Originally Posted by Unregistered

At putting myself at risk of overgeneralizing, I can attempt to answer this:

Salary: You will find many people who move between BBs (GS, JPM, MS). General consensus I've heard is GS pays best for support functions; see WLB for reason.

WLB: Probably the poorest amongst the 3 (again, from first hand experience and word of mouth from people who've been at both). You've probably heard/seen the 100 hour week survey from GS investment bankers. Although support functions don't work as long, the mindset/culture is the same. Management constantly expects you to put out your best. Someone who only does daily work (without taking on extra stuff, regardless of whether you volunteered or it coming your way), will probably see a much slower progression than someone who constantly pushes to do more. Ops people generally work 11-12 hours on average, based on what I see. Although not asked to do so, many do log in from home during the weekends, to catch up/continue working on other deliverables.


Progression/Growth: Again from first hand and word of mouth, I would feel that GS is the best as well. Biggest reason to this, is that I find it a lot easier to move teams/functions/divisions within GS, compared to other BBs/local banks. I personally have interviewed internally for FO positions within GS. Almost all my batchmates have moved teams within 3 years, and a considerable subset of which have moved on to FO as well (if that's your thing). I personally decided against it because the position I interviewed for required me to be based in New York, for which I was unwilling because of personal issues then. Even then, I have moved across multiple teams.

1 trend I notice nowadays with the rise of fintech, is that many small trading/investment/fintech houses are founded by GS alumni. So a lateral move to other firms does feel a weee bit easier as well, as alumni do know how GS people generally work.

All that being said, GS does go through firing seasons. Not all BBs do that. To thrive in GS and avoid being on the chopping block, does require some sort of sacrifice in your personal life, regardless of whether it is lesser time spent with family or increased stress (even for BO).