Does it ever get better?
I’ve been at my current PE firm for around 2 months now and while I’m learning a lot, I feel like there is little separation between work and personal life. Even when I’m not actively working, my brain is always “on” and I find myself constantly worrying about my projects. It’s also been constant work - Saturdays / Sundays are no different from weekdays. Yes I’ve only been at my new firm for a short bit but my life was very similar in banking as well. I’m wondering if lifestyle ever gets better or whether there are better ways to deal with anxiety when not working. It feels pretty miserable to think my career will follow this trajectory forever if I stay in investing.
Similar spot but in banking. How did you deal with the stress/hours? I’m working 9am-2-4am everyday.
Gets better as you get more efficient. Right now all virtual is hurting new hires the most. There's no shared knowledge with the other more experienced associates so your ramp is hurt. To your points on stress, starting any new hard job is stressful, and your baseline stress level, conscious or not, is probably elevated due to Covid to begin with.
So yes it will get better. That said, PE is a tough gig. In general the idea of it being a cushier job is completely out of date (not strictly true; there are diamonds in the rough). Possible it just ultimately isn't for you, and that's OK - but don't make that call today. Try to just keep your head down for now, let the covid impacts (at least somewhat) pass, get up to speed yourself, and revisit all of this later. Hang in there.
Similar boat. I’m miserable. The “constantly on” kills me. I’m also making constant mistakes because growth is so hard remote with no support network.
This wasn’t like my last investing job (VC/Growth) where I had 50 hour weeks and full weekends by nature of the role but loved it so much I’d work 80.
Why did you leave VC/Growth to do LBOs?
I needed the hard finance experience
Feel exactly this way too. I think part of it is the 1) the feeling of regression in efficiency since by leaving banking where I pretty much knew what to do in most situations / had built a strong reputation with colleagues already and 2) not being at an “entry” level where the plan is to just grind out a few years before moving to something else. I started earlier this year pre-COVID and I do think that the WFH situation has worsened things, but I don’t really see work life balance being better even for the Partners / MDs on my team. They’re frequently logged in over the weekend and always online / available until midnight or so, even if they take an hour or two around dinner time to spend with their family. The $$$ is fantastic of course, but that path to get there is very long and painful, for not much improvement in work life balance
My hours were worse in banking (only slightly), but I genuinely miss it. I miss the fat deal teams, having interns and MBA associates around to make me feel better about myself. I miss having the institutional knowledge of always knowing where to find the best precedent and I miss the respect I had created for myself in the group after grinding for two years. Now I'm back to being genuinely crap at my job. Still working weekends. Still tired all of the time.. never sleeping more than 6 hours / night. Still single and seeing my friends once / week for a few hours to get fucked up and my hairline is noticeably receding. Man this ain't it.
Can't speak to everything else, but if you're catching your hairline receding early jump on Rogain (generic Minoxidil) ASAP. Seriously, there's no prescription/side effect/all this other crap that you will get from Finasteride or other treatments. If you've caught it early enough, you should be back to normal within a year of daily use. In b4 some associate comes in here telling you to just shave it off, grow a beard, and get "jacked" because they never caught it early enough and want others to be in the same boat.
Damn. The entrepreneurial route is sounding better as I read each word in this post...f$ck.
If you're bored check out this new finance publication, it's free if you "register".
Lol, yeah because going the entrepreneurial route doesn't involve being "on" all the time, right? Apologies for not sugar coating, but if working 24/7 aka being "on" all the time is a major stressor for you, then you will never be an entrepreneur (or least not for long).
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