Is staying the second year worth it?
I'm a current first year analyst at an EB who hates IB and looking for some advice. I enjoyed my summer internship reasonably enough, but now that I'm in the thick of it for longer than a 10 week period I'm realizing how much I value some modicum of WLB (aka not being on-call 24/7 and being able to plan things out further than a day in advance). I also find the hierarchy and social environment of banking stifling and the entire set-up of banking feels like it was made to be as inefficient and bullshit as possible. The content of the work is interesting enough but I don't find it interesting enough to completely reorganize my life around this job for two years. I honestly don't mind making profiles and scrubbing comps or dealing with please fixes for the 10th time around and I do enjoy learning about the more strategic / advisory portions of this job. I also like the people I work with as well, they've all been very nice and respectful. However, I just can't stand the on-call nature and antiquated social customs, such as dealing with face time, this job demands and the thought that I might have to go through another 100-hour week at any moment makes me want to shrivel up and die. Also seeing the senior bankers still working relatively long hours and always being on-call has convinced me it doesn't really ever get better by the structure of this job.
Rant aside, I'm thinking of exit options and am not interested in the traditional PE exit if the social environment and WLB is anywhere the same and honestly I'm not super intellectually interested by investing as well. Casting a broad net, but thinking of pivoting out of high finance entirely after this bonus cycle, and thinking maybe corp dev or corp finance but I'm worried of how quitting after a year looks. Is the second year of banking worth it from an experience perspective? Does it get better after your first year? Those who left after 1 year, where are you now? Any advice on how to deal with the lifestyle demands this job requires? Any and all input is welcome
Assuming you started this summer, you’re right around the 6mo mark of working in IB. I found this was the “low” point for me (currently 2nd yr at EB) even though was/have been consistently overworked throughout my time in IB. The initial excitement of working in finance in NYC (or whatever city you’re at) has worn off but you still haven’t adjusted to the lifestyle, college begins to fade from feeling like just yesterday to a more distant memory, and you are still finding your footing in the job.
I would do your best to stick it out for the two years. The incremental learning of being a second year, training up the new 1st yrs and having more responsibility in addition to another year of higher pay than what you would be getting in corp dev is the argument for staying. Not to mention some people will wonder if you couldn’t handle the work (but really, who cares what other people think if you get your next job lined up before quitting).
If you truly are miserable and see no way of physically and mentally making it through a second year in one piece…just quit after your bonus. In the long run, your life will not be defined by if you decided to do 2yrs of IB vs 1 yr
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