Having spent years working in one those fields, I can tell you that the workforce was relatively middle-class in terms of family backgrounds compared to say, th

Having spent years working in one those fields, I can tell you that the workforce was relatively middle-class in terms of family backgrounds compared to say, the buy-side or wealth management. Having parents with money doesn't help you much when you're trying to do an accretion-dilution spreadsheet at 3 in the morning, but it does help a lot when you're trying to raise money for a PE fund or find asset-management clients (neither of which IBs do). A lot of folks were the children of first-generation immigrants, as well, working their asses 100+hrs a week off to make good. Engineers complain when their profession is painted with the broad brush of stereotypes - introverts, nerds, anti-social, impersonal. Making a blanket statement that investment bankers are just the kids of rich people, or don't produce value, is equally ignorant and unfair. I'm not a banker any more, and I'm happy not to be, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of hard working people in that field that deserve respect for frankly working a lot harder than you or I probably do and in fact producing a lot of value financing business in this country.