I certainly see plenty of “DON’T go into IB!” posts and comments. I am entering the industry soon, as I love the subject. I enjoy the research, the modeling, and the analysis. I can’t say I know what I am in for, as I have never worked more than 60 hours in a week. My main question is; if you have sincere interest in finance, will working in IB be as bad as so many claim? Additionally, what are some positive things that you have experienced while working in IB?
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Would you rather change colours in a pitch book, which the client won’t even look at in a meeting, entire weekend until 3am instead of going away from the city for 2 days with your kids, wife and perhaps a family dog?
I love finance (still do) but hate every day in IB
also love finance and hate IB
Honestly, I am so confused at this point. This is one of the most coveted jobs in the finance industry. Then all I see is how much people hate working at the job they have worked so hard to get. I have set myself up for an analyst role at a boutique bank. I guess I need to see it though to make my own decision, but I appreciate the feedback dudes.
You get paid +$100k/yr right out of college to make powerpoints. Compare that to jobs that pay a similar amount - if you're a doctor/lawyer then you don't start having a positive net wealth until you're clear in your 40s (law/med school are extremely expensive, doctors make crap as interns/residents/etc.), and those jobs are harder (doctor) or more boring (lawyer). You work as much as you do in IB during this time, so you're working 100+ hours/week and still going into debt at $50k or more/semester.
Sure, software engineering is sick if you like programming, but not everyone does. Along with that, you aren't guaranteed a good salary at a startup (which everyone thinks is the holy grail on here for some reason) and getting a job as a Google SWE is 1000x harder than landing at a BB/EB. So in other words, the grass isn't always greener because you either won't ever get to cash in your $2mm worth of hypothetical SBC (the company could go under long before then) and you'll almost definitely not end up at the companies that provide the sweetest perks with the highest pay.
Your risk-adjusted return is much higher in banking, it leads to other jobs that are more interesting where you'll make upwards of $500k/yr in 10-15 years, and if you end up hating it you can potentially lateral to an F500 finance division making 1.5-2x as much as if you had started out and been internally promoted at the company.
The job is boring and you sacrifice a lot, but it has some nice perks if you go through the ringer at first. If you REALLY want an interesting job in the finance world (and you like the markets) then try to stomach the risk of working at a HF. Or, go to a long-only mutual fund. The work is fascinating there but there are very few seats and there's always the chance you lose your seat because you couldn't outperform an ETF.
It’s not the work it’s the mental and physical stress you put yourself to. I never cared about mental health until my first day on the desk
Really!? Can anyone confirm this?
Obviously lol. Almost anyone smart enough to be a SWE at Google could go into iBanking if they prepped. Reverse cannot be said. Think about all the bricks in iBanking that got in through networking and not because they were the smartest candidate..
Wait till he finds out about leetcode
I'm not talking about smarts. Obviously the google engineers are really smart because that's STEM. I'm talking about the mere chances of getting in. I know a few smart kids who did everything they needed to do for IB, but still didn't land an offer. I'm sure it's hard for someone to get a job at google too, but isn't it more likely for a qualified person to get the offer as opposed to in IB?
If it were between you and a person who has been coding since they were 10 (I.e. could very well be Mark Zuckerberg) then no you have no shot. In banking, there's plenty of opportunity and lower barriers to entry. It’s a hard job, don’t get me wrong, but it takes less to get into it.
Edit: had a couple of incorrect numbers so I took them out.
You sure? Companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon alone hire more SWEs per year than all the BBs combined.
https://goremotely.net/blog/how-many-software-engineers-are-there/
admittedly I was off on the # of engineers they hire each year (sorry about that), however for the # of SWEs in the US vs the # at a place like Google, it’s still much more competitive to get into than investment banking and requires higher baseline skills.
I acturally had an offer from FB/G for software engineering and turned it down for IB. To be honest you have no idea what you're talking about. If you go to a top IB target (H/W), then sure SWE is harder to break in.
One data point doesn’t prove an argument. By that logic, it would be just as valid to say that since I have 50 friends in IB but 0 friends who ever got a SWE offer at FB/Google, it’s impossible to get an offer at FB/Google but very possible to get an IB offer.
How long have you been in programming? Did you have friends who worked at FB/Google that you won a coding competition with, and therefore they could vouch for you? What school do you go to, and what’s your coding program like? It’s very possible that you go to a top 5 coding program and that acceptance into that program is less than 1% by itself. How many people did they interview that day?
Even if you started coding last year, have no friends at FB/Google, and go to an unranked school with a horrible CS program, you could’ve just gotten lucky - this is why a single data point doesn’t prove an argument.
Lawyers don't have positive networth until their 40s? Are you trying to spread misinfo or are you just bad at math?
FYI, if you go to biglaw you start at 210+ all in at age 24 assuming you started law school at 21.
Is it any better at the associate and VP level?
Yes, indeed it is.
Thank you. As an incoming associate, all these anti-IB threads have been scaring me.
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