Hi All,
I was wondering if high stress and burnout are common in PE. I've seen others tired from working 80-100 hours a week and are exhausted mentally and physically.
If you've experienced this before I'd love to hear about what you went through and where you're at now.
Thanks a ton!
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I didn’t know what burnout felt like until I went into PE. Remember coming in one day to work and just could not get a single thing done.
Think it’s important to manage as best you can when you will push hard and when you won’t (push as hard). Taking short holidays throughout the year also helped me recharge rather than a big holiday at the end of the year.
Not skipping exercise or whatever helps you relax is important to de-stress
What were you doing before PE? Do you think the burnout is mostly from hours worked? Bosses? Type of work? Is it a slog to get to work everyday?
Thanks a ton for your response!
Typical top tier path into PE. Long hours, high pressure. Repeat that over and over again.
The guys and gals at the top also work hard.
Agree that I didn’t truly experience burnout until PE. There is a massive difference in being a pure analyst vs. associate in a lean team where you have a bunch more responsibilities. The hours are much harder on the brain if you’re not someone who finds it interesting.
Thanks a ton for your reply! What would you say are the biggest differences between an analyst vs. associate? Besides the additional responsibilities, what else would you say is the biggest cause of burnout?
I first felt burnout towards the end of my BB analyst stint -- I was a top performer with an on-cycle UMM PE offer lined up, so was able to power through.
Once I started in my new role, burnout set in about 5 months in. I credit it to (i) poor company culture and (ii) not taking enough time off between IB and PE. Started going to therapy and taking some anti-anxiety medication has helped, but in general, the lifestyle did not improve and I just kind of got tired living a life where your job has to be #1.
The stress in this job is more intense as you are putting real dollars at work and the folks you work with are a lot more type-A. Also, I feel IB was more 'transactional' and people knew you weren't in it for the long-game. At my firm, the seniors expect we love it and expect us to meet their excitement levels on new deals even though we are burning the midnight oil. I might be at a bad firm but from the networking I've done I don't think the above is out of the ordinary. Think the deal sprints are bad everywhere but the times that may be different are when things are quieter. Whenever I'm not on a busy deal I'm bogged down by portco reporting or strategy initiatives. I don't mind the strategy work but when you are tired from deal sprints it's hard to get excited about it. Likely leaving after the bonus hits, not sure what is next.
Thanks for your response. I can see how IB was more transactional and how where your job is #1, 2, and 3!
I'd be really interested in jumping into direct messages or a call to get some feedback about burnout in the industry.
Is that something that interests you?
Part of the burnout as you rise up the ranks in particular in PE is just the added stress of having to care about problems that arise at your portfolio company and be one of the key people trying to figure out a solution. Different level of stress / burnout than just the pure man-hours aspect of being an IB analyst or PE associate in my mind.
Right, more of a strategy and thinking type of stress rather than straight up number of hours. I appreciate your response.
Would you be open to direct messages or a call for further feedback about burnout? Thanks a ton.
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