#1 - Facetime is Important as an Analyst
Despite what everyone tells you (especially banking HR teams) face time is important as a 1st year analyst. First impressions are lasting impressions and a 1st week analyst leaving at 6pm, despite having no work, is just not a good look. You will be (silently) judged for it by everyone.
#2 - There is No (Great) Reward in Doing a Great Job
I remember the poor 3rd year analyst when I was a 1st year. This guy would be in the office 24/7. He was so good that all the associates/VPs in the office wanted this guy to be staffed on their deals.
This is the struggle of being a really good banker, you will get 80% of the work of the entire bullpen. Yes, you might get great deal experience but your mental/physical health will suffer, and at the end of year you might make $25k more in bonus because you were top-bucket. Bottom buckets will work corporate finance hours and still have a ~pretty good~ pay day.
Lesson of the day is don't be that great, it will come at the cost of your sanity. (80% of the work for 50% less hours is a much better deal).
#3 - You Make Some of the Best Friendships Trapped in the Bullpen
One of my college professors used to say that your analyst years are very similar to studying late night for finals in the library, except you are getting paid for it.
If you look at banking from this POV, it is actually not bad. You are making more money than all your friends and spending a lot of time with people who are equally miserable.
You'll become the best of friends with your jail... I mean bullpen mate. Some of my best friends in the city are still the people I met in the bullpen. Being miserable together really makes the best friendships.
#4 - Make the Most of your Free Time (yes, paradoxically you have a lot of downtime in IB)
This is a surprising one and many bankers pretend like they are busy all the time. This is completely false. When you are in crunch deal time, yes you may not see the light of the day, sometimes for 6+ months periods. But there are moments and weeks, say after a deal closes, that your staffer will go easy on you and not staff you on anything similar for a while.
This means that there are days in banking where you come into work and you have pretty much nothing to do all day. Use this time wisely. It can tempting to mindlessly scroll through the internet and memes (which I did a lot), but try to use it wisely - perhaps learn a new skill, read about a deal/sector you are interested in, or just prepare for buyside recruiting if that is what you are interested in.
#5 - Finance is an Art and not a Science
This one you know before you join, but have no idea how bad it is. Finance is an art, valuation is an art, nothing will make sense any more.
You'd think that there would be some really clever way to value a $20 billion company but the first time you do a DCF (discounted cash flow) analysis you realize how much of an art finance really is. DCF valuation is heavily dependent on model inputs, which in many cases are made out of thin air. Often times MD's decide what the valuation will be, and back-solving for answers is not uncommon.
Modeling is important but if you want to succeed as a banker, you need to work on your relationships. This is true in life as well. (Relationships > Technicals)
#6 - You Don't Have to Escape to PE in Year 1
As young ambitious people, we are impatient and want everything on Day 1. One of the most important lessons I learned in finance was that "learning fast is overrated." Don't try to learn everything and do everything in your first year of banking.
Yes, it's great to have a PE job lined up when you are 1st year analyst, but often times we let the peer pressure of the bullpen just sway us into recruiting.
If you don't feel like recruiting for PE, don't do it. You can spend a 1 year taking a breather and doing more research to decide if this is something you really want to do. You've already worked really hard to get to this point of your life.
The grass always seems greener on the other sided when you are jaded banker, but the private equity grass is really not that much greener and the middle years (associate to principal) are much more stressful in PE than they are in banking (aka you will lose your hair much faster if you haven't already lost all of them by the time you are 23).
#7 - You Can Get Promoted Without Being that Good - Time in Banking > Timing in Banking
Getting into banking is super hard. What other job will pay a 22 year old $200k out of college? But rising up the ranks is not hard.
The longer you stay in banking, the more your authority grows, just by the fact that everyone around you is leaving. The entire investment bank probably replaces 50-70% of its workforce annually.
If you spend long enough in banking, you can probably make it to VP (analyst > associate > VP) just by not quitting. Getting from VP to MD is definitely harder and you have to show your worth in terms of your network and how good you are with clients.
#8 - Taking Care of Health is Important
Physical: This one always felt like most bankers have a good hang of. There is good workout culture in finance and especially among young bankers who are living out their own little Patrick Bateman version of their life. In any case, join the best gym you can (you get paid enough for it) and make sure you take out time to work out at least 2-3 times per week.
Mental: This one is tough to maintain especially given the grueling nature of the job. But remember the bad times don't last and there will always be light at the end of the tunnel. Banking can make you cry (I have been there) but know that there are plenty of your peers that feel this way. If it was that easy everyone would get in and everyone would be doing it.
Personally for me, a regular gym habit helped me the most (the steam rooms in Equinox are also great for visualizing your post banking life lol).
#9 - It Helps to Have Very Low Work-Life Balance Expectations
Happiness is expectations minus reality. This is especially true in Investment Banking. You should expect to have a bad life and suffer, every single day- yes even on the weekends.
YOU chose to go into banking and you should have known what's coming. So expect the worst, expect to work on the weekends. Expect to work till 2am every day. Expect for MBA associates to dump all their work on you. Expect to get hit with "pls fix" Friday evening at 6pm. If you are prepared for the worst all the time, you'll be a much happier person.
#10 - In Hindsight, It is All Worth It
When you are in the fire, it is hard to look at the bigger picture. Steve Jobs puts it well: "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards."
Everyone who has ever done investment banking has been miserable and everyone who has ever gotten out of banking has said it's been worth it.
Banking is like going to the military. Nothing in life will instill in you that kind of work ethic.
Doing 2 years as an analyst honestly feels like doing a plank, you are about to give up any second, and every moment hurts but once you are done, you are glad you did it and are stronger as a result.
After being mentally and physically destroyed in your youth, you become a much tougher person, and think if I can do this, I can do anything in life.
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