What is the value of prestige?
I graduated from a target university (in Europe) about 1,5 years ago and was unable to secure any of the prestigious Investment Banking full-time analyst positions. Instead I went into corporate "investment" banking (i.e. corporate banking, but more niche, project based and less mechanical - template based lending). After a year and a half I can say that I actually love it, and would probably not leave my position even to become a BB IB-analyst.
Based on hourly wage, I get better, or equal compensation as my friends in IB due to the fact that I am working 50 hour weeks instead of 90-100 hour weeks. I also think that all the "why IB is worth it even though the hours are bad"-arguments still apply to my position. I get to attend the same meetings with CEO/CFOs of large companies as you would in IB, I get to learn all kinds of hard and soft skills such as modelling or structuring debt as well as negotiating and maintaining client relations. Furthermore, the seniors at my firm seem to have great lives so the career opportunities seem fine. They aren't all owning yachts or anything, but everyone owns a nice house/apartment as well as one/a couple vacation homes, regularly travels with their families and perhaps the most important: has time to be a part of their kids' upbringing.
All in all, unless I am missing some golden feature of the more prestigious career paths, my advice to anyone finding themself in a similar position as I found myself 1,5 years ago - it will be fine (maybe, even great)!
To the rest of you, am I missing something? Is the prestige actually worth it?
No tangible benefits except greater standing in the industry and potentially socially but it’s debatable if you’d consider that tangible.
Prestige is not a “must have” to have a happy and successful life.
That being said, it’s certainly a “nice to have” in that it gives you optionality/flexibility. Having a brand name school and/or institution on your resume gives you flexibility as you navigate your career (be it within the finance industry or outside it). For example, you may get interviews solely based on brand recognition regardless of whether or not you’re actually the right fit for the job.
So to me, prestige helps you stand out from the masses, but it’s certainly not a 100% requirement for success (and the definition of “success” will vary based on person - only you know what’s important to you).
Most corp dev groups expect IB experience. It's more a matter of training than prestige.
Prestige is everything.
I bet you tell chicks you work in IB tho... lol
Haha, tbh the people I hang with outside work doesn't really understand the difference between IB and being a teller at the local bank. However, I get your point - during my first 3 months I would probably have said that I worked IB to anyone knowing the difference. :)
Run a DCF analysis
For almost every transaction I’ve worked on, there has been some kind of shares as security. To value the shares we use a dcf in almost all cases… so yeah, you not missing out on the glorious dcf in cb :)
Prestige is relative to one beliefs and circumstances is. For example, it is prestigious to someone in my native country study in United States and work here, nearly any job that require a university degree is and would be more paying than any job where I am from. But to someone from US, it may be to work at gs tmt division for example.
I almost gave you a sb, but then I read that you are not working a prestigious investment banking job. That's what you are missing out on, be better next time.
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