Pros
Most of the first year analysts and senior analysts were incredibly intelligent/motivated and a pleasure to get to know.
Cons
-Work/life balance for much of the firm was awful; I say "investment bank" because the hours were dreadful (frequent weekend work, daily 16hr days), the tasks were penal, the mentorship was a myth, and the upper-level management thought of themselves as a biotech "JP Morgan" but the salaries for starting Analysts and Associates were a few standard deviations off of a true IB salary -The upper management (especially CEO Geoff and CPO Amy) promoted a culture of silencing dissent and although the word "transparent" was tossed around on Company calls, the pipeline, the success (or lack thereof) of client engagements, and reason for abrupt staff departure are never discussed with business integrity -Attitude of "better than thou" and the CPO refusing to hire at the rate of attrition led to extreme staff shortage and required much of junior staff to assume senior roles without adequate support and furthered burnout cycle -Corporate development lacked clarity and favoritism and ESPECIALLY nepotism dominated promotion cycles
