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Comment by phyalow | Hacker News Reader

Banking interns are the cream of the crop, they will usually have done a lot of self study and be fully competent in financial modelling, research etc... These kids beat out 1000's of applicants for a handful of spots.

Usually though IBD/Corp Finance Summer work consists of assisting with pitches which includes menial work like powerpoint design, spreadsheeting, pitchbook creation etc. If they are on a live deal work may include due diligence etc.

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Let's not overstate their qualifications. You could take any smart STEM major with a good attitude and train them to be a good summer intern in an afternoon.

I'd have to disagree.

I have a STEM education (PhD in Organic Chemistry) and consider myself a bright person (you are free to disagree). The guys that I knew that were good at banking were very skilled and intelligent. There is no way I could spend an afternoon in training and perform at their level.

Could you spend a year and get up to speed? Sure.

I didn't say you could train for an afternoon and perform at the level of experienced bankers. That would be ridiculous. But I was referring to the training of a banking summer intern, and for that narrow job requirement, I stand by my statement.

And compared to your intelligent banker friends, you could absolutely be up to speed in six months, in terms of technical skill, industry knowledge, product knowledge. If you can master o-chem, you can master corporate finance. Check out the rest of this thread for more descriptions of the work...your qualifications are way overmatched for what the work actually is.

Having interned within these exact environments myself (BBIB), interns are students that are absolutely top of the game. So I also have to disagree. Being a "good" summer intern wont get you hired. You need to be exceptional. You dont become that in an afternoon... Most interns are incredibly well qualified and have very unique and strong backgrounds.

On my first day of work (FT, not internship), a director pulled me into his office, closed the door, and said, "Look, this job really isn't that hard."

And he was right.

Attitude is what separates good bankers from bad bankers.

>Attitude is what separates good bankers from bad bankers.

I don't disagree, although arguably M&A requires less specific domain knowledge for a new starter than say what might be required within structuring or DCM teams. Also I'm curious as to why you left banking?

Not every STEM major can write a quality, detailed, qualitative analysis, with proper jargon.

I doubt that. I'm going to school right now for finance. At the school I attend, it seems every serious finance student not only knows the basics (Excel, Bloomberg, Powerpoint), but also statistics packages (R, Minitab), and several programming languages (everyone knows SQL and VBA, most know at least one of Python, Java or C++). Knowing how to create trading algorithms is required knowledge.

On top of that, everyone knows how to do a sales pitch, most are comfortable in a suit talking to execs, and classes in marketing, management, accounting, and computer science are all mandatory.

Finance courses at a proper business school are highly demanding, and the technical abilities of the students who attend are on par with any STEM major...

I did M&A at a well known IB, I speak with first hand knowledge. I wonder if you have done a banking internship yet? It doesn't sound like it, because if you did, you would know how the work interns actually do differs from all of the qualifications that you mention. I have no doubt most of your classmates are exceptionally bright and hard working, that describes most kids entering banking out of college.

Reread my comment, I could take a kid with a "good attitude and train them to be a good summer intern in an afternoon." In fact, I have actually done that. Let's define what I mean by "good." Week 1: a good summer intern needs to know how to make PIBs, bind books, spread comps, use Google, learn from mistakes, and most importantly, know when to ask questions. Of course, as they get real experience and prove themselves, they get more responsibility -- just like with any other job. For example, I've had superstar interns building merger models for live deals after a couple months.

Knowing the "basics" (Excel, Bloomberg/FDS/CIQ, etc) isn't that important on Day 1 since they'll learn those things. I mentioned STEM students, in particular, because they can usually speed up the learning curve.

And remember, I'm talking about banking. Trading is a whole different animal.

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