am. but so what? is it worth it? i should go start a business and be the client! arggghhhhhhhhhh i banking sux!
and yes i hear everyone. i dream of being a director! ahahhhhh.... if only i had the "D" behind my namecard... lol.. then maybe ibanking won't sux!
nah, it would still suck. but you'd be super-well compensated for having such a shitty life.
Um yea you are weak. Most things in life require sacrifice. I laugh everytime someone tells me how he's going to drop out of uni and become the next Bill Gates, making it sound like it's as easy as eating lettuce.
go to a hedge fund, otherwise your life will be shitty forever.
1 deal? Ouch. That's why I'm looking at tech banking. Smaller deals usually but plenty of them. I'd go nuts if I were there for 8 months and had all of 1 deal that actually worked out.
Ibanking blows? (Exit opps shot) (Originally Posted: 03/23/2009)
So basically if you followed on my past posts I was trying to decide between a few different internships, most notably UBS Ibanking vs. PE for the summer. I decided on UBS Ibanking but I guess I'm going through cold feet especially after my career counselor (he is fairly reputable) told me that I should only do it if I love it, since the exit opps are no longer as good and that some of the money is gone too.
I am not really a fan of banking since I've already done it last summer and like most of my peers I'm only doing it because I can (high GPA, top school). Do you guys think I should just choose a career I enjoy like my counselor says or is he just over-exaggerating the economic crisis and trying to make banking look bad? If exit opps and money weren't an issue, I'd much rather go into something like risk, consulting, asset management, derivatives operations, securites operations, etc.
PS: My main goal is to go to a top MBA program and/or work overseas in China.
He's right on all counts. I graduated almost 2 years ago and regret going into banking and finance. I didn't really love it and just did it for the money. I now wish I had gone into consulting but my options were limited since I'm not an American citizen. Overall, just ask yourself can you envision yourself doing banking or PE for free ? would you do it over the weekend if you had free time ? My guess is you wouldn't, so there's your answer.
OF COURSE you should "choose a career you enjoy"...
Obama is taxing wall street left and right. bonuses in banking, carried interest in PE.
And then Geithner wants "private investors/capital" to buy troubled assets.
this is crap. no one goes to wall street to save the world.
supposedly boutiques will still be paying top dollar.The world has changed. And we must change with it.
My boutique (rather, where I will begin in the summer) is paying MUCH better for analysts than any other bank I've heard of. It's not an elite boutique, but a pretty well-known place. They only expect a 20% decrease in 1st year bonuses this year, which is MUCH better than the 80-90% cuts I've heard from BB and various other banks.
Unfortunately, UBS is a place where bonuses will be cut drastically. But you have to realize that as business picks up (and these write downs stop happening), bonuses will come back up across the board. Unlikely to the $100-110k first years were getting in '06, but way above the $5k or so some analysts will get this year.
So would you recommend I drop front office gigs at places like UBS/Barcap/Citi if I don't enjoy it (I don't attend Wharton/Harvard/etc. so I doubt I can get better than these firms for front office).
My other options I'm considering if I don't want to do banking/trading would be consulting (Booz/Accenture), mid-office/backoffice (Goldman/Morgan) which will be less stressful. Will these options still allow me to attend a top MBA program because that's really all I want (just the option to succeed in the future) rather than working my butt off now for no real good reason.
don't count on your career advisor...are you from a public b-school? I think I heard about Ross....pretty shitty. if not, apologies.
Nope, I'm not from Ross. Private Ugrad Bschool. I don't think Ross is that shitty though, but no one from my HS went there so I can't really confirm.
When you talk about banking, are you looking for a quick hit and run? Or a 5-10 year stint? If it's the former, then you should avoid banking. If it's the latter, then starting in a year's time is probably priceless in terms of future opportunities.
Just my 2c.
if you don't like banking, then I think it's pretty obvious you shouldn't do it.
Juniorr,
I have to present an opposing viewpoint to your underlying premise, and in so doing perhaps save you much disappointment, years of frustration, and at least a hundred grand. Feel free to disregard this completely and, if you come from a background of privilege, I'll assume you already have.
That said, how on Earth do you even know that you're going to live long enough to spend another hundred grand on your education? You could get hit by a bus tomorrow (God forbid). Please don't spend the next couple years of your life (arguably some of the best) in a holding pattern just marking time until you can go back to school to hopefully go after what you really want.
If your ultimate goal is to work overseas in China, go do it now. You'll get the experience of a lifetime, learn the language, and actually be able to navigate the territory if you go get your boots on the ground NOW. Join a volunteer organization or an NGO and go discover where the real growth will be in China over the next two decades. Believe me, you're not going to be missing much in banking for the next couple years, and you might just set yourself up for life.
On a personal note, I did do something I hated just for the money. Every waking moment for two years of my life was market-related agony. My breakfast consisted of Maalox and tequila. Was it ultimately worth it? ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY. I made an ass-load of money and was able to set myself up for life (so far, anyway). So I guess my point there is to not rule out something you hate - just make sure you're well-compensated for doing it.
Just don't waste the next couple years of your life wishing you were somewhere else when there are organizations that will pay you to go where you want to go today. My guess is that you'll probably find that you don't need that MBA and all the stress and debt that goes along with it.
that was touching. i almost broke a tear :'(
What a douche.
I second that.
As usual, good shit Edmundo. Marcus and yourself are 80% of the reason why I continue to read the forums here. The other 20% goes off to douches like London and blumie - keep up the good stuff everyone.
Dude, consulting sucks as much as banking, at least with banking in NYC, you get to live in NYC. Take it from me (former MBB-er)
Thanks for bolding "ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY". The CAPS weren't enough.
You guys are fucking ON tonight. Good stuff.
That's actually the only thing I read in Uncle Ed's entire post, so I ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY appreciated it.
He is a tool, give him a break.
If you don't like doing something, and get no enjoyment then find something else to do. Money can only do so much before comfortability in a field takes precedence.
What if you're solely inspired by money? Is an IBD analyst a good place to start?
look... you're going to learn skills and see things that people who don't do banking won't have access to. those experiences will make you more valubale in the future.
the first couple of years of banking isn't really about the bonus... yes the bonus would be nice... but in the end the human capital you develop in terms of skills learned far outweighs a little bit of bonus cash over your long term earning time horizon.
do banking... there will be exit ops and they will increase as the economy turns around. there are fewer bankers to get those jobs so supply won't equal demand once the economy turns around.
Nice.
Amigo, don't hold consulting in such a high regard. Trust me, I know quite some friends in MBB and they hate their jobs just as much or even more as friends in banking... Banking has some significant advantages compared to consulting, whereas consulting only has a few extras which, personally, don't seem to be worth it in the long run.
I agree, I'm definitely not idolizing consulting but I'm wondering if maybe I should do a job that is less stressful (not banking/trading) such as asset management, risk management, operations, derivatives, securities, etc. I just want a MBA in the future and then perhaps work in PE/Hedge funds, corporate finance, or just being a MD or VP in one of the more laid back divisions that I've listed above. I can also travel a lot (I really like traveling and/or working in Shanghai/China).
However, because I do have that tool/gunner mentality (many of us do) I don't want to walk away from a great opportunity even though I'll hate it (banking/trading).
I know people who hated banking analyst programs, but they put their time in and had a lot of options afterwards, and are glad they did it. But don't do it for the money, unless you're planning on sticking with banking for years, when the money gets better. Do it for the skills and credibility you build, which will help keep you in control of your career later on, on or off of Wall Street, front or back office, whatever you want. A 2 year IB stint would help you get all the jobs you mentioned as long term goals. Consulting would be a little less helpful for each of them, in most cases. And the MBA? Worry about that later-- you may not need it, and it's hardly an end in itself. My 2 cents. Good luck deciding.
I hear some people talking about the great skills you learn in banking. I'm not quite sure what is meant by this. What skills?
Heck after all of these months I still don't know... Maybe time-killing or excel shortcut skills? There's really some awful advice here.
IB is better resume building than some BS corp fin financial analyst roll at some fortune 1000 company... no matter how slow things are right now (although I doubt they are this slow when these guys start this summer)
Yes, there are skills, but if you take a step back, you'll realize some things:
-Anyone can do this, it just takes the willingness to suffer and do mostly mindless work for 16 hours a day
-We don't actually create anything of value. We make spreadsheets and powerpoints, generally about other people's actual work
-Yes, we are an "essential" service, but what we do can more or less be commoditized and we only get paid decently because no one else wants to do this shit
Can someone answer this:
If my main motivation is money and I have a true interest in finance (not pumping numbers into excel sheets and spreading comps, but an actual interest in the financial system), is becoming an IBD analyst the right choice for me? I realize my two-year stint will not make me that much money, but is it the right career to open the door to make a shitload of cash?
Basically, I want to do something where I can live a plush life for a young guy (early-to-late 20s), and then make a ton of money so I can retire around the age of 45, move to San Diego, and own a country club or something gay and tacky like that. Is this a good decision? Thanks.
well i'd say you should pursue some more interesting avenues of exposure to finance than IBD but also pursue IBD as a backup to build the skills/resume so that you can transition into one of those rolls when the economy recovers or when you "appear" qualified enough to secure one
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