First Year IB Analyst Trying to Move into Tech
Hi everyone,
First-year analyst at BB tech group. 6 months in and Iike a lot of people, I am pretty much done with banking. Trying to exit ASAP. There is no need to lay out my rationale, banking is just not for me.
I am interested in tech as an industry, had internships in tech investing etc. but no coding skills or operational experience.
Appreciate any advice in finding a role (best approaches, networking / directly applying, interviews, etc.). Would anyone take a first-year 6 months in? I will probably be able to stay a few more months (don't really care about bonus tbh), but just wondering if how long it would take in terms of tech recruiting, what kind of roles will be open to someone with my background.
Thank you all!
Bump
Don't have any advice here, but just want to say that I'm another 1st year at a BB in a coverage group that feels the same way. Looking to exit soon (next couple months hopefully) and really don't care about the bonus either at this point. Good luck!
In a coverage group as well, the kind that does not do modeling in-house...may I ask about what you do on a daily basis? So far, except some pitchbooks, I basically just do deal-specific research. Or put in other words, nothing really.
In an exact same situation...hours are pretty light though. I'm averaging ~50 hours a week.
How do exits look for you? Suppose you talked to some colleagues and/or ex-employees at your group.
Jesus. Is everyone leaving IB?
bump
Also interested in moving to tech in some sort of non-engineering / coding role in which my banking skills (very open to even non-finance tech roles) can be helpful. Honestly, though corp strategy or strat finance would be great, I'm also open to FP&A / very vanilla corporate roles at tech companies where I will still be paid hopefully around 100K-ish but have a much better WLB.
Same exact situation here... how much does working in TMT vs not matter for anyone who has successfully moved to tech? Is there usually a round when things open?
I've been thinking about the same. I've even started applying to corporate finance/fp&a roles at tech companies. These constant 3am nights 6 days a week is destroying my physical and mental health.
It looks like everyones leaving.
Interesting a lot of people are jumping ship so quick
Was a first-year analyst at a mid-tier BB in NYC (non-Tech, industry group). I couldn't even wait for the stub bonus to hit and having lost my mental health, I quitted a couple of weeks ago without having anything lined up. Honestly, enjoying this small break I am having rn and utilizing it as a good time to talk with family & friends, reach out to my network and think of my next career move. I am also interested in the Tech industry but in the non-coding roles. Recently, applied to a couple of tech companies' corporate finance roles thru linkedin but haven't heard back yet. Heard that the recruitment processes of these firms are very slow and can even take a couple of weeks to hear back. Anyone ex-IB Analysts with tips on how non-Tech industry bankers can jump to the tech industry?
Former JPM tech analyst here. The first thing you should do if you’re convicted on leaving IB and finance broadly is to just quit now, if you can. Grinding 9am - 2am all the while trying to find a new gig will eat into your soul. It’s much easier to look for a non-finance role full time, and most people won’t care that you’re not working. Having said that, the first bonus is a lot of cash, if you are a poor fresh grad. 6 months isn’t that long, in the overall scheme of things.
First, figure out what you want to be doing. “Tech” is a broad word. The most applicable role is obviously corporate development, which is basically banking while working 40-50 hours. Perhaps a bit more interesting and a little less modeling (depending on the role you could be looking at earlier stage roll ups / VC type deals).
FP&A / strategic finance roles are also easy to get, as modeling skills will be directly applicable. However, unlike in banking where you are modeling multiple companies and transaction types all the time, in corporate, you are maintaining one big model (for the most part). Can get very very boring and tedious.
Biz ops/strategy. Also doable from banking, although a lot of consultants seem to exit into these roles. You’re basically helping to drive a company’s strategic decision making (evaluating new initiatives, crunching numbers, doing a lot of SQL). Sounds interesting, and it can be.
These are probably the three main categories that will be achievable for somebody looking to just break into the industry. Corp dev roles start at later stage growth companies (Series D+) as startups don’t need an M&A strategy, while strat din / FP&A / biz ops roles can start earlier.
Other roles include product management and software development. Harder to get, but entirely achievable, and far more interesting than either previous finance role. In banking, coders and tech people are very much back office; in the Valley, they are very much revenue generating. Engineering managers and senior developers can make upwards of $700k while working 30 hours a week. If you can code or are interested in product, go for these. Going to a fintech may open up some opportunities on the product side, given your relevant background in IB.
If eng is interesting but you can’t code, learn how to. It’s pretty easy if you crank consistently, and if you need extra motivation, there are tons of bootcamps (Lambda School, Hack Reactor etc.) where new grads walk into 6 figure salaries.
Finally, after some research, define the 2 factors you won’t compromise on: industry (tech is broad; figure out what you’re interested in), role, stage (early vs late; very different), team size etc.
For early stage (sub-100 employees), just ping the company directly. Often times for very early stage companies, they aren’t even looking for people. Just ping the CEO, or talk to your friends at startups. During my “recruiting” I got our banking support team to pull “All companies that raised Series A in the past 2 months in San Francisco”. It was a huge list.
For later stage roles, you can use the same networking tactic, or go through traditional job postings on LinkedIn, or go through recruiters.
This post is long enough and my thumbs are tired. PM me for any specific info. Good luck on the escape.
Source: IB -> startup -> starting a startup
How long did you work at the startup before launching your own? I quit IB wanting to go work for a young company but decided I would first try launching my own since I had an idea I was excited about. I figured that it would be better to give the idea full-time love since I knew what I wanted to try vs. trying to balance even a 40-hour job with it but sometimes wonder if it would have made sense to walk through someone else’s young company first.
Do you feel that the startup experience has helped you a ton?
Yes and no. I started as the first finance/strategy hire, helped the company close its series B, and then set up the financial infrastructure, plus some odd jobs around pricing/sales. Learning curve was steep for the first month, then flat (boring). I got lucky since they basically let me switch into a software development role, which was probably better than any coding bootcamp. But don’t think that would be a common path, particularly at a larger company with defined roles. Starting a company is much more of a learning experience; you literally need to figure out everything for yourself. Joining a startup is by no means a requirement to learn the ropes, although you do get a small head start in seeing at least at a surface level how various functions within an operating company work
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Interesting...attitudes have definitely changed since my IB analyst years (2012-2014)
Back then we just sucked it up, kept our heads down, and finished our two year stint. And treated IB as a boot camp / badge of honor
Wonder if recent changes are a Gen Z thing...
At least then you sucked it up alongside the other analysts in your bullpen where everyone was going through the same thing together. Try starting off and doing the job alone in your bedroom from 9am to 2am everyday.... shits depressing af
Speaking for myself only: I quit because covid had awoken me to what I was actually sacrificing and what I would continue to sacrifice if I continued down the IB/PE path. Watching my girl and later my parents get to actually enjoy time to themselves after 5 PM while I plugged away was heartbreaking. I don’t need much from a job to be happy, I’ve also found. I lateraled from a small boutique to a known bank and earned a 60% pay bump in doing so, only to feel no different about my career or “level of success.” There’s also something to be said about working 40 hours to sustain yourself while spending the balance of the week trying to build your own business or portfolio. Covid gave me time in its earlier months to get a taste of what a more balanced life is like and be introspective on a ton of areas in my life.
But whatever, it’s easier to chalk it up to newer generations being a bunch of pussies vs. taking a hard, honest look at the hamster wheel you’re on.
OK boomer
I think it may be a mix of both tbh. I was raised by parents who are hard core workaholics so the hours don’t really affect me as much as others but some people def can’t handle 100hr weeks (totally fine and understandable) but I do think we have the worst analyst experience, possibly ever.
Maybe back in your days, people were in general more afraid of being introspective and trying to seek what they actually want to do. It’s nothing to brag about. It’s actually quite sad in many cases.
'badge of honor' for what? changing fonts on ppt? thank god attitudes have changed
For me (lateraled from non-tech industry group to tech corp dev after my two years in IB), I found that I was getting interviews at better opportunities the more experience I had. During my first year I was only getting looks at companies / funds that were somewhat early stage and not really recognizable unless you were really into the space. By the time I hit 18 months, I started getting a lot more looks from FAANG sized companies for their corp strat or corp dev roles. Even though I was getting those types of interviews, it was tough to convert sometimes because you are competing with people with up to 2-3 more years of experience than you that might come from different but equally relevant and strong backgrounds.
I totally respect you wanting to leave and that's a decision each person has to make themselves, but I would just say it can be really hard to shoot for the well established names with less than a year under your belt unless there's something about you that really stands out.
How’d you manage to jump to tech without tech banking experience? Was it an uphill battle or were companies still receptive despite your background? I’m in an unrelated M&A group and am wondering how to frame that experience.
Definitely an uphill battle. Maybe just a few things that worked for me:
1. I reached out to people who were in positions or at places that I wanted to be in. I asked them good questions and showed them that I knew my stuff in their space even though I didn't work in it. When they had a spot open up a number of them would think of me and refer me which would give me a leg up in the process (I ultimately ended up with two offers and got both of them this way from two separate people; one was actually a banker at a boutique who covered the vertical and referred me to the head of corp dev at a company since the timing was great).
2. Find some way to indicate your interest in the space through your resume. It can be difficult depending on the type of sector you're interested in, but if you can pinpoint an area you really want to do, hopefully you can reflect that interest in your hobbies or some way through the things you do outside of work (volunteering for a non-profit org in a space you think is cool).
3. If you do manage to get your foot in the door, you really have to show them your stuff and prove to them that you're better than any of their other candidates, and this can be really hard when you haven't had any prior work experience in the space. For me, it was just something I really loved to read about and be involved with during my free time, so I always kept an active pulse on the space which was enough to convince most of my interviewers that I was a good candidate. You will get dinged if they find someone just as good as you but has more relevant work experience (or also more years of work experience) but that's not something you can control so it's best to focus on what you can do.
Where did you find the job postings for the tech corp dev opportunities? was it mainly linkedin?
How rich is everyone that multiple first years are just quitting and "not caring about my bonus?" You're 22, and you can't grind it out for 4-6 more months for 80-100 k (extra salary, plus bonus)? What is going on here?
The money isn't worth the strain, especially when you can come close to matching if not outright match your current base at a company that gives you half of your life back. Opportunity cost isn't strictly financial.
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Wasn't criticizing. Was just surprised that kids right out of school could just walk away from that kind of money in return for working for another 4-6 months. That said, I've read that WFH has been brutal, so I get that aspect of it.
I get it, but aren't your chances of landing good gig diminished if you're at your first job less than a year? Optically, isn't it just bad look?
Not sure why the other anonymous poster is coming at you that hard but you're right that optically, it isn't great. There's a ton more to life than a squeaky clean resume, though, especially when the price being paid is your mental (and sometimes physical) wellbeing. Of course your chances of landing certain gigs are less if you leave <1 year than if you exit >1 or >2 years in but that doesn't mean you're doomed to $50K FP&A roles in Wichita if you know how to squeeze your network.
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