Hello - 26 year old with a BA in philosophy

So i'm a 26 year old with a BA in philosophy and CS from top 20, but non-ivy school (lol). during my post-uni work abroad in Israel, i worked in the finance dept of an NGO, realized i enjoyed the work and environment, returned to the US about 3 months ago and have just accepted a job offer at UBS in middle office-ops. completely different course, but i shelved the idea of going to law school after seeing SO many of my peers end up graduating saddled with 6 figure tuition debt and many settling for bartender or retail jobs (working at Macy's with a JD? no thanks!)

Anyway, in the course of my reading about IBs/BBs etc etc, I've "discovered" what seems to be a lot elitism RE FO vs MO/BO. is being in ops THAT bad especially for someone who's only been working in the finance/banking industry for less than 3 years? to be honest, i'd never considered banking, so i never before had "dreams" of being in FO (mostly because i was unaware of the structure in an IB until very recently)

So I can stop prattling (it is 3am so i'm probably not very coherent now lol), I'd appreciate someone with experience (perhaps in operations) explaining why there's so much refuse about how FO is the only thing that matters and MO/BO "sucks so much?" Also, what would be a good move for someone like myself with no formal education in finance to get foot in door of working in banking?

6 Comments
 
Best Response

Being in ops is great if you enjoy it. The reason people on here slam ops is because many on here want to end up on the buy-side (private equity, hedge funds etc) and banking (and not ops) is a traditional pathway to those jobs - in 99/100 you won't end up with one of those coveted jobs without so-called "front office" experience. However, if you have no desire to end up in those roles you don't need to go through banking unless you genuinely want to do banking - so enjoy your ops job and ignore what many on here say (especially considering many are college kids who haven't done a day of front office work in their lives).

 

Nothing wrong with BO/MO, but many folks on this forum are gunning for the buy-side eventually and FO is the best way to do that.

"Everybody needs money. That's why they call it money." - Mickey Bergman - Heist (2001)
 

Neque consequuntur et beatae aut qui nisi. Quae et quos possimus nobis quae quis. Maxime sed voluptates atque repellat nobis et pariatur. Accusamus reprehenderit et officiis sit doloremque odit.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (80) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $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
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
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...”