If you are a grad currently exploring options, and literally still early in your life so you could do something different than banking (coding, become viral TikToker), do gig economy - why have you decided to still go to the business that is getting quite commoditised?
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Simple. All those other things you noted do not fulfill me as much as IBD. I get it, especially when you are analyst you are focused on models, formatting etc. However, through my experience so far (1 year in M&A before finishing undergrad) the work I do is important. It is a huge success for businesses and retires most business owners. When working on deals I see all the effects of an acquisition in to both companies and the importance is huge. I feel I am serving a higher purpose and I am being involved into something that changes so many lives. After an acquisition or merger( with the right integration), companies grow and expand their market, employees, and products. It’s an amazing thing to see when is done right. Also, those other things you mentioned will get me bored in the first year. IBD provides me with excitement as each deal is different and has different people, terms, and intricacies to get through. Different lessons and challenges. It never gets old. I wake up everyday and I feel full of passion to see a deal through and get to the next and know that I was part of something big. I hope that makes sense. Cheers!
Blink twice if under duress
Hahahaha. (please save me), jk. (not kidding).
Dude you’re selling companies to bigger industry players or PE shops that lay off as many people as possible (read: undertake synergistic initiatives and achieve leaner operations). What kind of greater purpose are you talking about?
I am not disagreeing with you. In my experience I have only been involved in buy-side deals that we advised a company through few tuck ins and organized integration. This increased headcount and market share. I agree the outcome is not always good so focus on the part of the industry that is. There is always two sides, so pick the one that serves you. I am with you though. It’s the name of the game, your client is the company and you do what’s best for that. (Under duress)
so i can say that i'm an investment banker and get some pussay
This. Nothing makes women drool more than when you tell them that you move around logos in PPT for 17 hours a day and are being treated like a little bitch by people with 2 YoE more than yourself.
The same could be said about software engineering and gig work. Programmers discovered they're like the rest of us when the economy goes south in terms of job security when they were laid off en masse recently (although in fairness they've generally found work quickly afterward).
The real issue there is how difficult it is to enter the industry. It doesn't take a genius to learn how to code, but like banking, it's a serious grind to get your foot in the door. Everyone and their brother now knows how lucrative it is to be a programmer, and when you try to drop your hat in the ring, you're competing against career switchers, bootcamp grinders, and top talent from schools like Cal/Stanford/MIT. Programming compensation usually drops off significantly once you leave Big Tech and other big names (e.g., Twitch, AirBnB, etc) and go to the equivalent of "MM IB" for SWE.
Online gig work is unreliable and hard to make serious money in when a guy in a foreign country will do the same work for a tenth of the price. Sure his work quality may be shittier, but it'll be extremely difficult for you to establish a track record to prove your work quality justifies higher pay. If you mean offline gig work, it's still a grind to get enough clients to have a steady income. You also have to have some kind of service to provide, and the "low hanging fruit" jobs aren't exactly appealing in terms of pay.
As for TikTok, I find it hard to believe the same kind of people who can make it these days in IB are interesting / funny enough to make it big on the platform. It's also essentially designed to make sustained success difficult: the algorithm is constantly creating one-hit-wonder-type successes, giving creators one big success and rarely rewarding them for that post's popularity afterward, unlike a platform like YouTube.
Generally speaking there isn't much out there for talented grads who want to make a good amount of money. You have tech, IB, and consulting. All are viciously competitive now to enter, and it just makes sense for people to compete in the arena they expect to have an advantage instead of pursuing what has the best lifestyle or pay.
I'm a CS/econ major graduating soon and going into banking because I just don't think I'll be able to compete at a high level vs my peers in tech or consulting in the same way I do in IB, given resume/skills/connections/etc. I've also dabbled in gig work and know first-hand how hard it is to compete with people willing to do a multi-hour task for 10 bucks or less
Congrats on Cal!
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