Starting my first job in IB at a BB in early 2022 and have no background in economics/finance etc and no internship.
So far I've done a lot of modelling practice from M&I on YouTube and taken Damodaran's course on valuation online. What other content is recommended to hit the ground running from Day 1?
Is revising the CFA Level 1 content worth doing? All suggestions welcome.
Thanks
| +89 | Drunk VP. How to manage? | 29 | 10h |
| +68 | [2026 - October] Unbiased Prestige Rankings | 32 | 44m |
| +60 | Who is the final boss in Houston Energy? (GS, JEFF or EVR) | 10 | 14h |
| +44 | Lazard US Views 2026/2027 | 16 | 1d |
| +43 | McK vs A&M Offer Decision | 22 | 12h |
| +40 | Tomorrow Will Be Better | 5 | 1d |
| +39 | Moelis PCA vs Lower tier BB Coverage | 26 | 6h |
| +38 | Why Do We Turn Comments? | 7 | 3h |
| +22 | UBS’s Investment Bank Is Building an AI Slop Factory | 2 | 1d |
| +21 | How early is to early? | 9 | 2d |
Career Resources
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.
BIWS has some good modelling courses.
Literally the only thing worth doing is making sure your attention to detail and formatting are good, highly unlikely you will be running the model
No
If you dont mind answering, how did you get the job with no internship?
Good academic record, and applied direct to grad scheme. Impressed at interview I suppose, with use of modelling and commercial awareness.
what is damodaran
is it a guy's program
Definitely get proficient at excel and ppt (learn formatting, shortcuts etc). Try to create pretty slides (e.g. find examples of decks online and redo them, great from scratch etc). Revise technicals (good on accounting)
No need to learn valuation and modelling (or to limited extent) given that you are at a BB you will have limited exposure
NO!!!!! Don’t try to practice ppt and XLS before starting haha 😂
Yeah, don’t do this
Common guys I just interned at a top Bb think GS JPM and I can tell you it would have greatly helped if I knew how to do some charts faster or that there were some commonly accepted colour differences for input values and calculated values on xls.
Bro, yeah, you just “interned”, thanks.
Ive been in this job for 2 years and I can tell you whatever artificial personal training you will undertake will make you gain a WEEK of learning curve at most (2 weeks if you totally ruin your personal time) and II) If I had to do it again I would probably prepare even less
Being sent a PPT markup at midnight for a board meeting the next day is a lot more effective at making you become productive than trying to be the cool kid before you start
He would have learned what you mentioned in his first markup anyway...
Bump
No it’s a complete waste of your time to practice anything before starting. Every bank has weeks of training where you’ll learn what actually matters. These jobs give you a chance to learn as you go, no one expects much from you your first few months. Just enjoy free time while you can.
Est est voluptas illo nemo ea asperiores quas non. Enim velit sed quia eos non fuga et. Dignissimos et nihil praesentium nulla. Mollitia omnis amet veritatis aut. Facere aperiam quis ut soluta. Perspiciatis rem incidunt consequatur qui quia excepturi.
Sunt aut voluptatibus cumque enim nihil ex. Vel iusto mollitia vitae excepturi. At voluptates aut labore. Eius dolorem error eaque illo mollitia.
Et ipsum voluptates nihil debitis qui. Odio accusantium quaerat cupiditate error nam suscipit fugit. Id ullam ducimus est quae et voluptas. Error quis laboriosam iusto harum voluptatibus.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...