Well, shit. That was quite a... vicarious experience. I want to know why you guys are still so desperate to break in, and if you are in, why you insist on grinding it through. Has the industry changed since Troop and Rolfe's years for the better or worse? Do you regret your decisions, and if so, where else would you be? I'm a college freshman.
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Because we'd all love to tell similar war stories one day?
Hours are probably the same...jerking off in the office? Not so much.
You have to remember that the industry culture back then was vastly different (especially at DLJ). Also, don't forget that the two authors of that book basically decided to paint a very negative picture of wall street from the start in order to tell an enthralling story about their experiences. I know many investment bankers who absolutely love their jobs.
Yes OP, BBs are just buildings with tens of thousands of people all jacking off in the bathroom stalls nonstop 24/7.
No, it's people jerking off to Excel. Obviously.
By second year you no longer have hairs on your thighs, since you have pulled them all out to keep you awake in meetings. Many people have tried to use hair regrowth products on said thighs, but alas I do not know of any success stories.
I hardly think it's a horror story about banking, both authors jumped out of IB and into Hedge Funds. The vast majority of students I know going into banking are just doing it for the same kinds of buyside exit opportunities. To some extent, we all see BB banking as a necessary evil if you want to go into something greater long-term and Monkey Business didn't really do anything but enforce that belief.
when I read monkey business some years ago I thought to myself these guys must be making this shit up theyre just really bitter.
Then I started working in IB and realized its a 100% accurate description of the industry.
People still go into banking because like the authors, they want to get out of banking to the buyside.
Also, the authors of that book were whiney little pikers who saw a chance to make a buck selling out a company and an industry that had been pretty good to them: they had no problem thinking that they were 'entitled' to first year comp of $200K+. Seriously, aside from actors/rock stars, I've never seen people bitch so much about getting paid buttloads of money. Is it a brutally competetive industry where the hours SUCK, where you're stuck in a cubicle, and no one outside of your field gives much of a shit what you 'actually' do? you betcha, and they knew that going in. If you want the money though, you have to pay your dues. If they were so 'moral' or 'disillusioned' they would have joined the peace corps, but, they went to the buyside instead, which just says to me that they are weak minded whiners who probably never put in a good hard day of work in their life before banking, and found doing so distasteful. With all due respect, I see the author as nothing more than an opportunist, who outside of finance, no one will really care about a few years from now.
Personally, I've worked my balls off for not a whole lot for most of my life, so going to Wall Street was a no brainer. FUCK.YOU.PAY.ME - very simple logic. The only reason I suffered through that boring, disingenuous narrative was to get more information about the industry, and psychologically prepare myself before going in.
What are you even saying?
You're not even in FO. How can you even compare yourself to the authors? Your argument carries no weight.
I'm moving towards FO now, and I didn't compare myself to anyone. I'm an S/A that manages a bar at night and runs my own business on the side, who did these hours and went to school, AND I'm interviewing for IBD now. Aside from being a flaming faggot, do you have a point??? I've worked 7 days a week for the past 5 years, no summers off, no paid sick days, and no offence to you or anyone here who finds making $100K a year at the age of 22 such a bad thing: a 90 hour work week with a couple of weekend days off her and there would be a fucking vacation for me at this point.
Know who you're dealing with before you mouth off punk.
^True story, the psych ward I worked at in college had a guy killed there in the early 1980's by another patient who put a pen through his skull. He wasn't a banker though, he was a former cop. Just thought it was relevant.
^ ewww freak show way to die
I enjoy threads like these....just to follow the same tone as fuckwit UFOinsider - you're not FO so get the fuck out, no one cares about your back office job day job and nights spent sucking off bankers for fiddies....
Hahaha well said.
Perhaps OP now sees the type of person he will be surrounded by for the next few years.
Ha! It would be child's play for me to bang bankers' girlfriends when they came into my bar all lonely on a Thursday night, just to put your life in perspective for you.
You do banking because it pays more than medicine, law, consulting, academia or almost anything else you can do out of undergrad and other than working very hard you take almost no career risk - if you don't come from money you will be out-earning your parents within 3-5 years
Try 12 months, atleast in my case. Not sure what "not coming from money" means to you but if it takes someone 3-5 years of FO IBD employment to outearn their parents on an annual basis than those said parents must be doing quite well.
You won't. Unless you feel the need to continue this conversation, it's unlikely you'll ever have any interaction with me again. Think about why a supposedly busy guy like you had time to spend on this thread today: if you're so happy, what need would you have to attempt to cut down someone else? I've met pleny of people like you before: some end up with lots of money, some do not, and most just end up somewhere in the middle.....but I think this is a pretty good demonstration to OP of what to expect: it's 11PM, and you're in an office mouthing off to a stranger on a blog.
I wish you the best of luck going forward, have a nice life.
are you guys seriously so insecure about your jobs that you have to put down BO and state schools to feel good about yourselves?
jesus grow the fuck up
[quote=UFOinsider] +1 for you sir Thank you for the support. I'm not sure if they're insecure or just jerkoffs, either way it is irrelevant. Incidentally, I landed FO this morning and I kind of needed a good fight to get the last few years of frustration out of my system. That and murdering the punching bag.
Chances are, if you do, it will be in a few years, and I'll be your boss. Put that in your pipe and shmoke it http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Get+a+life[/quote] Congrats man!
I'm in the buy side you fucking shit head. You will NEVER become my boss. It pisses me off to see fucks like you who write posts trying to act bad ass because you worked 20 hour shifts as a bartender while studying. I gotta thank you though, as if it weren't for under-accomplished individuals like you, I would never be where I'm at right now. By default, people like you put me at the top 20% of the society.
Get it out of your dumb fucking head- you're not important and your accomplishments are inexistent. Stop calling us insecure, since you're the insecure one who needs assurance that you've been making the right decisions thus far.
And please, we all know that people that don't have shit going for them tell others to go get a life. Stop telling me to get a life, as I have the life that YOU want. What does that say about you?
Game. Set. Match.
This thread delivers.
Ok, all the bashing aside. I'm a bit more senior than an analyst, here are my thoughts for your original questions. Going into banking is a big commitment because everything about it is grueling (everything from recruiting to SA to a full time offer). Cubicles & screen staring for 90 hours a week is perfectly true, especially at the analyst and associate levels. Some people are there for the 2-3 years and move on, and others really like the idea of what banking is about and are willing to put in the time to get through the grunt years.
Yes, jacking off in the office definitely happens. Haven't personally been there but know plenty of guys who have. It happens, it's stressful, and folks look for some kind of relief.
I found that the guys who regretted their decisions were the ones who thought they could do the 2 year stint while holding their breath just to move on. Their lives are miserable because they end up getting pumelled by their seniors and have a tough time producing quality work... cycle repeats because they don't want to get better they only want out.
Advice I give to anyone in college, family members and recruits, figure out what you really like and go work there. For example, if you really love snowboarding go get a job at Burton. You will enjoy being there and what the company stands for. If not, you're sure to be miserable and will end up having lost years of your life and career that you can't get back.
Monkey Business is not that far off from the life of an associate.
These are my thoughts tonight, having stared at a screen for about 13 hours today.
A+ WOULD READ AGAIN
Good post, hosacanseco.
UFO, calm down. At some point you have to realize that it's absolutely inconsequential what some anonymous scrandom on the Internet thinks of you. What are you going to do, change their mind by arguing with them? If you ever met someone who gives you that much trouble in real life you have license to punch him in the fact. On a forum, just choose to ignore it. Who gives a fuck, why put so much effort into retorting back and forth. Regardless of who's right, follow the maxim: "You can't win an argument with an idiot; they'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience."
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