Trending Content - Investment Banking Forum
Career Resources
WSO Free Modeling Series - Now Open Through
July 31, 2026
9 Free Financial Modeling Lessons
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
High Finance Applications
Guaranteed
Get at least one offer GUARANTEED
- 1:1 support
- 92% success rate
- 2,000+ mentor network
- Unlimited Live bootcamps
- AI for resume + LinkedIn
- Networking automation tools
- HireVue simulation tool
- Full course library
- Private Slack community
- 20hrs of mocks
- + much more...
No, but this is something that I would have never known if I hadn't done it. When you realize that the majority of people are in it for the money and that many times, senior people might make BS assumptions about things or cut corners just to get deals closed (without actually caring about the client's outcome), it becomes less and less like you're doing meaningful work and actually helping companies.
Lots of other things I could mention but I've found that this industry works well for people who are good at coming up with reasonable BS and are really good at sales.
There seems to be a handful of these posts every week, that can all be boiled down to one issue: “I am unhappy in this industry and I want to quit to do more meaningful work and/or less hours.”
With the amount of information regarding IB, I find it fascinating that so many people still seem to go “wrong” with IB. It may be hard to fathom just how exhausting a 100-hour work week really is, especially if there are several back to back, but this can hardly be a surprise to anyone coming into the industry now.
To answer your question: Would I do IB again? Fck yes. I’ll pick IB over other white-collar jobs 8/7 days a week. I’m not saying that this industry is fantastic or that you’ll only produce meaningful work (you won’t), but what makes you think that this is the case in other industries?
“I wanna do tech”. Okay, cool. Some of the jobs may be fulfilling and create meaningful work, but don’t come here and tell me that creating snapchat filters or coding AI to identify the most hilarious cat-fails-video is meaningful. From my anecdotal experience I feel like the tech-industry is just a circle-jerk of Kombucha drinking libwokes doing Ted talks and listening to Gary V podcasts. The hard truth is, very few of them succeed in creating a revenue-generating business and even fewer create profit-generating businesses.
Most jobs are not that meaningful, but why can’t there be meaning in providing for yourself and your family?
We’ve found the adult in the room. Good take.
Finally. Everyone is trying to find a well-paid job that's seen as prestigious by the general public and pays well.
The reality is that almost all jobs straight out of university/college seem a bit dull. You are at the bottom of the totem, and its your job to just execute and absorb information. If you want to be a blacksmith, you don't start by making swords. You start by being an apprentice. Helping with the most basic things and observing.
A job is just something you do, it shouldn't define the core of you (e.g. Im a banker, I have to wear patagonia, cashmere sweaters, and have my holidays in Courchevel). Over time it gets better because you have more contacts and experience.
If you think about the future and you don't see yourself in the industry then its fine to go for a career change. But don't do it just because you "think" its better on the other side.
As someone who have experienced both IB and Tech at Faang in SF I can tell you the biggest difference for me besides the obvious WLB was the people you work with. Tech is literally the most boring place to work ever, everyone is either a huge geek or is 35+ years old constantly talking about their kids. Being a "Bro" is literally a toxic behavior in tech, they even have a term for it "Brogrammer" and they will literally hate anyone who do anything outside of tech, you like to party? Drink? Get laid? Toxic! Maybe because most of them are antisocial but I have absolutely no idea wtf was with that. There are a few companies like Uber and Netflix that has a better culture but Google and Facebook culture is extremely tamed.
I used to work 80/week as a IB but I absolutely loved my colleagues, we used to do a 12/h day work then go to the bar and just hangout.
Its why I came back to new york from SF to be a Quant dev. But I miss my IB days, the grass is always greener on the other side, remember that.
Having 5 years of experience before joining a big bank in IB definitely gave me some perspective: worked in jobs I hated (internal audit) and in some others I somewhat enjoyed (corporate development), so I can say the fast paced environment in IB and generally ambitious people you work with are the main differentiators vs other jobs. Is that something you can find in tech jobs? Maybe, but what I’m trying to say is people always think of the best case scenario (ie. a better job). My brother used to tell me “don’t move jobs because of the hours or the people”. The more senior you become, the more hours you’ll spend at work, regardless of the industry (assuming you want career progression) - marketing, sales, operations, it’s all the same. And if you move jobs because you hate (or love) your colleagues, chances are you will also hate (or love) your colleagues in your new job. I only moved jobs when I was certain I would get better a salary or would learn more (regardless of people or hours)
For those who say/think you want to work as a software engineer:
I was a CS major in my freshman year before switching to math + econ double major. I like math, always do. Surprisingly, I'm Chinese :)
I hated coding, just hated it. I used to sit the whole weekend coding my lab assignments. I was devastated.
Now I work in finance, and sometimes I come during the weekends and sit for a whole day too. I do not feel devastated, maybe a little bit upset, but that's it.
Do you really like coding? I like finance. I can get paid 40k a year doing it --- not for long, just for a year becuz I'd like to make more money. But the point is I like finance.
Does SnapChat really create that much value? Or, let me ask this way: is its marginal value higher than its marginal detriment to people? I do not think so. I do not use social media at all, except WSO. I feel better off not using shit like snapchat or insta.
Yeah tech people are getting paid a lot and not work much...let the tech bubble burst !
Finance is all that there has ever been, all that currently is and all that there ever will be.