<p>Supervillain, in my third and final year as an IBanker back in 1999, my salary, including my fat bonus was not too far from the 500 G mark. But it was simply not worth it. I make half of that today (7 years and a graduate degree later) but I am much happier!</p>
<p>I rather have a 40 hour a week job making 100,000 a year, 3 years after graduating and 200,000 a year, 10 years after graduating with your undergraduate degree. U make a lot less but only work 40 hours a week.</p>
<p>Alexandre, just wondering – what kind of work/where do you work nowadays? And what’s Dubai like? I have a friend who works for KPMG in Baghdad and he’s visited and sent me pictures and it looks like a really great place, but is it only a tourist spot? Or is it actually a nice place to live?</p>
<p>dcfca, I currently work for a mid-large sized local company. I am the head of Human Resources, in charge of a work force of 3,000 or so employees. </p>
<p>Dubai is an interesting place to live…for a short period of time and it is a fun and “different” place to visit. However, I do not see myself living in the UAE in 10 years.</p>
<p>I got my graduate degree in Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell. As for the sort of experience a person needs to become a successful HR professional, there really isn’t a model. Many sociologists and psychologists make excellent HR professionals, but successful HR professionals usually come from all sorts of backgrounds.</p>
<p>What other profession will pay a college graduate 70K-100K first year? Sure by hourly rate its low but what job will even LET you work for that many hours. Gotta have your priorities and make tradeoffs.</p>
<p>From the little I have seen, most first years at IBs start at about $50,000-$60,000 base, get a $15,000 signing bonus and the typical year-end bonus can be anywhere from nothing to $100 Gs, depending on how good you are. And the typical Analyst spends roughly 80 hours a week at work. </p>
<p>Your survival and level of success at an IB will depend entirely on how hard you work and how good you are. Many IBankers never reach the 500 Gs mark.</p>