Equity sales --> Buyside research

Equity sales people are rarely capable of becoming junior/senior analysts on the buy side. Only the most respected sales folks who have built a legit book of business and are considered as strong as solid research analysts usually make the cut. These are few and far between; some sales people have a good book but they are dumb as shit and only get business bc of senior analyst for the team; the combo above is just rare. Good luck.

I'm in the same camp, but on the sell side. I've resigned myself, after a year of networking, that getting a master's / MBA is really the most efficient way. The CFA looks like a two year gulag with no recruiting, and research people just seem to automatically dismiss anyone salesy as intellectually inferior, no matter how much of your own reports you write. You may want to network, but personally, I'm just going back to school and getting the credentials+network that says "hey, I'm what you want, hire me".

You need to try to move into a research role - a lot of 2nd/3rd year associates can make the transition without MBA if you have connections, just make sure you learn the fundamentals. Going from sales to buyside research is gonna be hard - why would someone on buyside hire someone w no modeling experience

It's definitely not impossible. I'm the same age and made the switch from a regional sales desk into HF research as an analyst this year. If you can leverage your network to pick out a fund that focuses on a broad strategy, it can be a good fit for a sales mind. Instead of spending weeks performing due diligence on a single company, in a portfolio with 40 positions you're doing calls all day, building quick models, and positioning the exposure with a bias towards your macro view. Additionally, there are many aspects of sales that transfer well into the buyside as you essentially "selling" your investment ideas to the PM or CIO.

majority of sell-side rsch is a jk - only reason they get calls is because buyside guys want consensus/contrarian topics

II rankings are popularity contests - only the best marketing rsch guys make it, no matter how great an idea you generate

finally - plenty of dumb rsch guys w/ great networks, and vice versa - gotta find the middle ground

You should try to transition into spec sales or equity research first.

I would second the claim about ER, alot of it is quite weak but some guys are very very good at what they do (all of Bernstein basically) and just prefer not having the pressure of P&L.