Freshman Deciding if Investment Banking Is For Him
I've only been on this website for a few days, but the more I hear about the various sectors of banking the more I wonder if it's right for me and if so what sector to go into. The common path I have heard of is IB to either higher levels in IB or PE or VC. Optimally VC or PE excites me the most. I guess I'm wondering if spending the first 2-3 years of post-college life in a constant grind is worth it. That's if I'm lucky enough to land a job at a BB or EB, coming from a fairly good but non-target school. For those who have graduated and work in IB now, is it worth the grind for both the money and the career opportunities that it presents down line? Finance really interests me but I don't want to be depressed for the first two to three years of my life out of college. Let me know any advice, thoughts, or experiences that you would be willing to share. Thanks!
Haha it doesn’t get too much better in PE. VC is more chill but pay will be lower.
Not trying to sound condescending. From your post, your view into banking sounds like it excites you for the exit opportunities and the money. If that is the rationale, you will likely hate whatever little time you spend in banking. PE also has pretty brutal hours though pay is better.
You're right, I am across that way. I really do enjoy the work aspect of it too and I'm super interested in the different facets of the job. I was just more asking from a lifestyle/career point of view.
How do you enjoy the work aspect of a job you have never done and only been interested in for 2 days? Can you explain to me what IB is in your own words?
Fair enough.
The lifestyle in the analyst and associate years blows to put it nicely. Depending on firm and cycle, the 80-100 hour weeks can be semi-regular to frequent, the latter in today's market. Depending on your team, you are on call 24/7. Friday night plans and you get a 4 PM fire drill? Cancel that shit. Expecting a chill Sunday to nurse a hangover? Your MD may have other ideas. Social events are secondary, as are weekends. That is the harsh reality. It sucks but it SLOWLY gets better.
The work starts off grindy and tedious and depending on your interests, gets more interesting as you move up and get more responsibility. The learning curve is steep but starts to flatten out quite quickly IMO. Either way, you'll learn a lot. Like a fuck ton. It's been described to me as "sucking through a fire hose".
If the traditional PE route is ultimate goal, you'll likely be in for 1-2 years. Whether that time will be miserable, tolerable or interesting will depend in part on your interest in the work. I hate to say passion when a lot of it is soul sucking but if you have interest in the work and the broader scope of what you / your firm does, it will lean towards the former.
The banking skill set and work ethic is quite transferable and pretty well regarded. PE, VC, corp dev are the traditional routes, as are roles in industry like FP&A, strategy and others. Exit opps are quite broad.
The way I see it is, I would only do banking if I joined the real estate group. Solely for the entrepreneur opportunities (REPE/Development). Or shoot straight for a HF role(L/S) / trading desk (equity derivatives) where you can actually learn something directly applicable outside of work. Or shoot straight for VC and learn about the early stages of a business. Most of these people on this forum are risk adverse/prestige's whores and will work till they're 60. Fuck that. The entrepreneurial route is the way to go if you have the balls.
That is excellent advice. I have an entrepreneurial spirit and actually have a small company back home. It would be awesome to continue to work with that mindset. To be honest, I didn't know HFs and VCs hired out of undergrad very often. How hard is it to land a job at an HF out of college? Is the recruitment process similar to IB?
I’ve spoken with over a hundred bankers, as well as my uncle who was an MD for a BB and after all of these conversations, I would not recommend doing IB (in most situations).
Although I believe WSO is an extremely helpful site overall to help you consider the career opportunities on Wall Street, I think it does not accurately represent the true downside of IB. Keep in mind, the overwhelming majority of users on WSO are prospects or interns with minimal genuine interactions with MDs. That said, this site is definitely skewed upwards when it comes to IB. Here’s why you should avoid it:
Now, you might think why trust this source? After all, plenty of people work in IB after college. Why would ANYONE choose to go into it if it was that bad? Here’s the most common reasons why (according to my networking calls and honest answers):
These three reasons are all short-term reasons to do IB and they will all end in suffering. I’ve definitely met kids who are mad successful in IB but they absolutely love the grind and put work over everything else.
Some good perspectives in the above comments. I think it’s also worth factoring that you are coming from a non target. Finance is a very prestige oriented industry, so coming from a school that they don’t consider a target makes everything an uphill battle. Depending on just how prestigious your school is, you might have to grind tremendously just to get a chance at IB at all. Even then, many firms just won’t give you a look because of your school background, so you will have a smaller pool of firms to recruit at. From there, some PE / VC funds will also give you less attention, too.
If you really want to work in IB, these mitigating factors can be overcome and are worth overcoming. But if you are on the fence already (and your school is a target for the other careers you are considering, or the other career options have less of a prestige barrier) it may be worth leaning towards the options where you have less of a disadvantage
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