Anyone just starting to care a lot less / are no longer "career" driven and obsessed?
Did 2 years IB, 1 year into my PE stunt. Thought PE for me was going to be long term (as long as I didn't get shoved out) and would happily work in this field the rest of my life.
I am sure it is just burn out, and I need a vacation maybe to reset my thinking, but I am just dreading coming into work every single day. The long hours, the stress, dealing with psychopaths, I am just so over it and sick of it.
I am seriously of thinking of moving to Corp Dev and having my life back. It sounds wrong to say, but I now want a job where I just show up, collect a pay check, go home.My friends in Corp Dev currently love it and get out at 5pm and make good pay. I am starting to think taking the paycut to be happier will be well worth it.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here's what you need to know:
Burnout and Career Reassessment in PE
Considering a Move to Corporate Development (Corp Dev)
Personal Experiences Shared on WSO
Final Thoughts
Hope this helps!
Sources: Handling Stress / Burnout in Private Equity, https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/private-equity/leave-pe-early-or-stick-it-out-2-years?customgpt=1, Quitting IB in 2023 - Burnout, Working 9-5 is Paradise, Q&A: Africa > BB IB in M&A > Corp Dev at a Tech Startup
Seems like a lot of people are growing disillusioned to the 2+2 path lately.
Thought about B school?
A bit over 1 year into working for a MM HF and feeling the same. Also getting more and more tempted by the corp dev move….
Question you need to ask yourself first - what would you have to do to turn your current path into a "collect a paycheck and go home" type of gig?
It's kind of possible to do that in banking, I'm so much happier. Idk how feasible it is to be essentially mid bucket and not fired on the buyside.
Life gets boring without goals. And you need a blend and balance of goals to sustain fulfillment. I was pretty narrowly focused when I got into IB, enjoyed M&A work as much as one can and wanted to be VP by 30. With any free time during this phase spent at the gym on fitness and that was enough for me. Had the standard weekends of drinking in early-mid 20s, sprinkled in vacations, and holiday with family. Eventually hit the goal, and am lucky enough to be working in a group and position where hours rarely go above 60 (more like 50 if I am being honest).
Since hitting the goal, I honestly have lost a lot of passion in the job. I still enjoy parts of it to an extent, but am by no mean obsessed. And that is okay, with the additional time I am investing more into personal goals. Really getting into hiking and entry level mountaineering (so doing more cardio and bike training ahead of a long weekend trip), reading more classic literature, and taking time to date a little more seriously.
Throughout your life your goals will never be static. One perspective I will leave with you, I have seen many friends pursue the grass is greener strategy hoping jobs (PE/Corp Dev/Corp Fin) to try and find excitement and for the most part it is usually always a temporary fix to boredom. Excitement of something new fades after six months and they are bored again. Maybe if it was a role where you had significant equity it could be different. But for the most part if you are bored in a career (especially a high finance career where golden handcuffs might have you addicted and preventing a major shift to be like a charter boat captain), try switching things up outside of work.
TLDR: there is too much out there to be bored. Focus on doing new things outside of work. Unless you are in a position where the is no light at the end of the tunnel. It's cool to grind through your 20s working till midnight and on the weekends. But if you don't see a path where more senior people in your group maybe work pretty hard Mon-Thur but then chill it out Fri-Sun probably need to switch it up.
I took a 6-figure paycut when I was 28 years old. It was the right decision for me and from a career perspective I'm much better off in my current situation. In hindsight, the goal was simply to break-in and there wasn't much substance after that. That is, once the ego-stroke of getting a bunch of likes on my linkedin job update wore off, all that was left was getting my dick and balls grinded off with work.
That, in isolation, was not a big deal. I have the capacity for work, I was good at the job, and in good standing with the rest of the team. What did change was my interest in pursuing time-consuming hobbies and wanting to start a family. I knew that if my hours went down I'd have plenty of things to fill that time with that would have me excited to get out of bed each day. As you get older the things you care about change and it is perfectly normal to make adjustments.
Everyone has to make their own decisions but one thing I have observed is folks parachuting out of IB/PE because they want to take back their life, have no idea what to do with their time, start to resent that they aren't making what they used to making, and then make a post asking how to lateral back to IB/PE from corp dev. Squirrel_CP's response is excellent.
So to the college students with bright-eyed Moneyball energy, do you recommend separating passion and career? Just collect bag and move on? I really want to find something I'm passionate about / can dedicate a life to, but not sure if that's immature (and not sure if 2+2 is the way).
In my opinion most of the people that go into IB/PE are doing it because they view it as a 'prestigious' field and they have an identity of themselves as a successful/prestigious person so this career path is the natural extension of that mental image. I'm not saying there's anything inherently wrong with that, and especially when we're young we all pursue meaningless stuff like this (i.e. being "cool"), but the point is it wears off after a couple years. In the same way that you look back on your 15 y/o self as ridiculous and insecure for trying to fit in and be cool, your 35 y/o self will find the current you ridiculous for obsessing over firm names and prestige.
Even though a lot of people pursue high finance for a dumb reason, a lot end up liking it anyway so everything works out for them. I would say you seem to be in the camp that is not liking it. Burnout to me represents a situation when someone simply has not had a moment to breathe/relax in a very long time, but it's independent of whether they enjoy the actual work on a fundamental level. Anyone is going to get bored of CIMs and ppts, but if you have no interest in the actual financial analysis part of the job this is simply not a good fit for you, it's not a burnout problem.
You have entered into a career path where working is realistically 85-95% of your current life, and you just said that you quite literally "dread" coming into work. Obviously spend some more time reflecting, but I would think about which of either trying to move downstream or pivoting to another area of finance sounds more appealing before going to corpdev, as that option will still be available after either of those paths.
Honestly yes - went to a target and worked my ass off to spend my summer at a BX/KKR-type shop, only to realize I hated it and wanted less stress and a better WLB. In a much more chill gig now where I am infinitely happier
Left and am 400x happier.
Just had to break through the mental barrier that just because I went to a good school and worked at a good bank that I had to follow the traditional path. You dont, and theres100 other ways to make money while not ruining your physical health.
What's the point if the misery never ends?
Where did you leave to?
Be intentional. pursuing the grass is greener strategy will lead to resentment if you end up selecting a lame job paying a fraction of your current comp. Spend some real time learning what you want to do all day at work, the type of people you want to work with, and the industry you want to work in.
Very similar position to you. Pretty much dread each day on the job, less driven by any particular dislike for the individuals I work with and more so for the work itself / the general extremely stressed out vibe across jr and senior levels on my team. Think it's made particularly worse at the moment as there's pressure from the top to both deploy capital into new platforms and fund a bunch of existing port co's who are running out of cash...I'm guessing this is a phenomenon across most of PE these days
unfortunately my work quality / motivation has taken a dip esp when compared to my banking days, since I've pretty much decided I want to gtfo. Not a great way to live day to day but at least the job pays well hah. Totally relate to wanting a 'true' 9-5 though (hell I'd take a true 9-9).
Corrupti quas aut dolores vero voluptas veniam consequuntur. Eum quia ut et quibusdam quaerat voluptatem rerum quia. Omnis nemo voluptatibus optio consequatur id at eius non. In voluptas est modi qui.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...