Ragequit IB regrets
Not exactly "ragequit" but left banking after being burned out after a little over a year and took a corporate finance job. Starting to really regret the decision as now I think my career and pay progression is completely halted and not sure if there's any way to get back on track. Would an MBA be the only way to reset now? Would any banking lateral / small investing options be possible to go back into finance jobs and leave corporate? The pace in corporate is driving me insane and I feel like I'm losing an edge that I had before by grinding out in banking.
I know what you mean. Big corporations quite literally move at a quarterly pace. Big decisions (financially and strategically) are pretty much done only after each quarter ends and after that there is just a long period of only monitoring what is happening/should be happening so that when the quarter ends you can go back to making some minor strategic decisions and repeat the entire process. I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with this because big companies are not meant to make bold risky moves (i.e. Meta’s Zuckverse) that can destroy shareholder value. Most of the time shareholders will be happy with minor pivots that guarantee that dividends will keep coming without disruptions. If your solution to that is going back to IB so that you can get burned out again then I’d say that is misguided. You want a faster pace? Get a job at a series A start-up doing strategic finance. Your company will always be facing existential issues so trust me, you will have a shit ton to do literally all the time. And, if it works out, you’ll get the upside of a fat equity % compared to anything you’d get at a typical corporate job.
That's very fair about IB - I've reflected about my time in IB and I did have some personal family issues at the time and other external factors that I don't think would be an issue again. I have thought about more start-up / riskier move would be more "fast paced" or risky but I also just miss some of the work in IB. The deal process in IB is much more interesting than regular finance work I think even if that work was at a startup.
During my summer analyst stint at a boutique bank, there was a new 1 year analyst. He ended up only staying there 6 months before moving into a corporate finance role, which he stuck at for about a year before switching back to investment banking (they hired him as a 2nd yr analyst… this was within the last month, so there are banks hiring) — granted not a very well known bank, but once you get your foot in the door again, it will be much easier to lateral
That's really reassuring if he got back in with 6mon experience and especially in this environment. Might give it a shot to get back in at some point and see how that goes first. When you say boutique initially and not very well known bank now, could you provide examples? Like do you mean Lazard boutique or regional boutique etc.
very small regional boutique with ~20 people for the first; now he’s at a middle market with a few office locations and ~200 people.
so I'll play on the flip side here and outline that IB is probably not the best path forward. like one of the other comments said, join something in the middle. If you went 6 months and had to call it, you must have been in a pretty tough spot. I guarantee you will find yourself back there again and you'll be even more lost. This job isn't for everyone and that's totally ok. Look into corp dev or something closer to it. Be honest with yourself in that you did not want to be under the pressure cooker 24/7, and that going back would illicit a similar response. You'll find something closer to it and you'll crush it. Good luck
I see what you're saying - if it makes any difference, it was 18 months (1.5yrs) not 6 months and thought this was what I wanted to do after looking at next jobs after my first bonus came. The burnout was due to some external factors that I don't think would be an issue again.
Also wondering if anyone has done this is in consulting?
Staffed right now for at least another ~2.5 months but thinking of going on 1-2 weeks of PTO in December after the project's finished and then hand in my 2 weeks around January even if I don't have an opportunity lined up.
Would love to hear any stories.
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