I want to be a world beater
Just got early promoted to Associate at a Tier 1 BB/EB at like 23 in London (extremely rare to do so if you aren't a 26-28 year old European with years of off-cycle experience).
I had a pretty rough upbringing but managed to grit myself into a top target and learn the communication skills / interests that are quite desirable in this line of work.
A couple of the MDs who back me took me out to celebrate and basically told me I have immense potential in this job and are both very committed to my development.
If you were in my position, and were committed to become an absolute world beater at deal making (probably in IBD but possibly PE), what would you be reading, doing, learning to get there? I am pretty happy with my relationship / hobbies so not too fussed there.
My firm does do early VP promotions, and I think its not impossible for me to make VP at 26, ED at like 29 and MD at 32-33, if I really grind for it. I would say I am pretty intrinsically motivated and quite like finance so the past two years, despite being intense at times, were pretty manageable even at a 'sweatshop'. I've read quite a bit of the 'classics' the below and more so far and am starting to pivot a bit to biographies etc:
Fooling some of the people all of the time, structured finance, essays by wb, influence, dear chairman, macroeconomics for professoinals, competitive advance, king of capital, fooled by randomness, alchemy of finance, mastering pe (and the associated case book), financial modelling for equity reserach, more money than god, leveraged finance, financial shenanigans, the new david rubenstein book, principles, what it takes, the confidence game (bill ackman book), tao of wb, shoe dog, the standard dostoyevsky books, both jordan peterson books.
Do you mind me asking how you got that early promoted & what sort of communication skills / interests you picked up that you found to be desirable?
Would find it super interesting to hear your path. From first glance, seems like an absolutely unreal achievement - so congrats.
Not OP, but most banks with a three year analyst programme have some form of early promotion opportunity if you are top ranked and if there is meaningfully ubiquity in the team’s perception of your ability relative to peers.
I came into banking with pretty considerable off cycle experience and two masters, and didn’t get early promoted despite being top ranked so it’s insanely impressive what OP did (if he’s not lying)
*analyst 1 in IB*
Not sure what's unusual with a 23-year-old associate. Plenty of people who go straight to uni after high school and begin working FT after their bachelor's make associate by 23. You also wrote "the past two years", implying you have 2 years of experience. Pretty much every bank has a 2-year analyst program so I really don't see why it would be exceptional to become an associate after 2 years.
Sounds like you are very motivated and are doing very well though, so keep it up!
23 may not be early in the US, but it honestly is exceedingly rare in London, especially at a three year analyst programme bank. Not every bank has a 2 year analyst programme, e.g. Centerview, Evercore, JP, Qatalyst, PJT, PWP etc.
Think GS and BofA are the only ones with a two year programme (?).
MS and DB also have 2-year programs. No idea about the boutiques.
I'm at GS London and it's definitely not "exceedingly rare" to see 23-year-old associates. It just depends on whether someone did a master's or not. A lot of people go the high school --> bachelor's --> IB analyst route and make associate after 2 years. Those who do a bachelor's make associate by 23 and those who do a master's reach it by 24-25 depending on if it's a 1 or 2-year master's.
I'm sure you do a good job, but I'm sorry to say that you are not some one-off superstar who is one of a handful 23-year-old associates in London. Please avoid inaccurate humble-brag posts and just get straight to the point next time, it will surely get you more serious responses.
Ah yes, the classic works of… Jordan B Peterson
You’re lucky to have MDs who are so supportive of you. Keep working hard and stay grounded because you have a long way to go.
Congrats! You've beat off your ASO's and VP's, now you can truly start beating off your MD's. Slowly you'll transition to beating off your clients and then build a book of potential clients as well. At the rate you're going, there will be a huge industry getting beat off. Keep the dream alive, champ. One day you'll surely beat off the world too.
associate at 23 isn't some remarkable achievement you literally just followed the standard pipeline, i'm sure you're a great analyst though, give your MD a bj maybe you make vp next year ?
Bro u need to get laid
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