Please Help Me. IBD Analyst Burnt Out 3 Months In.
All,
Short bio: Full time A1 in a new city. The first weeks starting off were amazing – got my first live, interesting deal. I studied up on it inside out and had a strong social kickoff with new friend networks. I thought this city was unbeatable.
Fast forward three months, I’m so burnt out. I’m on seven live deals within a small team. I work 85-90+ hour weeks, can’t make plans with the initial friends I met, and feel my social life slipping by my fingertips. I’m not doing meaningful work – I’m a pitch and diligence bulldozer. I don’t even know what my deals are about because as soon as I finish menial work with one I’m hopping right to the next. I’m fully terrified of waking up and hearing the Microsoft Outlook email notification sound because I think I’m late for something or my weekend is compromised.
I’m tired of living this worried and hectic lifestyle. Sure, I might sound like a b**** because this is what IB “should be”, but I 100% don’t think I can do it. I can maybe take a year of this, but before my health begins to deteriorate, I want to consider other options. Maybe a lateral for better culture (my firm is known for being particularly sweaty) or start following through with HHs in my network for PE/VC. But even beyond that as these options are around a year away – I want to consider doing some interesting work. A risky leap into something like a startup or maybe even MBA, but there is no credible information online on how those risky exits work other than mere anecdotes.
Anyone have advice or some time to chat with me? Could really use a hand. I apologize if content or formatting is messy. Took some time out of work hoping that I’ll get some responses to check on later.
Thanks.
Yeah bankers are dumb bro. Pivot to tech. What sort of idiot would schedule his team on that sort of workload? Just hire more workers and give less work to each one. New rule don't work for idiots.
450 hours work 5 people = 90 hours each 6 = 75 7 = 62ish 8 = 56ish
Why is this hard.
What's your degree in? If it's CS, EE or something similar, you can go do that, but you'd probably already have known that, so I'm guessing (Ivy aside) that it's something less STEMy. In that case, the work you're doing is probably at least as "interesting" as anything else you're qualified for right now.
This may not be particularly helpful, but my advice would be to stick it out. If your group is that busy, you're looking at a pretty nice bonus check in a matter of months, and an enviable (and differentiating) amount of live deal experience on your resume. Right or wrong, there is step function in the number and quality of jobs available to you after your first year, and a less dramatic but still meaningful expansion after the standard two years. If you leave now you'll be tainted and likely to regret it.
Hang in there, your life will only get better from this point
Nothing will change from not doing anything...
I disagree.
He's on 7 live deals right now so either his workflow slows down or he'll learn how to better handle it. Not to mention, the experience he's getting will literally make him a 5x better banker.
I don't have any advice, but you should edit your OP and remove some details. With the amount of detail you provided, I'm sure people at your bank would know it's you.
I have not been in banking, but I trade commodities at a physical shop. I get the physical and emotional burn-out feeling and the soul crushing spike your heart takes any time you hear your phone ding.
I tend to agree with some of the other guys. Stick it out. You will learn some interesting things about yourself. I'm taking a break soon due to some emotional burnout, and will maybe write about that later, but I am thankful for the hellacious ride that got me here.
You will either be stretched and learn that you can handle more, and in a year you will find satisfaction in your ability to carry more. Or perhaps, you may continue to burn-out and you will have the opportunity to see a side of yourself you have not seen before. You will learn from that.
beyond the personal growth piece, I think professionally bailing out at 3 or even 6 months will be detrimental.
Look at your current role day-to-day. Survive and try to find little joys and pleasures in the misery. by the time you lift your head up again, you may be at the end of the year. You will drown if you go in everyday counting down the days.
Good luck.
Bro it sounds like you still want to just have the cool social life and that's not your job right now. You are not successful based on the friends you make and keep right now, you are about getting the job done in the office. Get it done.
Just wanted to say sounds brutal. Let me know if I can help in any way.
Hang in there! Patrick
Did 2 years of IBing as an Analyst before leaving the finance world to start my own business a decade+ ago. I remember super clearly where you're at. While my hours weren't quite as bad, I wanted to quit VERY, very badly the first 6 months.
A decade plus later I'm incredibly thankful I stuck it out even though I'm not in finance anymore. Here's why:
You get a work ethic few can match. Once you've done banking you can work on your own stuff so much more effectively and it anchors you so that few other things feel that rough. It gives you perspective. This is super useful if you start your own gig or go to work for someone else.
Getting through a few years of banking as mentioned previously is an instant credibility booster when talking with people who are familiar with it. With once sentence people will assume you work hard, understand the important aspects of finance/business and people will often give you more of a benefit of the doubt quickly. It's an immediate professional networking boost, as long as you're not obnoxious about it and lead with it in every conversation.
Chance to save. I lived super frugally for 2 years and left with enough money to live off of for multiple years while starting my business debt-free. Even if you don't do this if you're smart with your money vs. blowing it on wild weekends you can set yourself up for a life-changing pivot after a couple of years.
Deep understanding of finance/business. I feel fairly grounded regarding most things financially and business related after 2 years in the trenches. Was thinking about starting a fund and just whipped up a model to get a sense of if it's realistic. This helps with investing, entrepreneurship, landing other jobs, etc.
Hang in there if you can, it's worth it in the end. And if you've got an Associate or VP that you respect and is reasonable come to them with your concerns if you're really getting killed. As long as you normally don't complain and do good, consistent work a "Hey, I'm really struggling now - can you help me think about how to balance/prioritize my work?" will at least let them know where you're at that you need help.
Don't complain or ask for less work - just ask for advice on dealing with it and they'll likely give you some good advice and be aware that you're overladed and maybe be more thoughtful about dropping non-essential stuff on you for a while.
Good luck, this too will pass eventually even though it doesn't feel like it.
I totally get where you're coming from because I've been there myself! You can study and feel prepared for this kind of work all you want, but once you get in you're either going to love it or the lifestyle will hit you like a ton of bricks. Some people just can't handle being pushed to their limits being a worker bee for da man all those hours. But that's okay. It's just not the right culture for you - it certainly wasn't for me, which is why I left the field and retooled myself to do engineering.
MBA's a good way of reinventing yourself - just know where you want to land when you get out so that you make the right choice next time and get your money's worth. Law school is also a good option. STEM is also a good place to be. I don't know exactly what your strengths and interests are - but my suggestion is to do some introspection on that and use that as a guide to plot out a 3 year roadmap.
In my case, I have a knack for computer programming, and I just kind of let that lead me to where I'm at now. Started off small, taking on contract work that was heavy in Excel, but where the programming skills came in handy to make me more productive.
I noticed that a lot of folks who get into this field get sort of wrapped up in the bubble of Wall Street and seem to think it's the only kind of job with prestige and high pay. But there are many options in other industries. You've just got to do a little exploring of other career paths. If you were smart enough to get into IB, you can work your way into other areas where you will be successful and financially prosperous. Another great thing is that most other places don't have the expectation that you have to work so many hours.