What's the main driver for everyones desire to go into IB
Is it the get rich quickly factor that matters the most? Why not have a job that pays less with less hours and gradually advance your career?
Trending Content
| +95 | Are you “less ambitious” for having long term goals outside of NYC | 23 | 16m | |
| +57 | How to sound more eloquent? | 26 | 1d | |
| +40 | WSO Ranking On Resume??? | 10 | 2d | |
| +35 | Interviews Are So Fake | 23 | 5s | |
| +33 | 2024 UK Election - Tories finished? | 20 | 10h | |
| +29 | Being Christian in investment banking | 14 | 4h | |
| +26 | Is my boss gaslighting me? | 3 | 5d | |
| +22 | Ideas for things to do with a free semester before starting ft? | 9 | 1d | |
| +20 | Sabotaging Peers to Get Ahead? | 34 | 3d | |
| +19 | What's going on at Columbia? | 16 | 44m |
Career Resources
of course it is, otherwise no one else would do it
Capital can be exchanged for goods and services
I'm leaving for the Army soon to try out for SFAS as an 18x. I've worked as a energy trader for a market making firm focusing on delta one products. I've been in finance for 6 years now and worked way up from shitty mail room clerk at Vanguard to trading and after all these years, I asked my self... do I truly see myself sitting in front of a computer all day, clicking buttons and bleeding my eyes out? So I said fuck it and went to the recruiter. Don't get me wrong, I see the houses of the trader's I've worked with... $1.5 million.... $2.5 million in West Harrison, Westport and Downtown Brooklyn and I'm like shit, I want that so bad but I knew I was going to regret not going to special operations. I'm just imagining in my head, wearing night vision goggles, doing a night raid with one of the toughest men on this planet and do direct action missions or some unconventional warfare op. I told myself, don't worry about the money, follow your dream and money will follow. I can always go back into finance afterwards or who knows? I might end up going to the FBI or CIA and possibly going into medicine after Special Forces. Don't limit yourself to chase money. Do what makes you happy. Money will follow.
IB is just a good place for moderately intelligent folks to earn a decent paycheck with the flexibility to pivot if needed. Other than maybe consulting, it's the only job that you can get without some hard STEM skills and still keep your options open while making more than 99% of your age group.
biglaw (can you read and write basically), product management (really not necessary to have technical skills), other high finance roles as well
Yeah, but in Big Law, you need to go through three more years of intense schooling (not to mention all the LSAT prep before that). IB hires right out of undergrad and starts you with a similar or better salary
Big law requires 3 years of law school and debt (and 3 years opportunity cost) so the returns aren't as good. Also if you realize you actually hate law and want to do something else, you're shit out of luck
Honestly, I would say compensation is a huge factor. Student loans and similar bullshit racks up fast. If you don't start off with a high paying job out of undergrad, you've literally dig yourself a hole. Sure you can be "rich" when you're in the 40s, but that's just bullshit.
Out of all the careers you can get out of undergrad, IB and tech pays the most. Tech has a higher barrier to break if you aren't analytical, while IB is more about your school.
At first, I wasn't confident in my ability to break into tech, so I went for IB. However, I somehow got lucky with one of my internship and learned how to code. So then I worked my ass off to prep for those coding interviews and scored a new grad role with one of the biggest tech company.
I've racked up quite a bit of students loans thru college. Thankfully, I'm making $180K out of the gate.
Unlike most high achiever in college, I'm less driven by chasing prestige than chasing cash because I understand one is real while the other is just an illusion.
So with my tech job, I'm working 40-50 hours per week which gives me time to start a side business. The plan now is to reach a NW of $1M in 2 years, when I'm 25. And if I make it, then $10M by 30.
Ok but let’s be real it’s VERY difficult to get into a job like what you have. Congratulations you are a kid genius but the rest of us aren’t.
Exactly, I literally LOL when people are just like, don't do banking, why don't you become a SWE at Google or Facebook instead? As if anyone could get those roles
Money son, who on earth dreams of adjusting excel models all day? No one, these guys happen to be sharp and want to capitalize on it, so they do a job that (in my opinion) sucks, for the potential to go make an impact elsewhere.
So my family doesn't have to worry about money ever again.
I heard that my friend's dad made $10mm in 2007. I wanted to do what he did...turned out it was investment banking.
Might sound like BS, but in IB you really are surrounded by some of the smartest people out there (depending on your firm/group of course). Paycheck is great, but it's really motivating and cool to work alongside super smart and inherently outgoing people, as well as getting to be a part of the deal process for huge companies. I am still but a lowly intern, but I've even been taken on trips flying out of state to pitch to clients. You don't really get to that extent with other traditional careers.
The path into IB is pretty clear-cut and straight forward. With so many sites, resources, and a very structured recruitment process, it gives a lot of people a better sense of certainty that they have a roadmap towards being "successful." Yes, people get rich through very unorthodox paths, but for traditionally risk-averse college kids, they're drawn to having it already drawn out for them on how to reach a sixfig salary right out of undergrad.
Exit opps
That sounds like BS because it is BS
Maybe after a while you get desensitized to that. But, I can only speak for myself as someone who's still very early in IB.
lol, +1 SB
Accusamus sed repellendus est amet. Ut non modi dignissimos ipsa sed quibusdam facere.
Id dicta delectus iusto explicabo consequatur voluptatem ipsa ea. Provident est cum aut quibusdam aliquam et. Tenetur praesentium eum commodi quasi dolor expedita. Et quia et est eos fugiat. Magni quo voluptatum quod accusamus maiores ut rem.
Aut est debitis et. Sequi est cumque repudiandae adipisci dolor qui. Nobis voluptatem libero nostrum qui. Nesciunt nihil modi reiciendis.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...