I joined one of the top local IB as one of their management trainee & I got the opportunity to rotate around different departments (Asset management, sell side research, ECM & etc). I was the only local grad in the program & the rest were all from foreign uni. My pay was decent & a bit higher than most of my Petronas peers.

However, I fucking hated my job due to the working hours & lack of work life balance. I told this to my mentor ( head of equities at that time) he said that it will get better as I progress. Honestly, I saw the lack of work life balance even among my senior colleagues with 20+ experience lol. I investigated how much are my senior colleagues getting paid to find out if this job is even worth it. Most depressing of all is that, I found out a colleague of mine with 5+ years of experience was only getting paid RM6k at that time & another colleague of mine with 8+ experience was only getting paid RM10k !!

This was the exact moment when I knew, this crusade of mine in search of success in IB was nothing but a big fucking lie & waste of time!! I stayed there just for 1.5 year & GTFO. The pay is totally not worth effort & mental distress I had to face ! Only foreign IB (Nomura, JP, & Barclays) can pay good money for their analyst, all the local IB is shit in comparison.

I enrolled for master's program & graduate at the top of my class & I got offered by a reputable Global MNC. Now I getting paid RM10k & planning to move to SG in 2 years to double my income. Meanwhile my friend who just graduated from the management trainee program got offered a place as an analyst in sell side research & getting paid RM6K.

As far as working hours goes, probably he is working 1.5-2x more than me at his current role lol. If anything, IB glory is all gone & the 90's bonus are just not there anymore .... So, is IB even worth it ? You tell me

I'm so glad that I left the industry !! At my current company, I'm enjoying the work, my friendly colleagues & peaceful atmosphere much much more than my short stint in IB.

This post has been edited by Helpmeplis: Jul 2 2021, 09:35 AM

I have completed leong hup IPO & there was nothing to hu ha about. Infact, KLCI is going down on a daily basis & there is just no big IPO coming in........ IB is a sunset Industry & that's a fact !

I can earn much much more in different industry & secure myself a better work ife balance.

This post has been edited by Helpmeplis: Jul 2 2021, 03:28 PM

Working as an expat in SG & will be moving to META region in 2 years time (Probably as Regional Head).

What about you ?

This post has been edited by Helpmeplis: Aug 14 2024, 12:51 AM