Question to Financial industry folks

Zendesk
newYork007

Go to company page Zendesk

newYork007
Sep 17, 2021 142 Comments

In finance, you can only grow into a C-level exec position, if you know people at the top or are related to somebody at the top. Look at CXOs of banks, insurance and even some hedge funds.

However in tech world, you can be a nobody and still rise to become CXO of big tech (G, Msft, IBM, Adobe etc) or make your own startup and make $$$.

So why are finance (IB/tech/analyst) folks who dont know anybody at the top continue to grind 80-100 hr weeks in the false hope to ever rise at the top ?

Finance folks, whats your motivation to stick and grind ? (Other than the prestige which really is nothing and doesnt pay bills or lifestyle)

Please share your thoughts.

#finance #investment #bankersfinancial #bankofamerica #financialanalyst #quant #analyst

Goldman Sachs Bank of America JPMorgan Chase
142

comments

Want to comment? LOG IN or SIGN UP
  1. TOP
  2. RECENT
  3. OLD
 TOP 142 Comments
  • New
    1king1make

    New

    1king1make
    As an analyst you can still make 120 to 150k, not shabby. With the option to continue to work and try to hit a decent probability weighted 750k to 1mm per year within 10 years at MD or PE, HF.

    Its a career with a reasonable chance at an upper middle income life, minus the taxes. Or you can FANG it if you have technical skills.
    Sep 20, 2021 13
  • Walmart
    AFamilyMan

    Go to company page Walmart

    BIO
    My Id is my favorite movie, save your lecturing on how to be a good family man 🙂
     AFamilyMan
    Fish can swim.
    Bird can fly.
    Sep 17, 2021 8
  • Goldman Sachs / Eng
    Publix

    Go to company page Goldman Sachs Eng

     Publix
    People get into finance because it's a talentless industry. It just takes a lot of grunt work and being in the right place to make good money as an investment banker.
    Sep 17, 2021 3
    • This doesn't make sense cause you still need to grind as a kid to get into fancy ivy leagues, or grind as a college kid to get into fancy MBA, etc. Finance is all about "elite" pedigree. Low income striver kids wouldn't be able to leverage family connections and other assorted BS to get in with low grades, which contradicts the original question (why do ppl continue to pursue these jobs knowing they aren't in the club)
      Sep 21, 2021
    • Zendesk
      newYork007

      Go to company page Zendesk

      newYork007
      OP
      Climate, sure its a false hope they are buying. They arent going anywhere far in this.
      Sep 21, 2021
  • Tradition. It used to be that even if you're not on the top, you'll make more money than anywhere else. That's not really the case anymore, but the culture is still there.
    Sep 17, 2021 7
  • Citadel
    kgkgkg

    Go to company page Citadel

    kgkgkg
    Not speaking about all of the Financial industry jobs. As a quant in finance, there are some unique things that are harder to get in Tech (I moved from FAANG to Citadel for these basically)
    1. Quality of your peers - over time the bar to get in at a senior+ level drastically went down at more or less all FAANG companies while quants at hedge funds have to cross a much higher bar.
    2. Nature of work - there's less dealing with fires/software systems not working etc and more math and abstract problem solving that can be preferred / enjoyed by some people (like me)
    3. Aggressive pay - in expectation you're likely making more as a quant compared to an ML Eng in Tech. But in extremes, top of the cream in AI makes much more in tech or the ones who get lucky by being at the right pre-IPO company at the right time make even more/get lucrative titles too.

    Basically, people don't always have to be driven by big promo and CXO titles. They can value other things like knowledge over power.
    Sep 20, 2021 10