Monkeys,
How would you describe your work environment in terms of office politics, political correctness, company policies, other employees, freedom to talk freely, and overall culture? Please be specific if you're at a BB, MM, EB or boutique and what area of finance you're in(IBD, S&T, AM, HF, ops, so on and so forth). Anything stand out positively or negatively?
| +95 | Are you “less ambitious” for having long term goals outside of NYC | 24 | 2h | |
| +37 | Interviews Are So Fake | 24 | 2h | |
| +33 | 2024 UK Election - Tories finished? | 20 | 13h | |
| +29 | Being Christian in investment banking | 14 | 7h | |
| +26 | Is my boss gaslighting me? | 3 | 6d | |
| +24 | Non-Competes Banned | 16 | 2m | |
| +22 | Ideas for things to do with a free semester before starting ft? | 9 | 1d | |
| +20 | Sabotaging Peers to Get Ahead? | 34 | 3d | |
| +18 | Best NYC neighborhood for single 30M | 12 | 1d | |
| +17 | Moelis has the cutest Analysts? | 4 | 4h |
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nobody?
I got into a, 'how many genders are there' argument the other day with our secretary..... The answer is 2.
Sounds like a risky convo in our current landscape. I agree though, anyone who thinks there is more than 2 has lost their mind.
I work at a BB. I'm in a little bit of an ironic spot because some of the stuff I work on is being presented at very, very high levels within the company but I still only work about 40-50 hours a week. I make well into the 6-figures and rarely have to work beyond 40-45 hours unless I want to or have a presentation due. So it's basically a great place to work and plenty of PTO. On top of that, next month they are looking for volunteers for people that want to work remotely :-)
As for the others, some people take the term "banker's hours" a little too seriously. May The Good Lord help you if you're near the doors at 5pm because there's a max exodus at that hour.
Can you expand on the type of job you are doing? Sounds like a dream job.
Sure, posted an extended answer below
Yeah, can you tell us how you got where you are, and how a monkey can get there?
Thanks,
That can be a long answer but here it is:
Undergrad is in business from a Top 50 school. I graduated "many moons ago", long before anything like WSO was around. Wish I had had more guidance in my senior year, I invested very little in recruiting and all that.
Career was heavy in tech. Have done everything from code monkey to globe-trotting consultant to working on my own as a contractor. Some years were great, others less so but it gave me good names on my resume, think Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, etc also some entertainment companies that you would all recognize in a heartbeat.
None of my work was really finance related but I've always been a business nerd. So I got some FINRA licenses along the way just as a "personal challenge" of sorts and something to put on my resume. Just picked some licenses you don't have to be sponsored for, studied for them and passed the tests, all on the first try. Didn't do anything beyond that other than put them on my resume. It was around this same time that I discovered WSO (burner account).
As for post-grad work, few years back I did remote studies from a Top 100 school for statistics. I combined that with my programming background and became a data scientist.
Fast forward to last year, I had my resume out there. I was in negotiations to work for a large company on the east coast doing some really interesting data science around commodities. While I was waiting to hear back on my counter-offer, a BB found my resume and invited me to interview in a "super day" of sorts where I had 8 interviews over a span of 2-3 days. All the MDs I interviewed with loved that I had the FINRA licenses.
So, as I said, right now I work BO doing data science. I'm surrounded by some really smart people and I haven't run into anyone that's an outright dick, pretty nice people overall. The office is also not "bro" at all, which is good because I would hate that environment. Basically we're all married, with families and talented at what we do. When we have team lunches, everyone orders iced tea or lemonade. Boring for sure, but safe and relaxing and that's how we all like it.
Some of the stuff my MD gives me to work on is being reported to as high as you can go in the org and that's pretty cool. They brought me in at a level that has really generous PTO and I am paid very fairly for the general data science field (six figures). There's also plenty of options to work from home and I might start doing that. I'm also being entrusted with more responsibilities; in a few weeks I will be an interviewer at a Super Day and I think that's pretty cool!
Overall I'm glad I made the move and that I didn't come to terms with that other company on the east coast!
Anyways, decided to post this so that all of you can see that there is a long career ahead of you and you do not have to be obsessive about the first 2-3 years out of undergrad. Also, every BB is a massive org. There's probably a lot more BO than most people realize and there's a lot more to working for a BB than working 100 hour weeks in IB - in fact, for most BBs, that's a very, very small slice of what they do.
I'm working as financial analysis intern in a big biotech multinational company quoted on the FTSE. Around 50 hours a week, really enjoying the environment, young and dynamic. Absolutely free to talk about everything: and not just free to talk about whatever I want, I'm encouraged to do it.
I work on the trade floor of a large physical commodities shop.
There are 2 genders, men carry heavy shit around, women don't. We watch a lot of golf and baseball on the big screen, hours are about 8-3 this time of year with a lot of shooting the shit in between, I took off at about 11 on Friday to head to the bar before the baseball game, wear jeans to work, and pay is pretty good across the board.
Denver?
Sounds like a dream brother. Doesn't get much better than that.
I work at a BB S&T desk, but we're known for being extremely lean despite the rankings. It's extremely funny because there seems to be all sorts of people and everybody else just kinda acknowledges each other's work styles. American firm but no "bro" culture or drinking at all; maybe a team drink once every quarter.
On the work style point; some people come in at 5:30 and some at 7:00, and its nothing to do with the seniority. Some work 11 hours some work 15. Everyone just kinda does what they feel works best, and just cooperate whenever these work styles have no conflict.
Real estate development shop. All white male, so political correctness isn't really a thing. Decent range of political ideologies, from hardcore Trump knobbers to Mitt Romney/George W. Republicans to libertarians to old-school third way Democrats. You're free to talk freely but certain people do get whiny if they're the target too often and it's typically smart to not bust the boss's balls too much. There are a ton of office politics and sacred cows, but other than that everything is good. People are friendly, work hard, have fun, go on company sponsored vacations together out of the country, and typically help each other out. Zero time expectations as long as work gets done - some days I'll leave at 2 for an afternoon tee time and other days I'm there until 9pm. Typical day is probably get in at 8 leave at 6. Limitless expense AmEx as long as you're not a moron with it. Salary is low compared to the industry but I get fully paid healthcare, 401(k) match, mileage/phone reimbursement, get to keep all AmEx points/Skymiles, solid bonus structure, % pref on deals, co-invest opportunities every now and then, etc.
Edit: Not sure what the monkey shit is about. If you work with me and don't like the description, shoot me a PM. If you are that obsessed with Trump that you can't handle the word "knobber," grow up.
Thanks for the solid reply. Real Estate seems to be a very underrated option on this board.
To be fair, this is a Wall Street board and so much of real estate is far from Manhattan. Also, real estate isn't about working 90 hour weeks, jerking off to your 4.5 GPA, deciding between which Ivy league school to go to, or spending your entire life trying to get a job that you will have, at most, two years. ;)
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Extremely buttoned up and conservative. I think the MDs on my side of the office might not know the names of the MDs down the hall.
The only outspoken one is a secretary. After the youtube shooting last week she made the bold claim (at volume 11) that the shooter was "probably a white male and they won't call it terrorism."
ROFL. It amazes me that someone could say that in a work environment. On an aside though, could you imagine if some muslim extremist was setting bombs off around the Austin area? National media and the nation in general would be in a frenzy. For some reason that story flew under the radar (relative to other terrorism stories) and they took a while to finally name the bomber a terrorist.
I wear a T-shirt on Fridays
The Tuxedo T-Shirt? Nice.
MM shop, top-heavy, lean on the analyst side. Laid-back and open, and at the same time everyone pushes each other to perform at their absolute best. No cunty characters or assholes; just driven individuals that get along like a well-put-together family and know how to get shit done. I can't imagine a better culture to be immersed in or team with which to work, tbh.
I work in a smaller office of a larger organization so I get all the benefits of a big employer (pay, benefits, etc.) and the perks of a small employer (relaxed office, less bullshit). Also, my manager is in the main office so I don't need to worry about them breathing down my neck. Office has a mix of younger and more seasoned staff. They're not the most fun bunch in the world, but they're all intelligent and mostly competent. Hours are great as well, I can count on both hands the number of times I worked past 5 last year.
Just realized I mostly failed to address OP's points, let me get to that. Office politics are pretty minimal, primarily because I'm in a branch away from most of management. Political correctness really depends on who you are talking to. Some people you can talk with about anything, others you should tread lightly. Overall culture I'd describe as a relaxed bureaucracy if that makes sense.
My office culture is pretty chill but very fragmented and manager dependent. We can wear jeans all week long. My team can generally work from home if we want, show up later in the day and leave early etc. as long as the work gets done. Other teams have draconian managers that are just annoying and I would not want to work with, can't imagine the vibe on those teams are anything like the vibe on my team. It also helps that the partner I work under is pretty relaxed.
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