I had a great experience as an analyst. I really focused on fit and culture of the group I was joining. Some of my best friends today are from my analyst class, including my best man at my wedding. The late nights suck and the pressure on live deals can get intense -- especially when you have no idea what you are doing, like me at the time -- but my future employers gave me a lot of credit for having been an analyst in a top group and the network is fantastic. It's just what you make of it -- it's not forever and two years go by in a flash.

 
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I have had a pretty defined change of heart on my IB experience. The first few years were pure misery. Hated every minute. If I answered this question during that time, it would reflect all the answers above. Now, while the life ain’t easy, my well being and level of happiness is in a much better place. I enjoy work so much more and find myself more engaged than I’ve ever been.

A number of reasons for this. First, I find the work as an associate (I’m A2A) far more intellectually stimulating than analyst work. Now it is crucial to know the ins and outs of a transaction or pitch to understand how to drive content and move the process forward in an efficient manner. That big picture view makes the work much more interesting. It certainly helps to have this perspective as an analyst, but it’s much harder to maintain when you are scrubbing numbers, creating charts, deep in a model for days on end.

Second, the hours have been better, not just as a function of being one more wrung up the latter. I have found for myself that hours worked directly correlates to well being (as I try to have a very active life outside with family, gym, faith, hobbies, etc.). If things hit the fan tomorrow, suckiness of the job would return and be fresh on my mind.

Third, I used to be a generalist but am now in an industry group that I really enjoy. Nothing is worse than slaving away 90 hours on some FIG book you have 0 care about. Now if that 90 hours is now spent on something you find personally interesting and very connected to where you see yourself in the future, it makes a massive difference. I’m not a banker to be a banker, but to understand finance in the context of industries that I find engaging and relevant to my future.

Fourth, you have much more respect and autonomy, assuming you’ve proven yourself. I hated being told what to do each step of the way as a young analyst. But I had to go through that to ‘get it’ and understand how things work and how to get stuff done in the most efficient and accurate manner. Now it’s about driving that process and it’s exponentially better to be able to do it myself (with a real focus on well being and happiness of those below me).

There’s def other factors but those are the main things. Not sure where I’ll be in several years but I’m grateful I’ve had a change of heart to make the days and work actually quite fulfilling. I don’t blame anyone for hating it as I didn’t think anyone could hate it as much as I did, but the sooner you can get to a place of enjoyment and fulfillment, it makes a world of difference.

 

This is a very helpful and introspective response - SBed.

Can you speak on why you went A2A instead of ditching for PE/corp dev etc? Curious to hear especially since you disliked your analyst years.

Array
 

For sure. The first reason was that I started out in an international location where I did not see myself long-term. So finding a new job in that country was not ever my plan and, after networking intensively to find a job back in the US or another market, I found that it's very difficult to get a job when you are overseas, even with solid experience and BB, which speaks to the level of competition for those gigs.

The more recent and now imporant answer (have since moved to a major city) is that I value global mobility in my career. I'm now in my third country with my bank and could see myself switching countries again in a few years. PE and Corp dev are just very local businesses and any international assignment would likely only happen when you are very senior. I love seeing the world and to be able to do that with a solid career at a young age is my number one goal. Right now, banking is providing that. If another option came up that allowed that path, I'd go for it. Until then...will keep at it

 

Looks like I’m in the minority here. Only been on the job for a couple months now but I love my group - great culture, incredible work/life balance (sub-70 hours most weeks so far, and at a good BB group nonetheless). It’s honestly been so positive to the point that I came in with the mindset of “I’m doing PE 100%” and now it’s become “Yeah I enjoy the work of PE more but do I really want to work more hours at a fund that could be full of a bunch of stiffs?”.

It’s really underestimated but culture will make or break your experience in my opinion. Lot of people choose jobs exclusively off exit opps/prestige but at a certain point in your career I think you have to stop chasing that and find a spot where you’d actually enjoy working - otherwise you’ll become that misanthrope MD you’ve been telling yourself you’ll never become.

 
DalaiLama:
It’s really underestimated but culture will make or break your experience in my opinion. Lot of people choose jobs exclusively off exit opps/prestige but at a certain point in your career I think you have to stop chasing that and find a spot where you’d actually enjoy working - otherwise you’ll become that misanthrope MD you’ve been telling yourself you’ll never become.

So would you say after a couple months of being employed you’ve finally reached that point in your career where you have stopped chasing and found a place you actually enjoy working?

 

Way too premature to say that - who knows what I'll think in 12 months. I will say that currently I genuinely enjoy going to work, and any switch I consider will be carefully vetted in terms of culture/work-life balance. My post was a broader opinion on career paths rather than a personal statement. I've just never been able to wrap my head around people chasing the next most prestigious opportunity while hating every minute of it. At a certain point, be it at 25, 30, 35 years old, you have to find a group of people you like to work with, no?

 

^this is accurate. You are actually learning quite a lot in the first few months (somewhere between 6-12 months is where the learning curve stops.)... in the ideal world that revolved around you, you'd be able to job hop as soon as you hit the learning curve plateau and move on to the next challenge you want to take on but that's not how businesses work. They spent that time training you and now they want to monetize that and in banking that means working you brutally.

 

The subtleness and au courant smell emanating from a freshly printed confidential information memorandum. My hand gently moving across one end to the other, the paper touching mine in unison. The warmth bringing back honeyed memories of afternoons juuling with my mum on the front porch of folsom state prison.

memories like this will make me truly cherish my time spent in investment banking.

What concert costs 45 cents? 50 Cent feat. Nickelback.
 

I actually had an originally more positive experience than most (or so I thought), but in retrospect after Piper just decided to fuck me, I'm completely over that place and a lot more jaded about banking in general. Especially hearing that pretty much nothing has really changed ever since the "Piper Jaffray: Sweatier Than Ever Thread", I don't recommend anyone work there unless that's their best option.

That said, banking did teach me a lot and I have some good friends because of it. Given the classes I'd taken mid-late college, I'd probably go through it again because I had to in terms of what I set myself up to do (just not at Piper), although if I could truly do it all over again, I'd learn coding early on in college and go the tech route instead. Still in finance now and doing well, but wish I could've at least tried coding or something.

 

Explain, you were so high up on your experience and now you're pissed af? Its no mystery that coding/tech is the more lucrative/stressless route but its not our fault.. we were all conned by Wolf of Wall Street and we're making good money nonetheless.

What concert costs 45 cents? 50 Cent feat. Nickelback.
 

I did my analyst stint prior to the financial crisis so things were likely a bit different, but I very much appreciated my IB experience. There were the usual annoyances (long hours, stress, weekend work, demeaning treatment by superiors) but my analyst class was a very tight knit group so I actually had a lot of fun during my banking years. We helped each other out, played office pranks on each other, and hung out together on weekends (when we could). We still keep in touch to this day.

There were also a lot of little (somewhat silly) things unique to IB that I remember fondly. Getting bottle service with buddies to celebrate bonus checks, buying overpriced shoes and ties, 11pm gym sessions, the simple bliss of building a model while sipping a red bull.

Overall I'm definitely glad I did it.

 

Best two years of my life that I never, ever want to go through again. Made great friends and memories, learned a lot, felt like I accomplished a fair bit, and found I had a gear that I didn’t know I had. 
 

All that said, the hours and unpredictability definitely suck. Remember, you’re not saving the world with that 11pm turn. Make the changes, quickly double check, spend a few moments pondering the high-level takeaways, and go home. You’re the worst-paid and least-senior on the deal team — they can figure it out if you didn’t ace it. 

 

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