How do you balance staying social with staying sharp in this industry?
One of the biggest tensions I’ve noticed in IB is this: the job demands you be at your best every morning, but the culture often pushes you to go out at night.
Networking drinks, team events, just trying to keep a social life alive in your 20s—it’s part of the experience. But the mornings after can be brutal.
For me, I’ve had nights where I felt like going out was necessary for relationships and sanity, but the next day was completely unproductive. Other times I skipped out, and felt like I was missing opportunities.
So I’m curious—how do you personally strike that balance? Do you just avoid drinking altogether, limit yourself to a number of drinks, rely on supplements/caffeine, or just power through?
Would love to hear how different people handle it across firms and cities.
I never liked the going out aspect of the job. Personally I’d always rather use my own free time to recharge/relax than spend it on coworkers that I already spend so much time with in the office. That said, going out occasionally is very important in the job and sometimes you just have to do it. Strong relationships with other juniors (and even seniors) helps you stay sane in this industry, and the brutal truth is it also makes a (sometimes big) difference come review time if people like you or not.
Surely no one has team events more than 1x/month?
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