| Topic Name: |
Hate Banking.. Want Consulting |
| Message Name: |
IB vs MC |
| Date Posted: |
09/23/2003 |
| In Reply To: |
Sorry to belabout the point, but I'm another case of corp fin analyst thinking about going to MC.
The 'hours' issue is quite an important one, not only because it really affects one's life (the difference between 70h/wk and 100 h/wk can determine whether you keep friends or have a sexlife) but also because I believe it indicates the work 'culture'. To this I would like to suggest that from my experience, there is something wrong with i-bankers working 100h weeks consistently in the post-bubble era (if not working in one of the few superstar teams that close >10 deals a year). There is something wrong with the perfectionist culture that endorses this inefficiency.
My impression from my consulting circle of friends is that working 'a lot' means doing 60-70 hour weeks, where they may come back home midnight on a few occasions but will have the w/e free or vice versa. And 95% of the time will be 'real' work, implying work that won;t go down the bin come next morning.
Would any consultants out there like to confirm their honest working hours week (including travel, even though I don;t fully take the point that travel time equals work time - there's something about a business lounge that makes it a bit more bearable than spreadsheets at 3am).
This would help me understand if the grass is greener over there.
thanks for all frank input
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| Message: |
Been in both industries...
Trade-offs for hours vs travel--think about it this way:
1) When you are working 100 + hours as a banker, you don't get to see your friends or have a sexlife.
2) When you are traveling out of town every week (which CAN add up to 100 hours with the work and travel), you still don't see your friends or have a sexlife, because you are not in the same place where your friends and loved ones are.
I would agree that the type of work is very similar between IB and MC: You work magic analysis on Excel, then plot the results into Powerpoint presentations. I would definitely NOT say that 95% of MC work is "real." The pages we produce/analysis we do also get thrown out the next morning. It really all depends on who you are working for.
The main difference is the problems are more concrete in Banking. In MC, they can change from client to client--and you get to struggle with no data yet still needing to produce answers.
Travel takes its toll on you, especially if you are doing it every week, for years. It's the trade off for working longer hours in the office (but in-town). You also have to figure that if you are out of town, it just makes the stupid things (errands, doctors appointments, etc.) more difficult.
Hope this helps.
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