Why Not Coast Mid / Bottom Bucket?
Someone in another thread made this point only to be met with mockery and condescending comments, but it’s something I’ve wondered for some time and never gotten a concrete answer for: If people rarely get fired in this job, and let’s assume the only price to pay for top bucket over other buckets is extra time that you could spend sleeping or enjoying a little life outside work, then why do people not just ease off the gas and coast a little bit? For example, can you can give 20% less at work to get 20% more life satisfaction (see friends, sleep and exercise more)? Is that not possible given that you’ll inevitably pay for submitting less than 100% quality work, and thus everyone has no choice but to give 100% and go for top bucket?
Because you'll likely never move up the ranks and will be so much more limited upon exiting IB as a mid level VP / director which may lead to having to apply to mba and losing momentum / having to start at lower positions elsewhere.
If on cycle is 6 months into the job (and especially if we take the year prior as an example, when on cycle was before hitting the desk, then what does rising the ranks in IB or your reputation matter for? Especially if you’re coasting as a mid-bottom bucket analyst, not a lazy bum but someone who doesn’t go the extra mile every single time they’re asked
Because then you will come to PE which is an order of magnitude more brutal and unforgiving than banking undercooked without the right training and work habits, and you’ll screw that up and there’s nothing more unemployable these days than someone with four years of banking / PE and no valuable skills and relationships to show for it.
You don’t work hard as an analyst for the extra 10k, you work hard as an analyst because that extra sharpness and capability you get as a result means you don’t get kicked off the island when it really matters later on in your career.
Both success and mediocrity compound.
I dunno. I think if I'm giving IB my 200% for 2 years just to leave to PE, I'll start PE already burnt out. On the other hand, if I chill in IB while having PE lined up, then I can hit PE with all my energy.
And you'll have the same technical skills. In terms of relationships, you may end up developing better relationships with other non-hardos. While being a hardo doesn't necessarily mean you'll develop better relationships. At the end of the day though, relationships development is random - you may think you have a good relationship with someone, but once you're laid off, they won't do much for you.
being bad at job = bad
being smart about allocating your time and energy = good
IB like all target jobs is an up or out business. There is ZERO chance that a bank is going to keep a VP around that cost them twice as much as any other VP.
Where are you hearing that people rarely get fired in IB?
Because it’s way better to exit to corporate at that point. I worked at a large company outside of finance and bluntly the caliber of talent is way lower. That’s not true everywhere, but a mid bucket individual is likely a high performer there.
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