Hey all, a relatively junior monkey here. I was curious to hear, what is the biggest sacrifice you made for your career? Was it worth it? I especially thought this would be helpful to monkeys in earlier stages of their careers to learn more about the challenges and difficulties of working in a professional capacity over the long term.
This could be sacrifices you made that have had long repercussions on your personal life, being in the wrong industry/field which made exiting challenging, etc. Anything you would have done differently?
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Hey therealgekko, I swear if I had a silver banana for every lonely thread I posted too I'd be richer than @compbanker ...
Or maybe the following WSO members have something to say: @Detroit0909 @Anoiftset @Connor-Savage1
Hope that helps.
I'm young, going to start full-time next summer. Biggest sacrifice so far would be deciding to move to another city after living in the same state/close to home all my life. Not necessarily for my sake, but as an only child, first-gen student, traditional culture of family, etc. I can see my parents are disheartened. They don't fully understand it (moving to a new city for more exposure/career advancement) but are happy for me. Mom has and definitely will cry though. Leaving all that behind for a city I know no one in... Come back in 5 years and I will have a wildly different response.
"We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons."
You are absolutely, 100% making the correct decision. I did the exact same thing and until I got my job in IB they were always telling me I could come back and build something there. The difference between where I grew up and even a tier 4 city is unreal. You gotta pursue the money and take the risks while you don't have a family to support.
Oh man this is going to be a sad thread
Nothing really tbh
heister:
Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad.
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I know I might get some shade for this and I dont blame people for completely disagreeing with me but I'm just gonna say it. Honestly biggest sacrifice I've made for my career was taking a job in my analyst program. The super long days plus weekends and the occasional all nighter have completely bitch slapped my social life and I've only been doing it for 4ish months. I am having trouble finding time to go to the gym, relax, or even sleep let alone finding new hobbies or hanging out with friends who all live within an hour of where I am now.
I'm sure there are people on here who work harder than I do but goddamn. Im not gonna burn out or anything cus im committed to a fulfilling career down the road but like fuck, I saw my best friend from high school no more than 5 times since I graduated (he is in a brutal profession as well) and my closest friend from my neighborhood is a city cop now and he works nights so forget about ever chillin or going out with him. I don't know how I'll ever find time to go visit friends from college living in NYC, Philly, DC, California, etc.
I don't mean to shit on banking or "high finance" and I know most of us here bust our asses in school/work to succeed in this industry and I don't wanna be the millionth person to bitch about this, but shit. I am trying to get my act together and be more efficient somehow but it aint easy. Gotta make the best of it I guess.
Stop saying "high finance." Sounds really dumb.
Why do you think I put it in quotes?
"High finance" has no set definition. So perhaps the quotations were an indication of the vagueness of the term.
Other than being late to parties, cancelling a few dates and ditching my old gf I haven't made any substantial sacrifices.
So far? Probably the biggest sacrifice was the decision to move across the pond. I had already moved to another city following graduation and it was already difficult for my parents (being from a very family oriented culture). Before I'd probably see them once every month, now I'm lucky if I see them twice a year, so they were quite gutted about it.
The same move abroad also cost me my 5+ year relationship, since extreme long distance just wasn't an option for us. But all in all, I found a more interesting opportunity that I believe would fast track my career, so no regrets so far
Cut the bitch loose when she complained about hours.
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