Being obsessed with Prestige has ruined my life
First year analyst here, and as the title states prestige has ruined my life. My parents and friends think I’m too materialistic now and they’re right. All I can talk about is superficial things like clothes or what Bank I for and how it’s so much more superior than X.
When I was gunning for IB it took up a lot of time. I feel like I have no interests anymore and it doesn’t reflect my true values or what they were before IB. I feel like a massive asshole now in self reflection as I’ve looked down upon people for not choosing prestige.
Prestige has ruined my life.
Don't worry, you were already a tool from the start
+1 SB'd for the hilarious comment. But real talk, I would suggest reading books like auto/biographies, the news outside of the business and celebrity sections, exercising, and trying to reconnect with your old friends. When doing so, consciously make an effort to not bring up work. It helps you stay in tune with the real world outside of finance and realize what your values are.
…Okay? Build a more interesting life then, get some hobbies, make friends and spend time with family…
Something that is actually quite hard to do when you work 90h weeks. Being able to have opinions on what is happening in the world, and maintain hobbies takes quite a lot of time. Working in Finance, especially as an Analyst can make you feel as/ become an empty shell, not mater how curious and active you are naturally.
People in sub-saharan Africa: My life has been ruined by drought and famine
People in Ukraine: My life has been ruined by war
22 year olds on WSO: My life has been ruined by prestige. And by life, I mean a very small subset of two years from the 20+ I had before I started my career. And by ruined, I mean I've become insufferable to other people through my own choices.
If I’m not going to be insufferable who else will be?
David D-Sol Solomon
What's with the Africa stereotype😂."Famine" is such a weird way of describing poverty in any modern society ("drought & famine" sounds like some quaint ancient situational description😂). And yes, I've lived in sub-saharan African poverty before, it's more similar to Western poverty.
Okay but can we get some time on the calendar to connect and chat about your bank and a few recent deals? I'm a freshman at IU Kelley really interested in the industry, thanks a lot man
I seem to be at capacity
Talk about the best news all day. Sorry bud, but if you're expecting empathy from a forum full of people who care about family #1 and prestige #2 (or vice-versa for some...) then you are going to be very disappointed.
People who chase prestige don’t believe in themselves so they need to mask their insecurities with ‘prestige’
Says the one who said in another post / comment that goal is to work at Ares, BS, Starwood
Now you can spend more money on booze, it aint that bad
god the people who constantly make comparisons between groups or banks are so annoying. "My job/company is marginally better than yours" cool story bro what else you got going on in your life...
Acknowledging that you're one of these people is the first step to making a change tho, so at least you recognize it.
Prestige didn't ruin your life, you did it yourself by tying your entire identity to a job.
Prestige is how the world works. I used to not care about prestige but then I found out that every person judge me based on prestige, even if they don't admit it. Degree, clothes, employer, last name, looks, even birth region, these things combined determine how people treat you. No one cares about personality or passions or values .. those are just execuse. "Why do you wanna be friends with me ?" "Oh because we share the same values and hobbies". NOT TRUE. Just straight lie. It's always because of prestigious college degree and high TC ( or good-looking, family background, etc ). Your job at ibanking means you have high TC and good education and disciplined lifestyle. This is more important than you think. Your values and passions and soul … don't matter. Just keep climbing the prestige ladder, you're doing good
wow, depressing take... maybe hang around people who really don't care about your job. I promise real friends exist.
Bro… no one cares about your TC or where you went to college (unless maybe you went to the same school so it’s a point in common) when thinking about friends. This is genuinely sad
TC and degree is just one piece of prestige. There's other pieces of prestige as well, like how handsome you look, who's your dad, and what's your net worth etc. People don't care about your education and TC if they know you're rich by birth or you're supermodel-level-good-looking. Then it's your other pieces of prestige compensating for your lack of prestige in one aspect. That being said, more prestige is always better, everything in life is essentially a prestige calculator
aint that the TRUTH!
Damn…Prestige is life! (Danny Rojas voice)
One day you're going to make some therapist out there a LOT of money
You're a fucking joke lol
Trust me how I wish this isn't true. But this is status quo. Take college admission as an example. What is factored in ? Prestigious high school, prestigious recommendation letter, prestigious birth region. Applying from a famous high school in west Europe ? Score plus. Applying from a no-name school in an underdeveloped region with high criminal rate and cheating tradition ? Application thrown away. But wait, you have a recommendation letter from the ambassador ? Oh good, application reconsidered. And college prestige further factored in your whole career. Have never learnt accounting but have a Sports major from Ivy league ? Good, you're invited to the networking events at xxx prestigious bank. Accounting major from state school with top 1% ranking ?? Hmmm, don't really want to interview you. See ? That's just how the world works. To solve a problem we first need to admit that a problem exist.
This is so sad, yet such a good representation of how out of touch with reality the people on this sub are.
Might need a prestigious therapist
All you gotta know is some nerds in quant trading are making over 2x our base salaries and over 500k with bonuses first year out of college working 60 houts a week...dick ain't so big after all huh?
Quant trading is only for math genius, not the game for dick contestors
Math genius is a hot take
Take it in a positive manner. You’re forcing yourself to find new meaning life. This is a good thing – you’re old “meaning of life” was vapid and, ultimately, meaningless.
But do you have prestige?
Where do you work? I would like to feed into your personality.
Big 3 EB
Go to Goldman so that you don't have to explain your EB is prestigious to people outside finance
What even is big 3 EB LOL
Evercore? Centerview? Lazard? PJT? Moelis? PWP? Qatalyst?
Don’t worry no know outside of finance knows your bank exists
KPMG analyst confirmed
Don't worry, you've gotten yourself in a spot most would envy and presumably through extremely hard work. Being proud and excited about the accomplishment is probably why your talking points revolve around it. That phase will pass as you get more years under your belt and job becomes a job for you. Just be conscious enough to not be an asshole in general - you never know how you and the folks you were being an asshole to will meet again in the future. But in the meanwhile, do celebrate your accomplishment - people who care for you ideally will understand and share your excitement.
I suggest going through prestige mode. You get a really cool icon at Prestige 11.
There is a reason Goldman doesn't put its name on its building downtown. Smallest dogs bark the loudest.
I’m a far superior banker because I don’t have any emotions to care what others think.
No job ruined your life. You just need to diversify your interests, hobbies and be spontaneous, etc--maybe even take a break and pursue something else in which you can leverage your story/background. No one will ever discount your past experience... and you can always craft a story to return when the time is right.. Nonetheless, create options for yourself.
I was a non-trad applicant from medicine, former military, traveled and backpacked around the world all prior to finance... My perspective on prestige [and finance in particular] I guess has taken on a more mature view, and thus, I've enjoyed the progress [or "prestige"] and have truly come to value and enjoy the finer things in life... Needless to say, enjoy life, take a break, explore....
Have you tried developing a sports betting addiction?
PrestigeCaller We need your take on this
You can always turn it around. Doesn’t take a lot to convert your self-worth from your place of work or clothing etc to focusing it on the relationships and passions you have / strive to have outside of work. What ultimately defines you and the way ppl view you is entirely up to you
You are an A1 in IB. Don't get me wrong, you show introspection in your post, so I want to give you credit for that. But who the f*** do you think you are? What prestige are you talking about? Also, a piece of general advice: constantly comparing yourself to others is for losers.
Somewhere else, he later acknowledged being a troll as this OP
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