Do you regret IB/PE?
As I network with my school alumni and research WSO, it seems that many people regret going into this field. Analysts are overworked and even ASO/VPs seem to be working 60-70hours on average (and 80+ on deal weeks). I know that most people go into IB with the expectation of going into HF/PE but it doesn't seem that much better either. It simply doesn't look like maintaining social life/gym/8hrs sleep is possible until your mid-to late thirties. I'm actually fine with working ~60 hours per/week (even if I have to sacrifice two years as analyst to get there) but it simply doesn't seem possible. The most common advice I've heard is to turn my back now and find a different career path, and that people in this industry are simply not happy. I value money but not to the point where it sucks the soul out of me (otherwise, what's the point?). I'm not trying to brag but I'm a student at HYPSW so I have opportunities that, albeit riskier, seem to provide a good amount of money while making life bearable. Was it worth it?
I have complained on here endlessly about my time in private equity and why I loathe just about every single person I worked for. That said it was 100% worth it, it got me into Harvard for business school, I am still getting good job looks even in a bad job market. I learned a ton, got paid very fairly, and am much better for it. Did I think about how the steel of a gun barrel would taste during live deals at my fund, absolutely. Would I do it again knowing what I know now, absolutely. The reward is worth the suck. It was such a career accelerant.
If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing now?
At a T25 and also got some interesting looks (albeit no offer yet) in this bad job market. A lot of the WSJ / news coverage is overblowing how bad this job market is for MBAs. ~75% of my class has at least an offer and that's pretty normal for 2nd years at my school at this point.
Good on you for realizing PE isn't for you. HSW MBAs are also huge career accelerants on top of your past experience. Hopefully you land the role you want at graduation!
Join us in buyside secondaries
I'm averaging 50-55 a week with quite a bit of WFH and a 20% pay cut from my IB offer
Accurate. Doing similar hours in buyside secondaries and comp is only a slight discount to IB. Reasonable trade off imo.
Just curious, do you have any visibility in to comp progression/future at your firm? Also, Do you think you have a good firm or do you think this is indicative secondaries as a whole?
I joined straight out of undergrad after doing a BB IB summer internship and a secondaries/co offcycle. My firm is probably one of the better ones in terms of WLB, other shops aren’t so nice and some like BX have worse hours than buyout. My firm also tends to do quite a bit of internal promotions and so the path is definitely there. Assoc base pay is 45% higher than analyst but don’t have much colour beyond that level
Sucks, hoping and working hard to use it to get me far ahead of the pack.
100% worth it. Currently building the exact skillset I want. Wouldn’t want to be in any other seat but private markets investing. Banking was the perfect foundation and now I’m really enjoying learning PE. It’s allowed me to live in a great city, make life changing comp, and I’ve been able to support myself immediately after college. Not very many other industries where you learn so much and get paid like this early on. Tech maybe but it’s for a different kind of person. You’ll know what you’re meant to do once you do an internship in IB / PE.
100% agree on PE allowing you to build such a unique skillset. And for those that have figured out it's what they want to do, it's a great path.
A big part of the reason why I got into IB was just to be able to say that I did it.
Yes, there are a lot of unhappy people. There are also happy people too. I think it comes down to your firm/group. Fit is extremely important, it has a massive ability to impact how much you enjoy it.
Where are you now? Do you regret doing it?
Depends on your long-term goals. If you want to be Finance long-term, there is no better place to start your career. If you one day want to do strategy in tech or something entrepreneurial, there are other roles that may make more sense.
What would you say those other roles are, theoretically? FAANG?
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