“I had to take the computer science intro class for the engineering requirement. Holy ****, it was the hardest class I ever took in my life. I was up until 4 AM trying to get those problem sets done.”
First year analyst, bulge bracket bank
“Both my father and grandfather worked at banks, and I went into college assuming I would do the same. I grew up knowing a lot about the industry. I never thought about going into tech... Or being a doctor or lawyer, or anything like that.”
Second year analyst, bulge bracket bank
“A lot of my frat’s alumni worked at [a big bulge bracket bank]. It just seemed like... the most direct path for me. I actually secured my summer analyst gig by December.”
First year analyst, bulge bracket bank
(Business Insider note: Summer analyst offers are not typically made until the second semester — after the recruiting season.)
"I actually always wanted to be a professor. Then by fall of junior year, life got real... And it seemed like a bad idea to be a professor in the middle of nowhere, when I could make money in New York."
First year analyst, boutique bank
"Student loans. I wanted to pay off my student loans. No, I needed to pay them off. I'm not planning to stay at this job forever... I wanted to work at a startup, actually, but realistically there's no guarantee that I would have made money there."
First year analyst, bulge bracket bank
"I worked as a summer analyst, and then didn't get an offer. After that I was so burnt out going into senior year [of college] that I didn't want to go through the whole insane recruitment process again. I ended up going for a decent engineering job. After a month on the job, I was completely bored and I wanted to get back to investment banking."
Associate, bulge bracket bank
“I actually work in tech at a bank! [laughs] It's like the best of both worlds! [laughs] Actually, it was pretty hard to decide whether I wanted to work at a bank or at a tech company, but I got a better financial offer at the bank."
Second year analyst, bulge bracket bank
"I know the whole San Francisco tech scene is really 'sexy' right now, but I wanted something more stable. My parents never went to college, and we had a lot of financial difficulty when I was growing up. So my priority during the job search was finding something stable."
Second year analyst, bulge bracket bank
"My parents pushed me so hard to get into an Ivy League school. But that was nothing compared to how hard they pushed me to get an investment banking job. ... They don't understand why 'anyone would work in sweatpants tinkering around with computers.'"
First year analyst, bulge bracket bank
"Do you remember what websites looked like in the 90s? Nobody needs that today. Anything I'll be able to do in tech today, won't matter in 20 — no — 10 years. But if banks made it through 2008, then they're around for the long run."
First year analyst, bulge bracket bank
"Finance plays to my strengths. I personally could never design the next flying-car-computer thing, but I can work on the financial deals and mergers for those companies."
Analyst, bulge bracket bank
"You make a lot of money as an engineer straight out of school. But then it plateaus really quickly."
Second year analyst, bulge bracket bank
"Everyone hates on Wall Street. But you know what, I actually like the job. Haters gonna hate."
Second year analyst, bulge bracket bank
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