Questions about other professional salaries vs. investment banking

[hapaboii]

The numbers people have been posting are pretty accurate for this year. Thremp is correct that a few years back bonuses were significantly lower. It's a cyclical biz so going to have ups and downs, right now I'd say it's in the ups.

Usually analysts do a 2 year stint, 80-100 hr weeks as has been stated. A lot of them get burned out or disillusioned, others get consumed by greed, but either way most are unhappy. The star analysts will sometimes get promoted to associate in 3rd yr, but most of them just go back to b-school and if they stick with banking will return as associates and move up the ladder.

You mentioned that you graduated a top 10 school in engineering. Sounds like you'd have a good skillset for trading or quant analysis. An MBA is useless and even looked down on in these fields. You also mentioned you could get a masters in CS. If you want to be a trader or QA, that will definitely help. Pay for juniors at an investment bank in trading will be pretty similar to banking, bonuses will likely be a bit lower at first, but can quickly surpass banking bonuses.

Exit opps: Bankers can go on to VCs, PEs, stay with banking, even join hedge funds as analysts. Or just leave the field.

Traders will go on to be... well, traders, sometimes jump to sales, portfolio management. Or just leave the field.