Career Advice Needed - 30 years old and feel like window is closing

Dear fellow monkeys,

Long time lurker, first time poster here.

A bit about myself, I have a very non-conventional background - I graduated from university abroad in my home country and started out in a local leasing firm as a credit officer analysing leasing credits for SME companies.

After doing this for three years I enrolled at and got admitted to a non-target MBA program . Post-MBA I have been working for a Japanese bank for 3 years as a strategy analyst. This is a very generalist position where I was staffed on a wide variety of projects including a restructuring/workout of a bond portfolio, originating and structuring several power generation project finance deals, and internal credit research and loan portfolio management and ratings analysis of a wide variety of issuers in my coverage sector to name a few.

I feel that I have gained good skills relating to credit risk analysis and broad energy industry expertise.

I would like to transition to one of the BB banks' M&A, LevFin, or RX functions for a stint mainly for the training aspect and my ultimate goal is to work on the buy side related to energy, or specifically in distressed debt/special situations while leveraging my knowledge of the energy sector.

However, I'm now 30 and I wonder if I'm too old to go in at the associate level or if the whole window for getting into ibanking/buyside fixed income has closed, or how I should channel my networking/search efforts.

Additionally I wonder if bankers are receptive to networking requests from older candidates such as myself and not students.

Do I have a chance?

3 Comments
 

Reiciendis est beatae voluptas molestias atque est. Veniam voluptas quibusdam aut voluptatem tempora facere nihil voluptate.

Magni quis blanditiis vitae rerum quisquam sed distinctio. Ipsam culpa id temporibus aperiam. Dolores consequatur error ipsum doloremque. Sint qui quia facere possimus. Fugiat at tenetur incidunt quaerat dolorum. Nam laboriosam omnis enim rem pariatur quis voluptas.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.9%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 03 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”