Why IB?
I’ve been reflecting on why so many ambitious individuals choose investment banking as a career, and I’m curious to hear your thoughts. At first glance, IB offers prestige, high salaries, and an intense, fast-paced work environment—an appealing package for many. Sure, building financial models and working on deals might be intellectually stimulating, even fun, in the early years. But does this excitement last? Many describe the work as repetitive over time—churning out the same pitch decks, tweaking the same models, and running through endless Excel formulas. Does the initial thrill give way to monotony?
For many, IB isn’t the endgame but a stepping stone to private equity. But here’s the kicker—PE often involves similar styles of work: due diligence, financial analysis, and deal structuring. If the goal is to move into something “better,” is PE really the promised land, or just a lateral shift with a slightly different badge?
It’s fascinating how much of the appeal seems tied to prestige and exclusivity. The elitism of breaking into IB or PE is part of the draw—but at what cost? How much of the pursuit is about passion for the work versus craving external validation? And isn’t it ironic that there are so many paths to financial success and respect, yet the IB-PE pipeline is often treated as the pinnacle?|
Contrast this with being a startup founder for example. While also grueling, the challenges in building a business are vastly more diverse. Success as a founder seems to garner even greater respect—perhaps because it demands more creativity, risk-taking, and ownership of outcomes. Yet, far fewer take that road, despite its potential for both financial and personal fulfillment.
So, what keeps people glued to the IB-PE track? Is it the structure, the security, or something else? At what point does the allure fade, and does it make sense to re-evaluate?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially if you’ve been in the industry or considered it. Why do you think people pursue investment banking—and is the prestige worth it in the long run?
also isn't it really economically better to be a software engineer making like 3 code commits at big tech and earn 500K tc? Sure, its not "elite", but you get more time to yourself and do things on the side. The opportunity cost, imo is higher if ur working in IB. no life, no wife, no nothing
I hear a lot about these $500K tech jobs that grow on trees. Do you know many of them?
if youre L4+ in big tech (4-6 years in), p much all of em [MSFT, AAPL, NVDA, META]. its about 300 base and rest in RSUs n stocks
Because we are ambitious ppl with no real ambitions
thanks for replying! do you regret your decision, or you're just holding on to a false sense of ambition, grinding away for the sake of it?
in this era thinking ib or even pe is prestigious is laughable at best
Making 150k first year out of college is prestigious no matter where it is, IB and PE is extremely prestigious lol
150k for 80-100 hour weeks is practically minimum wage man. nobody cares. if you haven’t realized it yet you will at some point. ib takes the brainpower of a high schooler with the earning potential of any literally other finance career. i put in my years, and the sooner i realized that nobody even cares about ib or my current job, the happier i became. prestige does not exist here, and honestly that self-realization is a good thing. hope you can realize the same
I feel like you think this is a profound realization but some people are actually interested in working in the financial markets and IB is essentially the prerequisite no matter who you talk to. Yes, things are changing now and more people get hedge funds and PE out of school, but is that the norm? No. I code a bit in school and I really prefer excel to that, to each his own.
yes, but ive spoken to people at BX and other PE and IB shops. Whilst you might find Excel interesting now, imagine cranking it out continuously for like 10+ hrs a day for >2 years. Things start to get monotonous really fast, cuz whilst the deal may be different, the financial model and its structure is most likely very similar
And you think typing code for a SWE job wouldn't also get monotonous?
More like one hot second
Echoing other comment. I’m driven but have no real ambitions. This job is an outlet for me to be aimlessly driven at something—75% of what I do doesn’t get looked at. In return they pay me what people hope to make by age 30.
Ambitious people join IB when they’re ready to work hard and get rewarded appropriately but don’t know how they can apply their ambition to a personal thing they care about. Plenty of people start in high finance end up as founders or join early startup. Notable examples are Jeff Bezos, Jake Burton (inventor of the snowboard), Elon Musk (intern at Canadian bank), etc
my 2c (firstly Jeff Bezos was never a banker, he was a quant, a job where you need heavy coding and quantitative reasoning skills)
my qn is is the skillset you learn from IB really transferable to a high growth startup environment which more often that not entails understanding a technical product like openAI, and marketing it to diff stakeholders. Sure your finance skills come in handy but youre so out of touch with technology that its like everyone has to explain to you how a LLM works or smth
I said high finance not IB so there’s no reason to correct me on bezos. Also founding a tech unicorn is not the only exit to become an entrepreneur.
Wow so many people on this forum are depressing to listen to (can't imagine having to sit next to you / work with you). Sure, IB doesn't pay as much as it used to 20 years ago and sure the work isn't the most interesting stuff on the planet but a lot of you fail to see the other benefits.
1.) You learn a lot in quite a little amount of time: Whether this is professionalism, how to efficiently communicate with C-suite executives, industry knowledge, technical skills, etc. there is no doubt that you are rapidly developing skills much quicker than other people your age working "normal jobs"
2.) Top quartile pay for your age: Pay should not be the main factor in why you choose to do IB (if it is you will end up like some people on this forum who are miserable) but without a doubt, you are compensated way above the average / median pay for your age (often in the 90-95+ percentile). Yes, you work way more than the average joe but you also get paid 3x what they get paid (with rapidly scaling pay).
3.) Abundance of job opportunities: It is no secret that after 1-2 years in IB you can go anywhere you want (PE, HF, VC, PC, CD, etc.). IB experience speaks for itself with many people considering IB experience like dog aging (i.e. 1 dog year is equivalent to 7 human years - similar with IB years vs. normal job years). You will have these jobs chasing you rather than you having to chase these jobs.
4.) Talented / driven co-workers: Excluding everyone's useless MBA associate, many of your co-workers in IB are very talented and driven. This often isn't the case in traditional corporate roles where it is quite evident average people just are collecting an effortless paycheck. You become close to these talented individuals who eventually will become your references & may even recommend you for opportunities in the future.
I'm sure there are much more benefits but you get the point, not everything is about the money. This is why you should chase a good bank with a good culture over the "most prestigious" (btw no one give a s*#t) bank on the street that just views you as a cog in a machine.
Just my 2 cents as someone who isn't miserable in IB and actually enjoys the job.
MBA Associates come in because analysts have no loyalty and are hardly considered part of the company since so many churn. Until you’re an associate you’re cannon fodder
Found the sensitive MBA associate
They are paths for very different people in terms of risk profile and what they want in life.
I'll offer a slightly different perspective than others. As somebody who came into my IB analyst years convinced that the only career path worth considering was private equity, I came to realize after a year or two that the deal/execution work in IB actually got more interesting over time. Yes, as a junior banker you're cranking out models and it can get repetitive, but graduating into the associate role and beyond gives you a chance to "use your head" a lot more.
Fundamentally, investment bankers salespeople and storytellers. The more that your job becomes to craft your client's story, the less repetitive and more interesting it becomes. I felt like I'd be losing that aspect of the job by jumping ship to private equity, which is why I ultimately decided to stay in IB.
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