The Buy-Side vs. The Sell-Side: The Worst Way to Categorize Finance Firms?

“Yo, you’ll make bank when you move to the buy-side! Screw this stupid investment banking job.”

“Yeah, I heard everyone at hedge funds makes at least $1 million and gets a castle as their signing bonus.”

“So when’s your interview?”

Ah, yes: that classic debate about the buy-side vs. the sell-side. Although the conversation above is fictional, similar exchanges are taking place in cubicles across the world as you read this.

You hear about the buy-side vs. sell-side distinction everywhere, whether you search online, browse through you message boards, or even (gasp) talk to people in real life.

The only problem is that “buy-side vs. sell-side” is the worst way to categorize financial services firms.

How to Break Into Investment Banking as an Engineer With No Finance Background: Case Study

There’s no mystery why the (newly revised – check it out!) article on How to Break Into Investment Banking as an Engineer is one of the most popular on this site, with over 100 comments: it struck a chord with many readers.

You’ve studied engineering or you’ve been an engineer for awhile, and now you want to make the move into investment banking… only you don’t have much business experience.

Here’s how one reader did exactly that and defied the odds to break into investment banking in a terrible market.

What You Should Do When You’re On the Beach – Besides Working On Your Tan

I get lots of questions on what you actually do as a summer intern: Modeling? Bottling? Working with clients? Making pitch books? Fetching coffee for everyone on your team?

In an ordinary year, yes.

But these days, you’re most likely to spend your time on the beach rather than doing any of the above.

I’m borrowing this term from the management consulting lexicon, but it applies equally well to bankers and anyone else in business: simply put, on the beach time is when you don’t have any real work, deals, or clients, and you’re watching YouTube all day out of boredom.

This is a big problem if you want to leverage your experience to move elsewhere – or if you just want to get a full-time offer in the first place.

So, what should you do when you’re on the beach?