How close are you to your groups?
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I felt the same way when I started.
I think there's a very strong notion of "work colleagues" vs. friends. You'll ultimately have funny stories, but they will come from work or work-related events. I wouldn't hold my breath expecting to make friends.
Some groups are very different and have analyst parties in people's homes, etc. Just not typical I think... unfortunately.
I would consider my fellow analysts "work friends". We get along great, joke around, etc., but the time we spend together outside of work is limited (maybe grabbing dinner once every few months or something like that).
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I'm a summer and very close with analysts and associates.
Comparing the intern experience of a lot of people I know it seemed like in general the top top groups often had less camaraderie among intern classes as everything was so competitive between the interns. Whereas other friends in groups that were good but also promoted having a great culture and more specifically a more friendly culture during sell day and during phone calls became much closer with their groups. There's definitely going to be exceptions to this but it's just what I remember when me and my friends compared experiences two summers ago. Another trade off to consider when choosing a group if becoming close with people at work is important to you
Tbh i think a lot of people exaggerate the bond they have with their fellow IBDers. I have excellent friends at other banks, but that it because we went to school together. It's still a professional environment after all and you'll only get a good "friend click" with a few people, usually analysts and associates because the hierarchy kind of prevents that above that level.
Though I am not a junior SA yet, I would imagine that just like high school and college, you'll know people within your group at varying levels and have a few really close friends. Maybe just like how in classes, you become friends with the people sitting next to you, I would think that at work, you would be at least somewhat close to the people to the right and left of you.
People at work are coworkers, not friends. There are very, very few exceptions to this rule when the shit hits the fan.
Not saying you can't be friendly, but being friendly and being friends are far from the same thing.
in general i agree with this, but i feel like the analysts in my group were pretty close vs. most banks because we were such a sweatshop that we ended up having a stockholm complex.
A few people in my old group I would consider my friends. I think it was the exception and not the rule though. The circumstances of how we became close was kinda unique.
I am in a very tight group with a number of people with similar ages, interests and backgrounds and we very, very rarely hang out on weekends / outside of work. Bottom line is 70-80 hours together Mon-Fri is enough
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