Intellectually Stimulating OR Mind-numbing Career?
Curious about some on the personalities on WSO / in finance and the corresponding rationales for the following question: Would you rather work a mind-numbing 80hrs/week job or an intellectually stimulating 80hrs/week job?
I'd like to hear arguments for both from people with industry experience, as I feel like I wouldn't mind the notorious logo-aligning as opposed to being entrepreneurial, but not sure if this is naive and if the busy / 'check-the-box' type work reaches a breaking point. I feel like I have a process-oriented and getting shit done given some degree of instruction is less daunting than creating value from scratch. Obviously, if you want to move up the ranks you'll have to show some level of entrepreneurial aptitude (PE) or client-relations/advising skills (IB) to be a rainmaker and last in the industry, but I'm referring to strictly junior level positions.
bump - any thoughts on this?
Started my career as an auditor so I can safely say I can never go back to doing busywork for 80 hrs/week.
Intellectually stimulating work is more exhausting but feels less so because it’s interesting imo
That's not the way to think about it IMO. Most mind numbing, repetitive, process oriented careers are cost centers. Most intellectually stimulating jobs are revenue generators. If I have to work 80 hours a week, I would like to maximize the ROI of my time in terms of money and experience. The greatest ROI is in revenue generating roles/depts, not cost centers. So, I would want to be in a revenue generating seat which also tend to be more intellectually stimulating. At the junior level, its not exactly the role, but the department/team because like you said, IB at the junior level can be mind numbing work but you are working on a live deal that is generating revenue. You are close to the money. If you worked in trade reconciliation/reporting/operations, you are far from the money and your pay reflects that. However, I doubt you would be pulling 80 hour weeks in trade ops.
TLDR: Get as close to the money as possible.
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