Working As An Investment Banker | On The Job Articles
You can find everything you need to know about what it’s like to work in investment banking – or related fields like sales & trading, private equity, and venture capital – below.
Day in the life accounts, week in the life accounts, how you get fired, how much you get paid if you don’t get fired, and more.
Bonuses & Money
We don’t do this for love: if you’re working at a bank, you’re doing it to make bank.
- 2008 Investment Banking Analyst Bonuses: I Told You So
- 2008 Investment Banking Bonuses: Why I (Almost) Believe The Numbers
- 2009 Investment Banking Analyst Bonus Predictions: How Low Will They Go?
- 2009 Investment Banking Analyst Bonuses: Wait, What Bonuses?
- 2010 Investment Banking Analyst Bonus Predictions: Are the Good Old Days Back?
- 2010 Investment Banking Analyst Bonuses: Disappointed?
- 2011 Investment Banking Analyst Bonuses: Is the World Slightly Less Flat?
- 2011 Investment Banking Bonus Predictions: Is the World Flat?
- 2012 Bonus Recap: Investment Banking Bonuses Go Bust?
- 2012 Investment Banking Bonus Predictions: Has Your Bank Account Been Occupied?
- Did Europe Just Ban Investment Banking? And More on New Financial Reform
- From Analyst Monkey to King of the Jungle MD: The Investment Banking Hierarchy
- How Investment Banking Analysts Get Ranked for Bonuses: Roll the Dice, Please
- Investment Banker Salaries Vs. McDonald’s: Hourly Pay
- The Era of Big Bonuses: Over? How the 2008 US Election Results Will Affect Investment Banking Pay
- Why Bankers Don’t Make Bank: Where Your Paycheck Actually Goes and What to Do About It
- Why Investment Banks Make So Much Money
Day in the Life Accounts & Stories
Everything from trips to Starbucks to fixing printers: it’s all here, in all its glory.
- 48 Hours in the Life of a Sales & Trading Intern
- 5 Easy Steps To Piss Off Your MD And Become The Laughingstock Of Your Office
- A Day in the Life of a Former Investment Banker
- A Day in the Life of a S&T Intern at a Bulge Bracket Bank in New York: 5 AM Wake-ups and Glorified Lunch Delivery Service?
- A Day in the Life of an Investment Banking Analyst
- A Week in the Life of an Investment Banking Analyst: Friday
- A Week in the Life of an Investment Banking Analyst: Saturday
- A Week in the Life of an Investment Banking Analyst: Sunday & Monday
- A Week in the Life of an Investment Banking Analyst: Thursday
- A Week in the Life of an Investment Banking Analyst: Tuesday
- A Week in the Life of an Investment Banking Analyst: Wednesday
- Attention To Detail: A True Story
- Consulting vs. Trading vs. Entrepreneurship: Got Lifestyle?
- Do Investment Bankers Actually Add Value?
- From Cold Call to Closed Deal: How a Private Equity Investment Comes Together, Part 1 – The Idea
- From Cold Call to Closed Deal: How a Private Equity Investment Comes Together, Part 2 – The Deal?
- From Cold Call to Closed Deal: How a Private Equity Investment Comes Together, Part 3 – The Dotted Line
- How to Break Your Car Window and Your Fist in One Fell Swoop: Recession-Induced Rage
- How to Ruin Your Weekend in 3 Easy Steps
- Investment Banking Mistakes: What Happens When Interviewers Hire the Worst Person for the Job
- No, You Can’t Have It All: Why Finance Does Not Guarantee You $10 Million and Your Own Beach in Thailand
- On the Trading Floor
- Reasons NOT To Do Investment Banking: Models And Bottles
- Saturday Night In Investment Banking: How To Ruin A Dinner
- The Best Day In The Life Of An Investment Banking Analyst
- The Worst Time To Be An Investment Banker: Friday At 4 PM
- What Do Investment Bankers Do?
- Why You Actually Work So Much As an Investment Banker (Yes, Even in a Recession)
Summer Internships
Find out what you do as a summer intern, how to avoid screwing up, and how to get a full-time offer.
- 10 Investment Banking Internship “Don’t”‘s: How Not To Screw Up
- Blackstone vs. Goldman vs. Evercore vs. JP Morgan: How to Decide on Summer Internship Offers
- How Summer Interns Get Full-Time Offers
- How to Break Into Finance in London Coming from an Unknown School in Eastern Europe
- How To Dominate Your Investment Banking Internship
- How to Prepare for Investment Banking Summer Internship Recruiting
- So, What Will I Do As An Investment Banking Summer Analyst (Besides Get Abused)?
- Summer Internship Recruiting: Down, But Not Out
- The Investment Banking Summer Intern Success Guide: Yes, You Better Get My Coffee
- Tips From A Former Summer Analyst And Soon-To-Be Full-Time Analyst
How to Walk, Talk, and Do Drugs Like a Banker
If you want to be a banker, you need to understand the lingo, the culture, and how to get your hands on a supply of cocaine.
- Becoming Frank Quattrone: Investment Banking Lingo 2.0
- Bottles and Bottles? How You Really Win Clients and Land Mega-Deals as an Investment Banker
- From Non-Target School to Sales & Trading to Commodities Banking in Western Canada: How to Break In and Survive as a Female in Finance
- From the NFL to a Billion-Dollar Portfolio: Can You Throw a Football Far Enough to Become a Managing Director?
- Got Crystal Meth? The Breaking Bad Guide to Success in the World of Finance
- Got Resolutions? (That You Can Actually Keep?)
- Investment Banking Fairness Opinions: Profitable and Prestigious, or Glamorless Gruntwork?
- Investment Banking Lingo: How To Walk, Talk And Act Like Gordon Gekko
- Pitch Anything: “The Game” for Investment Banking?
- So, What Should You Do at Investment Banking Summer Training Besides Getting Wasted Each Night?
- Stuff Investment Bankers Like, Round 2: Email Forwards That Destroy Careers, Blue Shirts, Headphones, The Track, Markup, The West Wing, and Closing Dinners
- Stuff Investment Bankers Like, Round 3
- Stuff Investment Bankers Like: Trophy Wives, Talking About Cocaine, Pls Do, Buenos Aires, Making Empty Threats, Lying, and Reminiscing
- The Don Draper Guide to Investment Banking
- The Holiday Party: Time to Hook Up With Your Assistant?
- Why You Won’t Close a Single Deal in Your First Year of Banking – and What to Do About It
Health, Fashion, Death & Taxes
Only 2 things in life are certain: death and taxes. For investment bankers, getting fired or quitting is an additional certainty.
- 7 Simple Steps to Avoiding Investment Banking Burnout
- Got Protests? Why the Outside World Hates Wall Street – And What to Do About It
- How to Quit Your Investment Banking Job Without Getting Executed
- Investment Banking Wardrobe For Men
- Investment Banking Wardrobe for Women
- Post-Layoff Options: 8 Strategies to Pursue If You Get the Axe (and 3 Mistakes to Avoid)
- Staying Healthy While Staring At A Computer 18 Hours A Day
- Styling for Success, Part 1: The Basics
- Styling for Success, Part 2: The Suit
- Tax Savings As An Investment Banker: Good Luck
- The 2012 US Presidential Election Results: Financial Apocalypse, Round 3?
- The 4-Hour Investment Banking Body: How to Keep Off the First Year 15 and Get In Shape While Sitting In a Cubicle Staring at Excel All Day
- The Conference Room: How You Get Fired In Finance
- The Farewell Email: How To Go Out In Style
- To Leave, or Not to Leave: Is That the Question?
- Vacation Time in the World of Finance
- When Things Get Bad In Investment Banks: Expense Czars
Office Politics
How to play the office politics game and make sure you’re moving up the ladder without stepping on any toes.
- From Analyst Monkey to King of the Jungle MD: The Investment Banking Hierarchy
- From Analyst to Associate and Beyond: How to Get Promoted In Investment Banking
- How To Pick Your Team At An Investment Bank
- How to Spin and BS Your Way to Success in Investment Banking
- How to Win Friends and Influence People in Investment Banking by Slacking Off and Pretending to Work Hard
- The Office Politics Game: How to Climb the Ladder Without Being Assassinated On Your Way to the Top
- The Review Process: Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Yours
- Trust No One, and Keep Your Dragon Close: The Game of Thrones Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder
- What You Should Do When You’re On the Beach – Besides Working On Your Tan
- Why Do Investment Banking Associates and Analysts Secretly Want to Kill Each Other?









