Is finance the most arrogant profession?

Does finance, overall, have the most arrogant individuals? I have met a number of people in finance, pr, advertising, communications, marketing, nonprofit, education, and so on, over the years. And by far, at least from what I could tell, the greatest percentage of arrogant individuals has come from finance. And that isn't considering wall street oasis posts, a fair number of which would just add to what I have claimed.

This isn't a rant or a complaint, just an observation and question. From your experiences, would you agree? Or is this just me having an unfair sampling?

32 Comments
 

Of course, we are better at pretty much everything and have prestige in mad quantities

"Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old"
 

Think about what an HR person has to be arrogant about, and then think of what an investment banker has to be arrogant about.

22 year old making more than a try hard 30-year-old Harvard Med School and a 25-year-old Yale Law School prodigy. All the while working the same hours, less debt, but doing easier shit with exit opps making the situation even better. Now you tell me what they DON'T have to be arrogant about.

 
BTbankerThink about what an HR person has to be arrogant about, and then think of what an investment banker has to be arrogant about.

22 year old making more than a try hard 30-year-old Harvard Med School and a 25-year-old Yale Law School prodigy. All the while working the same hours, less debt, but doing easier shit with exit opps making the situation even better. Now you tell me what they DON'T have to be arrogant about.

Amen brother. IB for Lyfe.

Pre-Meds at my school that think they're the shit and talks garbage to "business" majors need to GTFO. Funny thing is that they think they will be "rich" in the future. Yeah OK. Have fun racking up 300K in debt while not having a job until 30s.

We all like to think of banking as hell and a slave stint, but it's not even funny how much more lucrative and rewarding it is than other "top" professions like law, and medicine.

However- if you are really good in math, like finish Calculus 3+ Linear Algebra in high school good, I think actuary science is a solid career path. I know a guy back in my high school passed 3 actuarial science exams and he's a senior. He's gonna have a rewarding career. I'm so glad I steered him away from law and medicine.

 
BTbankerThink about what an HR person has to be arrogant about, and then think of what an investment banker has to be arrogant about.

22 year old making more than a try hard 30-year-old Harvard Med School and a 25-year-old Yale Law School prodigy. All the while working the same hours, less debt, but doing easier shit with exit opps making the situation even better. Now you tell me what they DON'T have to be arrogant about.

Are there really doctors and lawyers on this website?

Looks like they do envy people in finance. Why the fuck else would you be on this forum?

 

Biglaw lawyers are the most arrogant people I have ever met. Note I am referring to a very small % of lawyers, specifically Biglaw, and even more so in the V5 arena.

"They are all former investment bankers that were laid off in the economic collapse that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have no marketable skills, but by God they work hard."
 
CountryUnderdogBiglaw lawyers are the most arrogant people I have ever met. Note I am referring to a very small % of lawyers, specifically Biglaw, and even more so in the V5 arena.

Every biglaw guy I know regrets not going into the usual finance track instead of law school (even the YLS ones).

 
holla_back
CountryUnderdogBiglaw lawyers are the most arrogant people I have ever met. Note I am referring to a very small % of lawyers, specifically Biglaw, and even more so in the V5 arena.

Every biglaw guy I know regrets not going into the usual finance track instead of law school (even the YLS ones).

What are some of the typical reasons?

 
TheFix
holla_back
CountryUnderdogBiglaw lawyers are the most arrogant people I have ever met. Note I am referring to a very small % of lawyers, specifically Biglaw, and even more so in the V5 arena.

Every biglaw guy I know regrets not going into the usual finance track instead of law school (even the YLS ones).

What are some of the typical reasons?

Same shitty, grind-of-a-life as IBD associates for less money and ridiculous law school debt.

 
holla_back
TheFix
holla_back
CountryUnderdogBiglaw lawyers are the most arrogant people I have ever met. Note I am referring to a very small % of lawyers, specifically Biglaw, and even more so in the V5 arena.

Every biglaw guy I know regrets not going into the usual finance track instead of law school (even the YLS ones).

What are some of the typical reasons?

Same shitty, grind-of-a-life as IBD associates for less money and ridiculous law school debt.

Not to mention the fact that they are pretty much stuck there for for a while if they want to make it big in law, like become general counsel at a F500 or something.

Can anyone imagine being an IBD associate for 10-20 years?

 
Best Response
BTbanker
holla_back
TheFix
holla_back
CountryUnderdogBiglaw lawyers are the most arrogant people I have ever met. Note I am referring to a very small % of lawyers, specifically Biglaw, and even more so in the V5 arena.

Every biglaw guy I know regrets not going into the usual finance track instead of law school (even the YLS ones).

What are some of the typical reasons?

Same shitty, grind-of-a-life as IBD associates for less money and ridiculous law school debt.

Not to mention the fact that they are pretty much stuck there for for a while if they want to make it big in law, like become general counsel at a F500 or something.

Can anyone imagine being an IBD associate for 10-20 years?

Wut? Who is an IBD Associate equivalent in BigLaw for 10-20 years? Dude, you have massively overestimated the value of being an IBD Analyst. You said something about IBD for 2 years and then PE for two years and then C-Suite afterwards in some other thread. That is laughable unless you're talking about being the CFO of a minuscule tech company.
 

I would say surgeons are probably the most arrogant as a whole, very narrowly beating out the population of finance "professionals" as a whole, but that's only because in finance you'll at least find some people that are more interested in their degenerate tendencies than other people, or at the very least do finance as a means to an end and not the end itself.

 
Going ConcernI would say surgeons are probably the most arrogant as a whole, very narrowly beating out the population of finance "professionals" as a whole, but that's only because in finance you'll at least find some people that are more interested in their degenerate tendencies than other people, or at the very least do finance as a means to an end and not the end itself.
This. There's a ton of super cocky people in finance, but not many truly have a god complex. There's just too much uncertainty for that to happen often.
 
whatwhatwhatif you consider it one, academia by far
Yup, them and surgeons with a god complex. Big law lawyers are cocky but insecure around finance folks, so I'm taking them off the list. And yes, finance people tend to be percieved as arrogant because they're always on the go
Get busy living
 

Talking about arrogance, I clicked on the Newsfeeds to the right (http://www.moneynews.com/newswidget/Mobius-tremendous-bull-markets/2013…) and read about the "tremendous bull markets ahead" predicted by Mr. Mark Mobius of Franklin Templeton.

Arrogance is a trait of top people in their profession(s). You can surmise that, regardless of profession, the top achievers are the a-holes. You have the picture of Mr. Trump there. Trump is not a finance professional, he is a real estate developer/investor, yet he is arrogant like hell. In fact, Trump is known to like keeping his bankers "on the leash" and in "fits and spurts". Why ? I would say that, in his mind, they need him more than he needs them. He certainly makes more money than they do.

Winners bring a bigger bag than you do. I have a degree in meritocracy.
 

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