| Topic Name: |
ibank/valuation to what? |
| Message Name: |
Burning out slowly but surely |
| Date Posted: |
05/21/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
I was in IB and left to go into commercial real estate.
I got into it because it seemed like everyone in B-school went into it and almost everyone else out there wants to do it to make the $$$. This sounds trite, but do what you like and the money will follow. If you like what you do, you will excel at it. I knew I hated IB and that I could never compete (unless I killed myself and lived a miserable life) with someone who got excited about "doing the deal".
You can live all over the country and there are many different career paths. You can go do deals for a major institution, investing their money, or develop assets or do debt finance.
I love the industry and the glamorous/tangible nature of the work. I have an MBA from an Ivy school and there are others in the industry with similar backgrounds. Also, unlike IT and IB/consulting, every greedy bastard is not trying to get a job irregardless of whether or not they enjoy it.
I did plenty of weekends and all-nighters on Wall Street with little to show for it. Since I left banking, I have a house, two cars and a cool wife who loves me not for my money, but for me. I also get to spend time with her and actually plan vacations that I never have to worry about cancelling.
Their are a lot of options. Banking can give you golden handcuffs if you don't get out early on. If you stay, you will always have to do it because your lifestyle will progress to a level where you won't know how to live more normally.
The thing that finally got me to leave IB was getting 10 voicemails from some dingbat VP who could not find a one page model and wanted me to fly back from the Caribbean - no one in the real estate biz would ever show such contempt for a person's hard earned vacation time. Nowadays I don't work weekends and I don't check voicemail. I do my job, add value and have a life. Plus I left NYC and moved to Seattle.
The path from IB to other careers is a well worn one, you just won't hear about it because the people involved don't need to brag about how well they like their jobs, they just do. |
| Message: |
As i'm nearing the end of my first year as an analyst, i'm in agreement with the previous posts. I however had great work hours due to the slow market, very reasonable bosses who rarely asked anything outrageous, worked with people I genuinely liked, and will make 6 figures including bonuses. Why would anyone want to leave? The reason is because the work is not very stimulating and once you get over the glamour of "doing a deal," you realize that you are just there to make sure a process procedes without glitches, no different than the gals in corporate events (no offense). Not much brains required. The money is great but I realized that I want a job that I have a tangible effect on. In IB, you don't reach that until managing director when you get to try to bring in deals, and even then I've seen too many MDs kiss ass like a syncophant. Entrepreneurism is where it's at. I'm off to do business for myself.
|
|
