I am working for ACN earing around 47k (3.5 years experience)...my friend is working as a developer for a risk management company and making well over 60K+bonus..what would it take for me to move into IB from consultancy? ive been involved mainly in testing...

Don't be jealous, son. You're doing just fine. 47k is a good salary, especially at your age. If you compare yourself to others, you will have nothing but jealousy and heartache all your life. Enjoy the things that are free in life - the sunshine, your friends, your family and your health. Remember that life is not a race. You are doing just great, and although you will always want more, more will not necessarily make you happier.You are doing just fine. Chill.

....plus, your mate could be BS'ing you too.

Very true indeed. I actually earn £35K but when asked by friends and extended family, tell them that I earn £65K plus bonus of 10-20% otherwise they wouldn't respect me.

I earn six figures netto. And I'm an analyst. Who said the PA bonus scheme doesn't pay?

I love myself: aside from the fact that yours is obviously a joke, trying to steer back the conversatio to PA (yawn), are you by any chance German? If you were english, you'd have said 'net', not 'netto'

I bet he probably uses commas where you're meant to use decimal points, too.

DanNo, it was a play on Ruud Guillt's pay demands.And yes, it was a "joke".

DanNo, it was a play on Ruud Guillt's pay demands.And yes, it was a "joke".

First piece of advice would be not to “jump” every time you hear one of your peers is earning more money than you. Even assuming they are not BSing you, where would this logically end? I’ve just heard Wayne Rooney earns 200K a week – how can I get into premiership professional football?However, if after cold consideration you see IB as your future, then I recommend you google ansoff’s matrix. Read, understand and apply to your own situation. You cannot go directly from non-IB testing to IB-development. You should move into either IB-testing, or non-IB-development, then from there into IB-development.Last however – why bother? It would be a long slog to move diagonally. You can quite easily earn 60K plus bonus by moving up the testing management tree.

Tommys forget what's free in life - sunshine, friends, family, health. More won't necessarily make you happier, but it will as the cliche goes, buy you a better class of misery. And frankly it does make you happier. Given the choice of not being able to afford food on the table or that Aston Martin come bonus round, I know which dilemma I would rather enjoy. Friends and family arent free - try having either with no money, and neither is health, unless you like the idea of being tormented by some borderline sociopathic neo Nazi in an local government care home your council tax paid for while you wait for either the end, or with even less delighted anticipation, the latest rerun of Antiques Roadshow on tv. Life is a race if you choose to participate, and once you opt for a career and not just a job you are in that race. Looking to what is free is just a sedative for the fact you should feel aggreived and wanting to do something to re-dress the balance.Tell your friend to p!ss off and find one who earns less :)

well ull be earning £300 less a month come April.Gotta love the ConDems haha