4 ms·

Actually, it gets better. That's the dirty little secret that I never knew about. Investment banking used to have insane hours (100+ basically on call all the t

Actually, it gets better. That's the dirty little secret that I never knew about. Investment banking used to have insane hours (100+ basically on call all the time). The idea was that after 4-5 years you leave for a buy-side gig (hedge funds, private equity) that pay you the same or more ($1-5M in your early to mid-30s) but with more reasonable hours. This is why the smartest CS/Math/EE/Physics grads from MIT etc went to Wall Street in the 2000s. I wish I knew then what I know now :) I put in 100+ hours a week for a tech firm because interesting/love what I do/blah. And all I have to show for it is stock that increased a little bit.

dmix 12y ago
> And all I have to show for it is stock that increased a little bit. Oh lucky guy. I've heard enough of these stories without even that. But startups are highly voluntary so I take that relatively lightly compared to corporate responsibility of Apple et al.
- storgendibal 12y ago
  Lol! I was in a large tech company, so the stock was as good as cash. Since I could not get finance-level pay, I figured out how to draw lines around my work so I at least had a pretty good life outside of work. It took me a couple of years to figure that out though.
Enzolangellotti 12y ago
> The idea was that after 4-5 years you leave for a buy-side gig (hedge funds, private equity) that pay you the same or more ($1-5M in your early to mid-30s) but with more reasonable hours. That idea is now a myth, only a handful of wall-streeters break the 1-2 million mark according to various industry surveys (generally you can earn a lot more if you are a principal or a portfolio manager at a successful hedge fund, but those are outliers, the truth is that the belief everyone on the buyside is living a model and bottles lifestyle (or might be able to) is a huge misconception). IMHO, the best shot at becoming rich remains entrepreneurship.

dmix 12y ago

> And all I have to show for it is stock that increased a little bit. Oh lucky guy. I've heard enough of these stories without even that. But startups are highly voluntary so I take that relatively lightly compared to corporate responsibility of Apple et al.

storgendibal 12y ago
Lol! I was in a large tech company, so the stock was as good as cash. Since I could not get finance-level pay, I figured out how to draw lines around my work so I at least had a pretty good life outside of work. It took me a couple of years to figure that out though.

Enzolangellotti 12y ago

> The idea was that after 4-5 years you leave for a buy-side gig (hedge funds, private equity) that pay you the same or more ($1-5M in your early to mid-30s) but with more reasonable hours. That idea is now a myth, only a handful of wall-streeters break the 1-2 million mark according to various industry surveys (generally you can earn a lot more if you are a principal or a portfolio manager at a successful hedge fund, but those are outliers, the truth is that the belief everyone on the buyside is living a model and bottles lifestyle (or might be able to) is a huge misconception). IMHO, the best shot at becoming rich remains entrepreneurship.