Wall Street Oasis

@WallStreetOasis

A Brutally Honest
Day-in-the-Life of an
IB Analyst
 Wall Street Oasis
@WallStreetOasis

I wake up at 8:50am for my 9am call.

I hurry to the bathroom because I have the runs

from the stress. I call in from the can and switch
to my computer 10 minutes into the call. Hope
someone else has notes.

9-10:30am: we discuss the recent model I made,

as my VP walks through the architecture and
takes the credit. An assumption comes up that
the company throws a fit over even though it's
just changing a toggle-able assumption.
My MD says, "Sorry, that's our analyst's fault,
don't know what the f he was thinking.
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Hey Mike fix that after our call will you?" No

ones on the call named mike, and it's fixed live,
but we all know he means me.

10:31am: I go over to my roommates room and

tell him I'm going to quit. He says, I'll believe that
when you actually get a gf and come out of your
room for more than 5 minutes at a time.

I tell him I used to get all the ladies, he tells me

he's pretty sure I'm a virgin at this point. I get
pinged and go back to my desk.
 Wall Street Oasis
@WallStreetOasis

10:33am: VP on another transaction tells me

She's going on vacation so he needs a deliverable
pushed forward. I tell him it's going to be tough
to complete with where my other transaction is.
He says, "get it to me by tomorrow am."

10:33-11am: I write emails confirming receipt

and handling bs admin shit like booking a
conference room or coordinating filling out a
form for compliance. I ask an admin to help and
they don't respond until 3 hours after I do it.
 Wall Street Oasis
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11-12pm: I move logos around to prepare a deck

for an internal meeting to be held at 6pm. My VP
turns it, and tells me I need better attention to
detail after he finds that some public financial
information was pulled yesterday eve instead of
this am and the number and footnote weren't
updated.

In my head I debate explaining that it's right, it's

just as of yesterday, which is noted in the deck.
We probably don't need day-of public financials
for an internal call considering it was just
background information anyway.
 Wall Street Oasis
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12-2pm: I finish building a model I have been

working on and order food. I eat at my desk and
debate doing dishes because my fork falls and
spreads day old rice all over my carpet. I sent the
model to my VP.

2-3pm: VP calls me and complains the model

doesn't make sense. We discuss it as I explain
how the model works. He eventually agrees it
makes sense and we change nothing.
 Wall Street Oasis
@WallStreetOasis

3-3:05pm: a post MBA associate pings me,

telling me she needs me to immediately
complete a task that I know isn't time sensitive. I
tell her I'm tied up, and she complains that this is
PRIORITY.

I tell her she's free to email my teams and ask

them if she can borrow me to help her. She says,
"These are going to be the things that separate
the top performers come end of year" she has
been here 2 months.

4-6pm: A 2 hour diligence call, where I take

notes because the MD demands they are
circulated after each call. No one reads them.
 Wall Street Oasis
@WallStreetOasis

6pm: the MD that scheduled that internal call

says we are pushing the meeting by 20.

6:25pm: the MD says we are pushing the

meeting by 15.

6:45pm: the MD says let's just connect internally

tomorrow at 7am before his run.

7pm-8pm: The MD from the call this am says he

thinks we need to rebuild the model because
after thinking about it he doesn't like the way it
is currently done because
 Wall Street Oasis
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it's too confusing even if it is more accurate and

the way the company thinks about the business.
I know I will be up till 3am.

8-8:15pm: I go outside and call my mom she asks

how work is and I tell her "it's going great, kinda
like summer camp" she tells me I should get a
girlfriend.

8:15-8:45pm: I realize I've been pinged 5 times

while gone. I respond to each request/ message.

8:45-3am: I work on the model.

3:15am: I fall asleep.

 Wall Street Oasis
@WallStreetOasis

3:30am: I get pinged by a VP asking for a status

update on the internal meeting deck because he
thinks we need to update for daily market
changes/ EOD price for an internal deck despite
the fact that they will immediately be wrong at
market open and the deck won't even be looked
at for the internal meeting.

I tell him I will do it first thing tomorrow. He tells

me he'd appreciate if I was more proactive. I tell
him, I appreciate his feedback.

3:45am: I set my alarm for 6:30 am because the

MD wanted to get a call in before his run.