Did I make a mistake leaving IB, I'm bored as shit
I left IB for a corp dev role and I'm bored as shit but maybe this means I need a life outside of work now. I work remote 40 hours and make ~170k
Trending Content
| +251 | Looking to raise a Billion Dollar Fund - College Junior | 37 | 2m | |
| +190 | It doesn’t need to be this way | 29 | 15h | |
| +106 | Biggest gripe in IB: people with no balls | 31 | 38m | |
| +84 | RBC M&A vs PJT RSSG | 14 | 1d | |
| +67 | Career Bankers, Was It Worth It? | 35 | 3h | |
| +64 | Vanderbilt ($$$) / Northwestern ($$$) vs UF ($) | 34 | 6h | |
| +63 | Did I mess up by correcting my VP Publicly? | 20 | 15h | |
| +57 | I FINALLY DID IT, I GOT A FT OFFER! | 11 | 8h | |
| +51 | What to expect during your IB summer internship and how to secure the full-time offer | 1 | 9h | |
| +50 | Feeling really lost in IB | 15 | 9h |
Career Resources
What is it that you find boring?
Same. I'm grateful to have my weekends back, but I realised that Mon-Thu I don't have shit to do after work. I would rather continue working during these hours for the incremental money instead of playing videogames or watching Netflix at home.
Maybe find a hobby that requires consistent betterment - maybe playing a sport or an instrument. That way you get a sense of fulfilment outside of work.
You’d rather continue working than live life?
Take a step back. You have fully adopted the persona of a corporate drone. You are living to work, not working to live.
And no, I’m not saying a 5 hour evening Netflix binge is what life is about. Go take up sports, develop hobbies and form meaningful relationships with people.
What’s wrong with enjoying work instead of taking up a sport or some other hobby?
This forum is full of insecure neurotics who wear their job as a badge of pride lol
What makes work work is that it’s necessary whereas what makes a hobby a hobby is that it’s basically unimportant and inconsequential.
My brother. Two words: Jiu Jitsu.
hard agree on this one. Especially if you're in NYC. NYC is BJJ Mecca. Renzo, 10th Planet, Vitor, Marcela and so many other names all in Manhattan or just a bit outside of it.
What about the gym?
You have weekday nights off in PE?
how is work better than video games and Netflix? you guys are weird.
It’s because they bred having hobbies out of you because that’s what you needed to do to be successful. So now it’s just an empty part where you would naturally have had more friends/hobbies. You just have to get back into “normal life” because the incremental money isn’t worth it. Get off the hedonic treadmill.
Maybe you're just a workaholic which is fine but if you can't find interests and hobbies to occupy your time beyond the 40 hours (presumably less actually) of work, then something might be wrong with you, especially if you're based in somewhere like NYC. How is your social & romantic life? Do you have a gf or friends that go out? That helps
Underplayed, a lot of bankers are workaholics and don't want to be changing diapers, watching their kids play little league on weeknights.
Whenever people BOMB and FAIL OUT of the industry and start in with the "But muh hours are better" cope I picture them doing some gay arts and crafts bullshit while their wife bitches at them to go get a real job and make more money, then I laugh my ass off.
Sounds like your cope for working long hours and being a shitty dad and having no hobbies/interests outside of work
Nice man, tell me all about the hobbies you get to enjoy as a DCM banker who gets off the desk at 6. Build any neat-o model train cars lately?
You're so cool for not wanting to take basic care of your kids and support them in their interests and hobbies. I wish I had a dad like you.
You would be a lot cooler
😂😂
funny as hell
Hey slightly different note, how much do you tip your landlord?
Wow I've never seen someone brag about being an absent dad. Look in the mirror and touch some grass
In the wise words of Eminem: "He goes home and barely knows his own daughter"
How a*s does it feel to go from making nearly 300k / year to getting half of what you originally made?
"Wealth is the slave of a wise man, yet the master of a fool" - Seneca the Younger.
bro you'll spend the difference on healthcare cause of banking lifestyle and stress
I know plenty that go back to IB after a year of corpdev for this exact reason. Stay at least a year for sure, try to develop some new hobbies, it sounds like you're making good money for only 40 hours a week, and know that you can always go back
My biggest fear I have about ever leaving the industry right here. On the rare days/weeks where I don't have shit to do I am bored out of my f**kn mind. I need the grind, I need the rush, I need the pain. Honestly have no idea what I do Mon-Thursday after 5pm every day after work either, but that's probably more of an indictment on myself and my lack of hobbies aside from golf, sports, and beer, but I'm a simple man.
Or get some b*tches, dude.
How many yoe did you have to leave and get a $170k base? Solid
I went from being an associate in IB to LMM PE, made around $215k all in last year, now aso2. Mostly been working around 50 hours per week, although a couple of months have been quite a bit busier.
If you’re uncontent with corp dev, I recommend doing LMM pe. Same hours, more pay.
LMM PE 50 hours? Lol what everyone I know works 70+
It's Extra Extra Lower MidMarket lol
I think this past year has been an anomaly in general. The markets I'm in still have deal flow, but it's slow and even "processes" have negotiable deadlines. So nothing's actually urgent anymore
I think I've gotten a couple of 35 hour weeks and I'm chilling on my phone half the time at work anyway.
Not great for job prospects but I wouldn't mind taking an involuntary sabbatical if things get really bad.
Ngl one of the reasons I put up with IB hours is because I noticed if I don't always have something to do/work on I get kinda depressed
Yeah I think this is common for people in IB who like the pressure of work but aren’t self-starters
Agree - I don't think the pressure is the same if it is self-imposed, i.e., like losing bunch of customers for your biz.
I'm ex-military and it was the same then. Nothing beats that adrenaline / being laser focused in a very high stakes situation.
Sounds like you might be using the job / productivity as a way of coping with some other deeper problems
Now that you have the time to, you need to learn how to have a life outside work. Seriously, find a hobby, join a sports league, etc.
Saddest comments in here, if you can’t fill your evening with some sh!t you’ve got a seriously sad life. Making 300k+ won’t fix that
Experienced something similar. The issue here - that lots of these comments are ignoring - is the fact that your banking years have trained you to spend all your free time trying to chill and decompress as much as humanly possible. Outside of eating, going to the gym sometimes, seeing friends every now and then, the best use of your free time as a banker is to lay on your bed and just forget about how shitty life is. Also important to mention that IB is all-encompassing not just because you are physically behind a computer working at all times, but because the looming threat of random comments or midnight asks forces you to always be "on", so you still haven't really learned how to optimize the time when you're "off".
When I left banking and suddenly found way more free time, I was spending it either:
(1) Creating random workstreams for myself at work that nobody asked me to do
(2) Going back to old habits - watching netflix, sitting on the couch and scrolling instagram, mindless reading reddit forums
Both of those approaches suck. Going above and beyond at your new job is great to an extent and you should def do it with slack capacity, but it's an issue of diminishing returns.
I personally started pursuing hobbies I always wanted to do and pursuing those with the same intensity I'd pursue work - this was tricky to get into at first, but after a few months was able to get into a groove. A couple of things I've tried are performing arts (take an acting or improv class if you're into that), organized sports (i tried picking up a bunch of new sports - none of them really stuck but i met some cool people and my fitness improved a ton), or hell just reading books and developing a new personal interest in a topic unrelated to finance.
Ultimately, if you choose to go back into IB / a similarly intense role because that's the best fit for your personality, then that's totally understandable, but this time in this corp dev job is the opportunity of a lifetime to learn how to take a step back from work without needing to take time off, explore personal interests, and just become a better well-rounded person.
If you are in NYC, are there any organizations for organized sports you'd recommend? Looking for something similar you described in terms of pursuing more things intensely but also looking for more social outlets outside of just eating and drinking.
Thank you for getting it
Yeahhhhhhhhh bud, that's gay. Couldn't be me. I'll keep cranking 9 figure LBOs and getting paid for it, thank you very much.
You can't make this comment without saying something homophobic?
You have a job that pays $50 an hour. You work 20 hours a week, you make 1000, you work 40 hours a week you make 2000, you work 80 hours a week you make 4000. That's generally analyst pay.
At associate in ib you make 75 per hour but you have to work around 70 hours
To be honest it's probably like dating someone normal after the toxic ex. One is more steady and doesn't give the same dopamine rollercoaster or drama so you sometimes have an adjustment to the "boring new norm".
It's an adjustment. You just need to focus on building a life outside your job. Pickup hobbies again, get back into fitness etc.
It's something us IB folks dream of - good luck - enjoy it!
Deleted
yeah seriously, what is the point of getting paid lots of money if you dont have the time to actually spend and enjoy that money.
I don’t want to spend my weekday evenings playing Warzone, or picking up some other lame hobby that I’m bad at. That’s honestly more sad / depressing than working at the office. At least if I’m working I’m making more money and progressing my career. I also don’t have kids and don’t intend to have them for a while, so there’s no upside from spending additional time with family.
Get a dog
I can understand how 170k/year can feel like it’s barely enough / not enough living in Manhattan. Look into either a lmm or perhaps secondaries investing, those places tend to work a bit less but pay around 225+ at aso1
In what world 170k is "barely enough" to live in Manhattan lol.
In the world of reality for many people in Manhattan. You’re going to be generally going paycheck to paycheck at that comp with any discretionary savings getting spent on vacations or if you had student loans to repay like I did, then it was probably spent it on that.
Somebody said train jiu jitsu above... totally agree. Do that and get to a level you're comfortable competing (6 months in of regular training imo). You'll get a rush like no other and scratch the competitive itch big time. You'll also have a goal to work towards and build a community outside of work.
Jiu jitsu is preferable imo vs boxing / muay thai etc because you can compete at 100% intensity and not take career-altering brain damage.
As someone who does Muay Thai...this is accurate lol, I'll probably switch to grappling at some point when I get tired of getting bonked
I left IB somewhere toward the end of my 2nd analyst year for something way, way more laid back than corp dev. I still regret it several years later in large part for this reason.
Can't you try going back? Or are you satisfied with your new life.
I’m not satisfied but I’m not sure that means I want to go back. Regardless, this was half a decade ago already so I’m not sure I could go back even if I wanted to. I didn’t exit to a traditional exit like corp dev or something.
IB sucks ass
The ideal work situation is to have IB hours for 10 months with real breaks during holidays/weekends and get 2 months off during summer
You get to look forward to a good time, and then you get bored and go back at it again. Just like school essentially
Alas, this doesn't exist outside sports. The only choice if you want to progress is to go hard for 20+ years and have no life
Actually it can exist at McKinsey with their take time program
I went from corpdev analyst to IB analyst at a mm, then IB associate, where I’m now working similar hours to what I was working before. I don’t think corpdev is worth it until at least director when you’re making over 200k, then it’s a better spot to be.
Then again, mm banks tend to have more reasonable hours, so can’t speak for everyone’s experiences in ib either.
Surprised that I didn’t see any of the corporate weapons above me comment the most natural and simple thing to do after cutting 50% of weekly amount of working hours: MONEY. A lot of people don’t understand what they should do in their free time… well the answer is pretty easy: money. Be entrepreneurial, find some sick side hustle that could double your income. Good luck warrior
This ^ x100
I’ll add that this could even extend to applying your financial acumen to your personal investment portfolio. It’s extremely hard to outperform public markets at scale but it’s relatively easier with a small pool of capital. I know more than a couple former banking and s&t people who have taken personal investing seriously as a side hustle and have done really well. In no way am I saying this will be easy and at some level you have to have to be good investor, not just a competent financial generalist, but it can be done.
Personally, I would not choose to recruit for a job that pays that steep of a discount at my age just to work some lighter hours but I work in a relaxed MM group, average ~60-65 hours per week, sleep lots, and make decent pay for doing what become fairly good and efficient at over the years. My analyst years were tougher, but one can unwind for 1-2 months and recharge. I would probably only choose to move to corporate at the director or team lead level, where one could continue to make over 250k yearly and work around 40 hours or less if such a role exists, and even then, I'm not sure if I would consider most of them.
What size firm are you at and is this nyc ?
Agree completely. I’m definitely north of what you work (closer to 80 hours/week) in an active MM group but “working less” is nowhere near enough incentive to make me take a new job. Working a lot and the stress definitely sucks sometimes but not enough for me to completely go to the opposite end of the pendulum.
If I’m gonna walk away from a job that’s intellectually stimulating, that I’m good at, that I learn and grow from every single day, where I have steady deal flow of interesting projects, where I have smart competitive peers and superiors, and ample career growth opportunity, it has to be for something that really excites me or inspires me.
If it doesn’t excite me, it ain’t happening no matter the alleged WLB. If it excites me then I’m more than willing to take the L on pay or even WLB. Maybe slogging through 80 hours of exciting work a week is not the right answer, but neither is pissing away 40 hours a week at a braindead job so you can spend the other 40 watching Netflix and playing little league.
what do you live for?
You know.
How can you find a job like that to start off? Dying for a corp dev job
You need to find a meaning fo life outside work …
You’re remote - go travel. Go to Utah or Colorado and learn how to ski. Go work from somewhere in South America for a little bit.
Alternatively, get into fitness and try and undo some of the damage to your health from IB.
I swear some of the people in finance are such losers and so boring. So many people need to get a life outside of work and compulsively scrolling LinkedIn to feed a dual inferiority / superiority complex.
i think i get what you mean; the job itself isnt intense enough. you wanna be so busy you lose sense of time
Sit officiis eum dolorem et accusantium. Officiis officiis a repellendus blanditiis. Necessitatibus maxime tempora nostrum ut omnis aut.
Quo cum autem praesentium nihil esse at. Sit sequi assumenda quibusdam. Nulla ducimus fugiat voluptates tempora.
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...
Voluptate et consectetur et. Dolorem et saepe et.
Aut veritatis saepe perspiciatis illum expedita. Qui accusamus voluptatem delectus maxime blanditiis commodi qui. Quia sint ut officia laboriosam. Veritatis hic sit dolor nostrum perspiciatis voluptates expedita repellendus.
Ab totam eligendi sed itaque distinctio voluptatem suscipit. Est similique tenetur neque autem natus nesciunt. Aspernatur facere asperiores ipsum.
Labore cum quo vero sequi pariatur impedit. Iusto expedita doloremque molestias odit. Voluptatem mollitia incidunt mollitia. Et omnis perspiciatis natus ad nihil unde beatae.
Ab tempore et occaecati voluptatem voluptatem eligendi nesciunt. Repudiandae quos est quia. Quis sunt et iure numquam. Rerum occaecati ut quia maxime. Tempora ab modi dolore alias.
Quam modi assumenda minus corporis. Tempora aut cumque rerum minus aliquam rerum. Ad ea vero ea. Excepturi quod voluptate libero aut adipisci impedit vitae.