So I work in London at a debt focused boutique, doing mostly debt issuance/advisory for infrastructure and property projects which in my mind is quite "IB-ish" even if it isn't M&A.
What I have been surprised (positively) to find is that those stories of working until 3AM on a Saturday just haven't been true in the slightest. Now don't get me wrong, I do work hard and it is a very intense and competitive environment but even when we're closing deals, I'm rarely in the office past 7.30. Typical week for me is about 55-60h which although a lot more than a "typical" 9-5 job, is nowhere near the 70-100h weeks I keep hearing about. As for weekend work, I've logged in a few times to do some things but generally have not worked on weekends. There is no culture of staying in the office until late at night at our firm.
This makes me wonder where do those stories of crazy hours come from? My thoughts: - Hours aren't uniform and not everybody actually does those worst hours but the ones that make the press are those of 2AM finishes, not people going home at 7.30. - It varies by what part of IB you're in and debt isn't as bad as M&A - It varies by firm, some are better and some are worse - People are overstating how long they actually work
Any ideas?
DCM / ECM are known to have much better hours, even at BBs. The ECM analysts at my bank were never at the office past 7-8 and very rarely on weekends while pretty much every one else was at the office until at least 11 every day and would put in at least a full weekend day. They did start earlier, but still had a much better lifestyle (but at the cost of much narrower exit ops).
That being said, people in IB tend to inflate their hours a bit and no one is working 100+ hours a week consistently. A good portion of my analyst class (including me) would keep track of their hours in a spreadsheet and we would often compare and over the first 2 years, averagewas about 75 hours a week for people in coverage groups and Lev Fin and about 85 for people in M&A.
M&A involves a ridiculous amount of processing work which I've found takes the longest time out of anything. Not the modeling or pitching so much, but things like setting up a VDR, diligence, and most of all (for me) writing the CIM since you need to sift through an incredible amount of company provided material that they usually dump into an internally shared data room, tend to take the longest amount of time
I remember my first working group list...
A couple of things. 1. EU and Asia typically aren't as brutal as NY 2. No-name boutiques will not have as much dealflow or facetime required to their BB/MM/EB counterparts 3. People here generally associate the longer hours with M&A. Coverage groups usually aren't as bad but culture makes all the difference between leaving at 10:30 and staying there until 2 or 3 because you have an asshole for a VP. 4. IB is one of the most "Big Dick Contests" of any industry. People love to say that they're a top-bucket analyst, top MM when they're at Piper, that they are clocking in 110 hours a week, etc. Who cares if someone is a middle-bucket analyst at UBS? it makes no difference and they can still get a decent PE gig.
Generally speaking it appears that MM Coverage guys tend to have the best hours. Think about how many hours people are ACTUALLY working rather then the time they come in and the time they leave.
Let me tell you what nobody on this forum is brave enough to admit to themselves: it really isn't so bad, and you're not crazy for resisting the cultural programming these early-20's man-children impose on themselves. A 100-hour week is the exception, not the norm, at most places.
I would say that the hours are not the worst part, the worst part is that the hours are unpredictable. Also, you are expected to have everything done immediately upon the request coming your way, meaning you have zero control over your schedule.
If you ALWAYS work 90+ hours, you're not really telling the truth. If you NEVER work 90+ hours you're not really in IB
If you're chasing chicks who get horny because of your career, you're going to have a miserable life.