Time to call it? Quarter life crisis.
After more than 3 years at a BB, I am more sick of it than ever.
I decided to stay beyond the analyst years because I actually saw a future in banking and enjoyed it at one point. But the huge recent pickup in activity, paired with years of rude MDs, absent-minded VPs, and analysts that don’t carry their weight has made me exhausted and I’m on the verge of quitting.
Comp is good, not great, and appears to largely be a popularity contest from here on out until Senior VP (staffer admitted as much) that I am not winning. My health has progressively deteriorated and I still work the same (sometimes longer) hours I did as a first year analyst.
I want to have a life again and not end up divorced, bald, and with a heart condition in 10 years, and that seems to be where my life is heading if I don’t get out.
For those of you who left and did something other than traditional PE exit (I hate modelling), is there anything out there for a banker from a top group with decent pay and WLB?
Bump
I do not have any quarters for you
That is metal coin 
So if you have crisis then you must have dimes or Penny
They are also metal coin, do not eat
It is toxic for body and is it food!!!!
If you hate modeling the only role I can think of that would suit your experience is Business Development / Investor Relations
Ignore title, was in a similar situation to you and left for a BD seat in a FAANG company. No modelling and mostly act as an internal consultant to clients, touching a bit of everything product, marketing/advertising, GTM strategy, competitor analysis, pricing, VERY basic finance (nothing compared to the granularity/depth you’d get in IB), M&A integration, process improvement etc whilst also handling client requests that come in. It’s an inch deep mile wide type of role. Best thing is you get your own PNL so your comp will scale significantly if you put the effort in. WLB has been amazing outside of the occasional “busy periods” (my worst weeks are still much better than my normal weeks in IB) and comp is ok, ofcourse a step down but I see a path to mid/high six figures if I stick it out. I usually work 9-5 with 0 weekends and more often than not I can come in at lunch and log off at 3 as long as my work gets done (have to build the trust first before pulling this though).
Main drawbacks I noted is that it’s a real fight to get promoted (at least at my company) unlike in IB/high finance where you’re sort of guaranteed to make it to VP as long as you’re decent at what you do here you really have to show how you added value (i.e. I bought in X amount of revenue or contributed to Y amount of projects). Depending on the type of person you are it can be a good or bad thing. Then again if you’re happy staying at the mid senior level you can also just coast and not worry about getting fired since there isn’t an up or out culture.
I’d recommend a seat like mine if you hate modelling. Consulting is also ok better WLB than IB although still can be rough. Anything else I’d imagine you would need an MBA to pivot towards. For me personally, I’m looking to eventually transfer to a Product Management track eventually which for me is the dream. Super hard seat to land straight out of IB/Consulting but is possible although I’ve seen it happen once or twice. Good luck man.
Do you mind sharing what level you left IB and joined BD and your current comp?
Sure thing, I initially left IB (Levfin not M&A) at the A2 mark for a buyside credit investing seat but turned out it wasn’t much better than IB and ended up leaving for the role I’m currently in. I’m UK based so if you’re in the US add 20-30% on to this comp but:
Keep in mind I’m currently L5 but I know L6/L7 is where you make the real money. Hoping to get promoted to L6 in 2 years or so and then give a go as a PM since comp on that side of the pond seems higher. As an associate I imagine you could come in at the L6 level where comp including stock & cash bonus is much higher than L5 (you’re essentially a principal at that point).
At my firm most people at that level have mentally checked out and do enough to keep their jobs. They earn good money, have good WLB, and don’t see the point of progressing any further so they stay at that level for years. This is the main reason why my WLB is so chill, if you have seniors who are looking to get promoted your hours will be tougher albeit still significantly better than IB.
In the US i think total comp for L5 is $120/130k? I’m not sure but this is from what I’ve heard so take it with a grain of salt.
Out of curiosity, what would be the value of an MBA in this situation, given a person has been in IB for 3 yrs? I'm EU based so MBA is fairly uncommon here. I just don't get quite what jobs would see a candidate with 3 yrs in IB and think that they need 2 years of pretty basic business education to be qualified. More operational/ strategy type jobs?
You’ll notice even in the EU/UK where I’m based some US companies still value the MBA albeit it’s mostly outside of finance (operations/strategy/biz dev seats). I agree what you learn is pretty useless but it’s a good way to brand yourself differently and have a “fresh start”. Also no one is doing an MBA to actually learn the content you go for the network, experience and a career break everyone knows working an actual job will teach you way more than an MBA ever will.
Is the work interesting/challenging? I worry FAANG would be dead, while being secure with decent pay, I may be wrong though
I personally want to pivot to consulting just because it might be more interesting/intellectually stimulating…
I personally enjoy it, don’t get me wrong there are very boring days where you’re literally just dealing with client requests sometimes which can get pretty dull. But it gets quite fun when your going and meeting startup founders/CTO’s and closing deals with them, negotiating those terms, working with PM’s to build a demo of your product and also when you’re actually executing the strategy you’ve designed. Consulting is also interesting and broader I’d say but I’d imagine this is an exit opp for most consultants who want to specialise in tech.
Sorry to hear this. Sounds like the ‘sophomore slump’: you now know enough to know you need more than where you are. Two things come to mind.
First, life in my experience (I’m 45, studied medieval history, worked in IB for years, a hedge fund for 20 doing public and privates in US Canada LatAm and Europe, and started my own fund with a partner 5 years ago) has been a series of ‘punctuated equilibria’ as a college prof called them. That is, brief periods of rapid step change followed by longer periods of equilibration. The equilibration always feels stagnant because it follows the almost manic steep learning bit. Literally never for me has there been any other state of existence than one or the other of these. So what I would say is : you are currently equilibrating. Trust that there will be a breakthrough, whether you stay or go. Of course it is certain, and certainly immediate, if you go. But it will come regardless.
Second, the wonderful thing about finance is that the skill set - and the opportunities to which it can be applied - are nearly endless. People seem to focus on IB, consulting , whatever … but as another poster rightly mentioned , companies need IR, corp fin, treasury , biz dev … there are zillions of ways to apply what you have learned and banking DEFINITELY is not for everybody. So cast a wide net and find something that will really make you excited to go to work. You will be far more successful if you love what you do, no matter what. It is a big world out there - take full advantage!
Good luck!
This is crazy, this comment taught me sm about life. Thank you
Thanks; glad it’s helpful.
Was so sick of banking too and saw how I did not want to be any of my MD's / VPs. All miserable.
Left for a strategy role at a $15bn private company. Earning around $215k all in with 30-40 hour weeks. Was at a Wells / RBC / Truist / TD, so kind of weak IB group.
That’s great. What level did you leave banking and are you in a HCOL area?
2 years, and yes am in HCOL.
definitely truist
That comp seems like it's on the high-end after just a few years in banking congrats. Is this some kind of combined Corp Dev/Strategy role or is it actually pure corporate strategy that's more modeling light? I ask because so far I've only seen such comp in more highly acquisitive corp dev roles rather than chill 30-40 hour strategy roles so wondering where best to look? Thank you
Yes it is a blend, work with modeling a decent bit. Also feel like its more on the high end and I got super lucky. Hours are strict 9-5 it has been great.
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