IBD: Easy high paid exit ops

Corp dev sounds about right. Less deals and the advisors take care of all of the complexity you don't want to do

That said unless you move to PE, which is even more in the weeds of complexity, you're going to have a hard time maintaining comp

Private debt is exactly what you’re describing

How about investment grade Dom or fixed income sales 

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I’m in a similar situation. Looking at Corporate development roles for clients. My interviewer (previous Morgan Stanley I-banker in m&a) said this is not a hard job. Similar pay base to assoc 2. 160 but bonuses more like 20% (I have heard) but it’s a path to align you for CFO one day and those guys don’t work as hard, have to be much more personable and have the juniors to do heavy modeling. I think a corp dev role would be harder if you are looking at a company that typically avoids hiring bankers when running smaller transactions

Why don't you go into a sales or sourcing type role at a bank, growth equity, tech company, etc. It's really just effort + talking to people, doesn't require a ton of brain power, generates the highest pay because commission based.

investor relations

Buyside investor relations is HIGHLY slept on

How do you know you will always suck at this job? Sounds like you've already given up. You've beaten expectations before, you can do it again. I say keep pushing.

I thought OP was a troll, but will actually give some real thoughts to this:

On sticking to IB:

• If you know how to grind, how to be consistent, you can do pretty well in banking. A lot of the success in this job comes from experience, being hands on, learning from what you’ve seen, and going back to basics.

• the modelling, deal management, etc can all be learnt. The more you do, the easier it gets. Again, seeing bankers pitch from both top boutiques, top BB and lower tier banks, the average quality is not that high, not everyone is Klein

On alternative jobs:

• corpdev or BD will be massively dependent on the firm and its culture, but I really wouldn’t describe it as cushy. You’re close to the strategy, on call at all times, and creativity can be super important. If you don’t feel comfortable as an associate in a bank where you’ll have peers, VP/D/MD in your team to ask for advice, etc, you won’t feel comfortable in an environment where you’ll have no junior, be accountable for a deal deliverable without anyone to drive your work, etc. I work in corpdev and half the time the guidance is “hey, can you pick this up please; XYZ from the business will explain”.

• people have mentioned here private credit - could work but depends how exposed the role would be to the docs analysis. If you don’t have leverage finance or legal background and an interest for understanding terms, it may not be a good idea

• secondaries: yes, totally. Absolutely the right answer. Would also add co-invest funds to the picture. You basically rely on deal work done by others, it’s in essence like doing credit committee work in a bank. You’ll still see lots, but for a while your sole job will be to analyse & execute the deals coming through the door.

• IR: maybe, albeit roles differ vastly by size of company. Jn small biz that’s quite an important role & always on call with CEO or CFO. Not cushy.

Honestly an ideal exit op for me would basically be IBD just less complex transactions, less things you need to remember/think about such as all the different work streams and regulations and more simple financial modelling.

Sounds like lateraling Corporate Banking could be a great option for you. I encourage you to go look at the WSO posts about CB. Good luck with everything

OP - as an ex-IB guy (now PE) in my early 30s who has been exactly in your shoes 6-8 years ago, I would firstly say don't panic! I also found my time as a new associate very tough - as an analyst (especially early on) you are expected to be somewhat "dumb"/inexperienced, so as you said you get a lot of hand-holding or at the very least direct instructions from those above you about what to do (update this PPT, upload these docs to the data room etc).

However as an associate people expect you to just automatically know and do things, even though you might not yet have the requisite experience. Myself I did a liberal arts degree and got into IB via a bit of a long-winded route which meant I didn't start as an analyst until well into my early 20s. After initially being thrilled at making it to associate, I immediately felt like I was drowning - from a) people expecting me to just know stuff, and here I think my undergrad background certainly didn't help as I found myself frequently googling terms on complex deals I'd never heard of before, and b) the sheer volume of work. I was not only trying to get up to speed on new concepts all the time on deals, but was having to juggle multiple deals at once - it honestly felt like every day you were drinking from a firehose. It sounds laughable now but even a simple request from my VP like "we need to rejig the capital structure in this model" would give me a cold sweat, as I knew I was just going to have to figure out the model and the background/context of the deal all by myself without any hand-holding. 

Suffice to say I had a really stressful first couple of years as an associate - whilst I got good reviews and received upper mid-bucket/top-bucket ratings, to say I had imposter syndrome would be a massive understatement - it felt like I was only managing to stay afloat through incredible sheer hard work (so very similar situation to yourself sounds like). Honestly I felt every day like my MD would just call me into his office and say "we've realized you're just faking it till you make it, why are we paying you a six-figure salary" and can me. Not based on any external feedback I was getting, but rather just the fact internally I felt like I was constantly drowning.

Here's the thing though - that doesn't last forever. In fact whilst the "drinking from a firehouse" experience is extremely stressful, it is also an incredible learning experience. Honestly I don't know when it started happening, but over time things just started to get much easier - yes a complex deal might be intense/stressful the first time, but once you've done it two or three times it starts to look much more cookie-cutter. Not just on the modelling side but dealing with lawyers/reviewing deal docs, interacting with/managing counterparties, even internally "managing up" to your VP/MD (as you learn quickly exactly how they like to see things/when they'll expect it).

I think a lightbulb moment for me was when I was chatting to some PE firm on a call that my VP let me run, they asked for background/context on a deal and without thinking I just went into a lengthy explanation of the process and various issues I'd expect, and was able to easily answer all their questions. It made me think "actually I do know more than I give myself credit for!" And today I look back at some of the things I used to stress over and they seem so easy - but that's only because I now have a decade plus of experience.

So what I'm saying is - if you truly want to quit IB then by all means go for it, but if you're looking for an exit based solely on imposter syndrome/an imagined fear of getting "found out" one day by your VP/MD, ask yourself if that's actually a realistic fear? Or is it just that you still have a lot to learn - i.e. the same as any new IB associate. Yes a lot of people might get up to speed quicker than you (maybe they have a finance background/degree or just "get things" more quickly) - but that doesn't mean you won't ever get up to speed! And tbh the only real way to learn this stuff is through experience. And that experience will come. Good luck OP in whatever you decide.

wow, so much bad advice here

tbh, lots of guys like you make it to MD, if they know how to navigate well internally.

are you personable?  do clients perceive you as hardworking, reliable, someone they want to do business with?  for every true advisory guru among IBD MDs, there are 10 relationship MDs who sought after for financing, and connecting the client to someone smarter within the bank.

so, calls to action:

• in your current group, get Analysts to do the work for you.  most Analysts believe they're smarter than/technically superior to Associates.  often, it's true.  but true or not, they're expected to do more grunt work.  Sales is at the top of the totem pole in IB, preparing materials (whether they require thought or not is irrelevant) is grunt work.  make your Analysts do your grunt work.
• if you're unable to do that, then find your way into an IB-adjacent group that isn't intellectually challenging (essentially, ECM or DCM).  regardless of what they tell you, they don't do any real modeling, nor do they have to be right about markets.  they just need to convince clients that the markets will fund an issuance.  lots of slides and stuff you already know how to do.  lots of forwarding to legal, risk, compliance, back to IBD, etc.
• if you aren't sales-y enough to do that, try moving into a middle office function at the bank, like risk, or capital management, or a purely relationship/process-driven front office group like corporate banking or loans etc.  they mainly work with templates, emails, asking the same questions of every deal, etc.  coming from IBD, you have an advantage.
• external: investor relations.  it may not be the best fit, as even though it is less technical than IBD or the buyside, you still need to be fluent in basic investing concepts.  but the WLB is better, pay is decent, etc.
• private banking: can be both internal and external.  
• don't recommend corporate development, it's just IBD with better WLB and lower pay, but the same thought process.
• another option is to go to business school.  you wouldn't be the first IBD analyst-to-associate promote to realize they don't like the industry and don't know what to do next, but also realizes their skillset may not be adequate for corporate jobs, and are too expensive to do most other jobs.  an MBA could help you find your next step.
• hopefully you've been saving your money instead of spending it away on nonsense, and gives you a cushion in case you decide to leave white collar work entirely and go open a mcdonalds franchise or something. 

If this was 3 years ago I would say some sort of strategic finance role at FAANG. Been hearing from laid off FAANG workers that they did nothing and had to fight for work so seemed like a good way to coast with 200k a year TC and a whole bunch of benefits.

Lots of great suggestions here. I'd bump corporate banking, ECM / DCM, IG debt investing and be a primary funds investor also. These are all likely modelling 'light' jobs compared to your current job. Especially funds investing actually, if you want to really chill (albeit is a big pay cut I think and more boring)

Hey, I found this very informative, and kinda relaxing about analyst being taught a lot of the stuff on the job. I’m currently working on my MBA and praying one day I’ll be able to land a IB job. I live in Houston so I’m told jobs are hard to come by. I’m working my ass off working 70hr weeks and going to school full time so I know how to work hard, I just fear I’m going to be overlooked because I don’t come a big school or have any work experience in the field. Any advice on being able to land a gig out of school? I’m constantly reading every post I can and have been studying all of the interview questions on here.

If anyone could help I would be extremely appreciative.

I hope everything works out on your end, you seem like you overcome adversity, and from what I have gathered this job requires a lot of that! Best of luck!