From RE to HF

Hi everyone,

I'd like to ask for some advice on my career planning. Last summer I did a summer internship in real estate private equity, on the asset management team at a megafund. I received and accepted a return offer, and in July I'll be starting full time at the fund.

Now, I'm not sure I want to stay in real estate long term. My goal would be to lateral into a hedge fund. Do you think that once I'm in RE it's impossible to lateral into L/S equity within two years? Do you think the brand of the PE shop, which is very strong, could compensate for the specificity of real estate?