What type of people enjoy or can stand being an analyst in ibanking?

I have been thinking lately and 100 hour weeks is a lot of working, even if it is just temporary. And from what I'm reading, analyst work is a lot of tedious/mind numbing work. So what does it take to be able to survive the 2 years? An extreme interest in finance? Love for money? What keeps everybody's minds motivated and not wandering off?

Thanks

42 Comments
 
WillATXI'm having trouble getting up/staying awake at my 4hr day internship, fuck 100 hour weeks

really dude? you can hardly work 20 hours a week... there is almost no way you can be successful in life if you are only willing to work 20 hours per week... even following the lifestyle choices of the 4 hour work week, you will need to put in some hours up front to set that up...

 
rufiolove
WillATXI'm having trouble getting up/staying awake at my 4hr day internship, fuck 100 hour weeks

really dude? you can hardly work 20 hours a week... there is almost no way you can be successful in life if you are only willing to work 20 hours per week... even following the lifestyle choices of the 4 hour work week, you will need to put in some hours up front to set that up...

lol this reminds me of this scene from dumb and dumber (the first 20 seconds or so that is):

Pretty women make us BUY beer. Ugly women make us DRINK beer.
 

it's two years. If you are really good, you can get a decent buyside gig after one year if you really cannot stand the second year.

 
Ricqlesit's two years. If you are really good, you can get a decent buyside gig after one year if you really cannot stand the second year.
Right. The promised land. Again - what makes you guys think you will stop "putting up with bullshit" after your IB stints.
 
Best Response
DurbanDiMangus
Ricqlesit's two years. If you are really good, you can get a decent buyside gig after one year if you really cannot stand the second year.
Right. The promised land. Again - what makes you guys think you will stop "putting up with bullshit" after your IB stints.

You will always do some type of bs work no matter where you go. You are only like what? 25 when you are done with your banking stint? The fact of the matter is, on the buyside you do "less" bs work with "better lifestyle" unless you go to one of the mega shops. It's not the promise land by any means, but do you have any other better suggestions for someone who is 25 and want to make over 200k / year?

You need to go through the grind in any part of the finance industry unless you are a math genius who gets recruited to be a quant trader out of college. I am sure any senior guys in any industry have to be the bitch for a couple years before climbing to the top. You can be your own boss if you start something on your own, but just make sure you can that one of the 0.5% who actually make it.

 
oldmansacks^1 year huh. I've seen this happen quite a few times. Is it looked down upon when applying for corp dev/pe/vc? I'm assuming most of it is luck and good connections.

a combination of luck, connections and industry knowledge will carry you far. It's not looked down upon as long as you prove that you can do the work.

 
Ricqles
oldmansacks^1 year huh. I've seen this happen quite a few times. Is it looked down upon when applying for corp dev/pe/vc? I'm assuming most of it is luck and good connections.

a combination of luck, connections and industry knowledge will carry you far. It's not looked down upon as long as you prove that you can do the work.

Often times PE offers are given 1 year (or earlier) into the program to start one year later so that you can acquire more skills. For example, start as an analyst July 2010, recieve offer spring 2011, start work in August 2012. That said, its not unheard of to try to start immediately, although you might burn bridges at the bank you are departing.

 

To answer the OP's question, it's the type of people who want to be in ibanking so badly they do it. Much like my med student friends endure 4 years of med school, then 3-5 years of 80 hour residencies that offer crap pay for crap work. Literally, my friend said that her first year of residency was just saying to the doctor, "Yes, ma'am, I'll be happy to take that stool sample from the elderly patient."

If you want it badly enough, you'll do it.

 
electriclightoTo answer the OP's question, it's the type of people who want to be in ibanking so badly they do it. Much like my med student friends endure 4 years of med school, then 3-5 years of 80 hour residencies that offer crap pay for crap work. Literally, my friend said that her first year of residency was just saying to the doctor, "Yes, ma'am, I'll be happy to take that stool sample from the elderly patient."

If you want it badly enough, you'll do it.

Residency sounds a lot worse than banking as an analyst

"One should recognize reality even when one doesn't like it, indeed, especially when one doesn't like it." - Charlie Munger
 
cplpayne
electriclightoTo answer the OP's question, it's the type of people who want to be in ibanking so badly they do it. Much like my med student friends endure 4 years of med school, then 3-5 years of 80 hour residencies that offer crap pay for crap work. Literally, my friend said that her first year of residency was just saying to the doctor, "Yes, ma'am, I'll be happy to take that stool sample from the elderly patient."

If you want it badly enough, you'll do it.

Residency sounds a lot worse than banking as an analyst

Either way you're still taking shit from someone.

 

+1 for cplpayne - He has a great point. It is so easy to lose track of how relative your "bad" situation can be compared to someone else's. Getting paid 100k+ as a twentysomething for not-rocket-science work and complaining about how terrible your life is sounds ridiculous to anyone outside of banking. My dad thought I was retarded when I complained about "not getting enough modeling exposure". In regards to the hours...what other productive activities could we be doing with that time that generate the same return? Very few IMHO.

Banking is for people who are willing and able to sacrifice short-term comfort for long-term gains.

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal" - Henry Ford

 
electriclightoTo answer the OP's question, it's the type of people who want to be in ibanking so badly they do it. Much like my med student friends endure 4 years of med school, then 3-5 years of 80 hour residencies that offer crap pay for crap work. Literally, my friend said that her first year of residency was just saying to the doctor, "Yes, ma'am, I'll be happy to take that stool sample from the elderly patient."

If you want it badly enough, you'll do it.

Great point. There's lots of talk about how bad IBD is, but what about the medical profession? You start off with the 4 year black hole, then get worked about as many hours as an IBD analyst during residency. But they save lives I guess.

 
GenesisI didn't enjoy my time as an analyst even though I took a certain pride in it. It's been MUCH better since Associate.

Would you mind elaborating?

 
txjustin
GenesisI didn't enjoy my time as an analyst even though I took a certain pride in it. It's been MUCH better since Associate.

Would you mind elaborating?

My analyst stint was a pretty brutal time (2008-2009 end); we let a lot of people go and were pitching endlessly while executing a couple of deals with PE clients who knew they could treat us like pinatas because we had to close deals in the worst market ever. Bonuses were low too. But it offered opportunities - I got bumped to Associate in 2 years and then we staffed up on analysts. It's amazing how much more of a big picture view you can take as an Associate than as an analyst, where you have to do every single set of comps and spread every single set of financials; you're much more setting direction and start thinking commercially. The best analysts have that sensibility too but don't often have the time to employ it because they get bogged down with all the stuff analysts have to do. Directors/MDs come directly to me with things rather than go through VPs a lot of the time since they're now familiar with the quality of work I do, and it looks like there might be another quick promote soon (fingers crossed). Much more senior interaction, client interaction, taking the lead on calls/deals etc. Not to mention you can delegate a lot of the stuff to your best analysts.

My work hours are still pretty rough (I don't dump work and bounce on analysts, it's not the culture at my firm), but definitely manageable, pay went up 50% the moment I hit Associate and the cost of living went down in Dubai around the same time. I've actually had PE offers (no Carlyles etc. but still) that I've turned down because for the moment I'm happy where I'm am with my team; we've been through the roughest period imaginable and the sense of camaraderie is excellent.

 

I am liking itt , but sometimes it gets so stressy and if you take stuff told to you personally and do not preservere, you will actually hate it !!!

Maybe I do not have quotes under my name on google, but I KEEP IT REAL
 
  1. The reason most people don't like it is not due to it being stressful.
  2. Everybody that now hates their job, had the same attitude coming in as you.
nyc-matt-2kid think that for people who are ambitious and young, they would love a 2 year role in ib (despite it being stressful at times...but, hey, ambitious folks should thrive on that!
 

well......despite that there are some ambitious people in the banking world, its not the only thing that makes you do it. I mean if you also keep working on the same stuff for 2 years(excel +ppt) you have to have some kind of patience skills to cope and try not to get back at your boss if he bashes your work to the ground as well :)

Maybe I do not have quotes under my name on google, but I KEEP IT REAL
 

I left my firm a weeks ago for a new firm, but I can say that at my old firm, I enjoyed my experience. Working until 4am blows, but if the people you work with aren't dbags, it's not that bad.

 

It's usually miserable when you're in it - good analysts/co workers around you can make it exponentially better. I recently left for something completely different - I see the value in what I learned now but I don't really miss it. It was brutal hour wise, social life suffered (something I value) but I don't regret doing it since it helped me get to something I really wanted.

 

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