<p>This is truly just my opinion and I for one love to hear happy stories. I have never worked anywhere but IB (from front to back), except for a few years at a dot com company. I used to be in the front office, but decided to go into technology to support S&T (I have never taken a computer course in my life). Most of my closest friends are also in the business by default (when you spend so much time at work…). But my perspective is of someone over 40. Some of my friends were displaced in the recent economic down turn. People outside of S&T were able to find jobs in matter of months. My brother, used to be head of sales at a BB is still looking after a year. He is also of the opinion of going to buy side. In advising my daughter, he said either to go to buy side or investment banking (m&a, corporate finance). As far as changing careers by going back to school - it’s much harder when you are over 30 with kids on the way. Whatever you do, alway think about an out, what skills could you acquire at a job to get you the next job. In my case, I was in structured product which required a lot of “computing,” so I became very proficient with financial modeling and computer programming.</p>
<p>FYI - I am a woman, one of very few 25 years ago on the Street.</p>