Low Testosterone in IB (or high finance in general)
Hi everyone,
As you know, IB usually comes with lack of sleep, bad diet, inability to hit the gym, VPs with ED (because of which they end up taking their anger out on the juniors, and work all night - going to a date or home would be embarrassing), adderall abuse, and guys who care too much about what the difference between Gucci Jordaan and Gucci 1953 is, all of which are related to low testosterone.
As a result, I was wondering if the testosterone level is much lower in IB compared to the general population, and what steps can be taken to get those levels back. Should banks do regular blood tests to ensure that the bankers are maintaining optimal hormone levels, and, therefore, not physically lacking, or should we leave the testosterone levels low, so that the MDs can keep asking for the whole deck to be fixed just because the footnote on pg 69 had a double space (by writing with a red pen that no one can comprehend) without the fear of an analyst getting aggressive?
Yeah mate, absolutely crazy that people accept all the stress and lack of sleep that comes with this job (and some even defend it) just to make less than a good SWE. Like I have friends who aren't working at top software companies, and making $100/hr already while working from home, and almost never working beyond 6pm (plus several other perks), while we have boomers who wouldn't even allow us free coffee, or complain if we are caught doing nothing in the office for a minute. It's funny how so many college athletes go into finance, and yet everyone still accepts having the hormone levels of a grandpa. I absolutely despise people who let the whole ordeal continue just because they had it rough, or because they feel the necessity to be the top hardo. On top, the bonuses this year didn't make up for it, either
Ok? There are different skill sets in each of those industries. You code in SWE for a living... that's boring af (and hard too). IB you get to learn about companies that do matter. Yea you model and move ppt logos but at least you're not punching 1s and 0s. IB and finance requires some form of social competency to deal with people and make deals. Unfortunately SWE are filled with many socially awkward mountain dew dorito stentching neckbeards who would get panic attacks in inperson meetings. Tell biches you do SWE at Google... ""NERDDDDD""... instant turn off!! Girls think of a wuss. Tell girls you do in IB, she thinks of you more positively. ALSO, IB demands better fashion choices... SWE doesnt care if u shower once a WEEK. I would much rather work in an industry that matches my interests and have way more cooler people, EVEN if it means I supposedly get less pay (but the other IB v SWE threads confirm that in the long run finance gets compensated way better)
Hey, I wasn't trying to defend the SWE people, but making a comparison on how IB can improve. If you know anything about the software industry, you'll know that the hours until later 90s were also pretty bad, but they have made considerable efforts to reduce the time spent (apart from the development in tech). I wasn't talking about girls, but the percentage of people who go into IB and lift heavier than before is much smaller than people who lost strength/muscle, even though finance people focus more on looks. Given this, I'd want people in finance to focus more on physicality, and maybe improving little bit of WLB. If anything, I've found that the biggest hairdos in my office almost never hit the gym (could be office specific), but that creates a bad environment for everyone else too by limiting when you can hit the gym, or how long you're working. Like post-covid most banks are already back to 4-5 days in the office, and some VPs think you should be on call at 3am. I don't really see a reason to not improve WLB or focus on it, but with your mindset of calling people 'nerds', 'wuss', 'cooler people', it's likely going to be a hard task. Also, your interests aside, most of the work in IB is creating decks by scavenging for random numbers or graphics to make the slides look better - idk how many people go into IB being 'interested' in doing that.
Lift heavy - focus on compound lifts, eat clean and don’t skimp on cruciferous vegetables, catch up on sleep on the weekend and limit alcohol.. the list goes on. There are clear steps you can take to manage hormone levels while being successful in IB.
Damn that’s 3 strikes for me lmao.
Have gone many, many multi-week stretches barely seeing the sun these past few years in this industry, but am still aggressively horny a good portion of the day and delete beers like a mad man when I can, so hopefully that gives you a little confidence boost. Try to eat healthy M-F and intermittent fast until I rip a bowl at 2am post 16 hour battles with excel 2016 and take down a whole carton of dark chocolate almonds (still healthy right?)
No high test man would ever work 90 hours a week for a boss who doesn't give a fuck about him