Seth Walsh
Iconoclast
Contributor
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2020
- Posts
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Rank | Role | Representative firms | Hours/week | Est. pay | Effective pay | Pay-adjusted verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Restructuring / M&A analyst | Centerview, PJT, Moelis | 85–100 | £110–150k | £28/hr | Extreme brutality; excellent exits |
2 | Investment-banking analyst | Evercore, Goldman, JPMorgan | 75–90 | £90–140k | £28/hr | Very brutal; respectable but not extraordinary hourly pay |
3 | Megafund PE associate | Apollo, Blackstone, KKR | 70–85 | £150–250k | £52/hr | Brutal but financially rational |
4 | US BigLaw trainee | Kirkland, Weil, Latham | 65–75 | £60–65k | £18/hr | One of the worst bargains |
5 | US BigLaw NQ associate | Kirkland, Weil, Skadden | 65–75 | £170–177k | £49/hr | Same brutality, radically better economics |
6 | MBB graduate consultant | McKinsey, BCG, Bain | 55–65 | £55–70k | £21/hr | Prestigious but badly paid for the workload |
7 | Magic Circle NQ lawyer | Slaughter and May, Freshfields | 52–62 | £125–150k | £48–54/hr | Strong pay-adjusted outcome |
8 | Big Four audit graduate | PwC, Deloitte, EY, KPMG | 50–58 average; 65–75 peak | £32–40k | £13/hr | Worst overall bargain |
9 | Big Four strategy/consulting analyst | Strategy&, EY-Parthenon, Monitor Deloitte | 48–60 | £40–55k | £18/hr | MBB-type hours without MBB exits or pay |
10 | Quant trader | Jane Street, Citadel Securities, XTX | 45–55 | £150–240k | £78/hr | Best pay-adjusted junior career |
11 | Amazon L4 software engineer | Amazon | 45–55 | £78–83k | £32/hr | Reasonable pay; somewhat intense for tech |
12 | Commercial-law NQ | Osborne Clarke | 45–50 | £97k | £41/hr | Excellent law lifestyle/pay compromise |
13 | Asset-management analyst | BlackRock, Fidelity, Vanguard | 45–55 | £60–90k | £30/hr | Sustainable finance career |
14 | Bank risk / model-risk analyst | JPMorgan, HSBC, Barclays | 42–50 | £40–65k | £23/hr | Moderate hours; stable but unexceptional pay |
15 | Meta/Google graduate SWE | Meta, Google | 40–50 | £92–111k | £45/hr | Elite lifestyle-adjusted outcome |
16 | Corporate-strategy analyst | FTSE 100 company | 40–50 | £40–50k | £20/hr | Comfortable hours, mediocre economics |
17 | Junior in-house counsel | Bank, tech or FTSE company | 40–48 | £60–95k | £35/hr | Best sustainable legal route |
18 | FP&A analyst | FTSE 100 / large multinational | 40–48 | £55–70k | £28/hr | Strong ordinary corporate outcome |
19 | Internal-audit analyst | Lloyds, Barclays, Deutsche Bank | 40–45 | £44–64k | £25/hr | Low brutality, limited upside |
20 | Microsoft graduate SWE | Microsoft | 38–45 | £58–65k | £30/hr | Least brutal credible professional track |
