IB = Selling your soul
I just got off a 100 hour work week, and about to enter into another. Sure, 100 isn’t the norm, but 80-90 hours is. Even at 80, you have no time to spend with loved ones and relationships, or time to do what you love. The time spent not working is still being affected by a looming cloud of stress related to work. Your life is essentially consumed by work.
So effectively, if you are a banker, you’ve willingly exchanged your time, your energy, your body, your loved ones and your relationships for money.
And what is a sale? An exchange of goods for monetary gain. Put two and two together - being a banker means you’ve sold your soul and yourself.
Would love to see any takes against my sentiment
Agreed, but in banking you sell ALL your time for money. There’s none left to give. On top of that your mental health and energy, the list goes on.
And to your first point, I agree. No one is forced to do this job. But on the flip side, I was sold a dream. ‘Just do 2 years and it gets better, you can pivot to PE, or climb the ladder and become an associate where your hours get substantially better ’.
First option, PE jobs are extremely competitive, you are competing against the best pool of talent. Your competition aren’t inexperienced 2nd years anymore, it’s a pool of experienced analysts who already are in the top 0.5% who have 2 years of banking experience already.
Second option, this is simply not true. My associates are up with me until 2-3am, even some of my VPs, and PE folks make up better hours through exponential stress.
Both options suck, I was sold a lie. It doesn’t get any better.
5 minutes of googling or scrolling WSO would bust the lie/dream.. or just by observing the associates and up during your internship.
You were sold a lie.
Or
You chose to ignore all the warning signs? (Don’t tell me they weren’t placed in-front of you the whole time you were recruiting).
Either way,
What’s the next logical step?
Cry about it on a banking forum…. (how much sympathy do you think you’ll get from other bankers?
or
Start looking for something with more WLB, where you can enjoy the aforementioned?
If you’d asked for career alternatives, or paths travelled by those who also felt that IB wasn’t the be-all & end-all, you might have got some less sarcastic responses.
Hope you find happiness.
Yes, you’re paying the price of getting 4 years of work experience in 2 years. By definition the volume is insane, but that’s why you have exclusive access to a set of jobs after your 2 year stint that puts you on a faster promotion pathway + access to much higher paying mid and senior level jobs down the line. It’s a military-esque commitment requirement with a fraction of the moral value, but again for most it’s temporary.
Agreed, the optionality post stint is solid. However the competition outweighs what’s truly available and is worth quitting for. To put in perspective, in my shop, 70% of analysts stayed for associate, 30% pivoted. Of the 70% that stayed, I’d say 70% of that admitted to not finding/landing a position in PE, etc. long story short,yes , options are definitely available, but majority of analysts won’t land them based on pure statistics alone. And I know my shop isn’t alone on this sentiments, it’s common in others across the street
This is a lie. Stop selling prospects on this. It’s disingenuous, and it’s why we have the problem that we do today.
Outside of other sellside/buyside roles (this includes PE, HF, AM, etc), what are the “exclusive” set of jobs this opens up in 2025?
All of Corp Dev, Corp Strat and strategic finance. Even various business operations roles if you’re savvy enough. Financial services is not the only financial pathway in the world and your small mindedness is what likely will hold you back from taking advantage of the step up in the aforementioned industries. Let’s get a grip now
The duality of man.
You live by the sword, you die by the sword.
Ignore my title recently finished two years at a top bank and top bucket.
Sell your soul for money, maybe? But who cares no ones forcing you to do this job. I take issue with people saying they have no time to spend with loved ones and relationships. What people have to realize about this job is no one, I mean NO ONE is going to tell you, you need to work less. It is 100% on you to protect yourself and what is important to you.
Build trust through good work and responsiveness and stop caring about Facetime. Make your MD, VP and Associates know that no matter what, you’ll get it done. It’s definitely a J curve but once you build trust, you can sneak a workout in during lunch, show up late, leave early, push back on timing here and there. None of this is to say you aren’t working a ton, but it allows you to make sure the hour or two of free time you have a day are spent clearing your head, grabbing a dinner with a SO or working out. Plans will get blown up, but still make them and cancel if necessary. It’s way better than finishing work at 8pm on Friday and realizing you haven’t talked with your buddies since your Sunday hangover.
This guy (or gal) knows what’s up. Follow this advice, exactly. You will be a lot happier and a lot better at work.
Everyone who does anything for money is trading their time here on Earth (and by extension, their soul) for money.
So the only question is, how much money is enough.
I'd argue that the analyst years are actually a pretty good trade because you pick up a lot more than a paycheck. You develop skills, connections, experience, friendships etc. that add to your value and your ability to make more money per hour later on. In my experience, most ex-analysts in their late 20s or early 30s would do it all over again despite having hated it. Some experiences are valuable and suck at the same time.
Et porro ipsum quasi asperiores accusantium sed. Enim fugiat eaque et repudiandae nisi. Quaerat architecto voluptas voluptas reiciendis odit explicabo.
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