Who's Already a Banker?

Investment banking has got to be the most popular job I see people talk about on TSR. Question is: how popular is it as an actual job? Most people on TSR are speculating and claim they want to be an investment banker in the future, meaning they're still in Uni or Sixth-Form. Furthermore, there are heaps and heaps of international students that come to this country specifically to get into the banking sector which suggests the pool of applicants must be HUGE.

With all that being said, how do expectations match reality? Have many of you TSRians actually completed the journey and have now become an Investment Banker? What was your journey like? Also how fierce was the competition?

I have recently secured a position in a similar industry and no, the application stage was not easy and I don't even have a degree related to finance... lol

Used to be one. Was ****, wouldn't recommend it. Unless you really really love it (few do) or you require it as a stepping stone for something else (buy-side). Helps to be cynical.

what was so bad about it?

Lifestyle's fairly ghastly. Basically throwig away the best years of your life just to be forced into an early midlife crisis when you hit 30 and realize you haven't had a proper holdiay since uni.
Though, if you don't mind (plenty of people don't mind postponing starting a family to their 40s), that's fine. Other's don't wanna deal with that **** and bail early.

Would this be the same across all firms like barclays and rbs? Or just at the very best like GS or jp morgans?

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Would this be the same across all firms like barclays and rbs? Or just at the very best like GS or jp morgans?

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Varies between groups within firms and between firms, some have better working cultures than others. Whilst some groups in IBD just continually crush everyone. But at the end of the day, you'll be working hard in any company.

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You might work hard in other companies but some companies just treat you badly in terms of the hard work and working hours. Like a shop near me has workers working for 12+ hours and doing hard work.

I would say lawyer was the most popular job on TSR, but it has a wider scope. The medics and the bankers are the most focused groups. There are alos a lot of queries about IB by people who have done little research and are motivated purely by what they see as easy money.

Not to mention the egomaniacs that lash out on this forum in particular every couple of days, haven't seen this happen on the law or med sub-forum at least not in this frequency.

Always thought the med people where the most visible on TSR? At least there's a communtiy of current docs vs not a lot of current bankers on here.

From my observation the bankers are less visible but a definite grouping.
Other groups I've seen are vets, teachers, engineers and nurses.

Where is studos?

It seems that way, yeah. Most people here congregate around the insight programme/internship/grad cycle threads then disappear after landing their offers. The rest of the content is the same old: what uni should I choose? What course is better? stuff.

Yep, seen quite a few of those around too *It's interesting how concentrated career sections are on this site.*

(I may have banned him)**

Nah it was probably me that got him banned. I've reported him over 10 times lol

I wouldn't go into IB, it's ****

All of sell side is ****

Eh. Depends on the person.

Some prefer the fast paced nature of sell side, some prefer the greater responsibility that comes with being a principal on the buyside.

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Lol fast paced nature - what does that translate to as a sell side analyst - hours and hours spent generating reports that peoppe literally throw in the bin?