I changed my mind about finance, but clearly missed the train. Are all doors closed now?

Hi everybody,

This lengthy post might be a bit unusual, and many could consider me dumb, but I'd really appreciate your advice.

I graduated undergrad from a target ivy in 2021, with a degree in CompSci and one in Management - so while I was part of the business school, I did not study finance. The reason for that boils down to what could probably be described as an incredibly naive mindset, as well as lack of direction in what I would like to do, maybe call it laziness. I thought tech was cool, but got bored of programming (which had been my hobby in high school up until that point). Same with consulting, which I thought could fit me but I didn't want to bother with the whole process of drilling cases for interviews. When it came to finance, I thought PE and VC looked interesting, but was very judgmental about IB - enough that I put my interest for PE on the backburner, since IB was considered a prerequisite. Finally, I saw that everybody around me was going into either IB or consulting, and thought I'd like to do something dIFfeREnt - perhaps it was just an excuse I was telling myself. I regret my naivety, but unfortunately I can't turn back time.

After graduating, I went back to my home country, since having left the US because of covid made me ineligible for OPT. I started my first job in product management (building an OMS) in a FinTech selling software to wealth mgmt firms / family offices, and have moved companies to a FinTech selling risk management / valuation software mostly to sell-side firms and hedge funds, where I am now wedged somewhere between product and sales. Don't get me wrong: They have both been great experiences, with lots of learning in their own right and I absolutely do not want to complain or anything. Through a weird unplanned twist, this has actually brought me closer to the world of finance than my time at college did, both because of the subject matter and the nature of the prospects / clients I'm always talking to. Especially at my current job, I really respect my coworkers - many of them coming from a quant background and being extremely knowledgeable.

My work experience, but especially the conversations I've had over time with some of my friends who did go into finance / the route of IB Analyst -> PE Associate, has really changed my mind and previous opinions. I would be incredibly interested in going into PE, which leads me to the reason for this post - namely the fact that by now I'm just completely divorced from any "standard" way of getting there.

Have I completely closed the doors to do so now? Is there still a way for me to make such a lateral switch, especially without having to fully write off the past 5 years as just... lost? The one "possible" way I see of doing the move would be to go back for an MBA, try recruiting into an IB Associate role and then do the switch to PE, but that feels like I would have wasted my entire undergrad and my few years of job experience, which I don't think were entirely useless either. Not just that, but I also couldn't afford to do so - my partner is starting her medical residency soon (Which would be compatible with a PE job, given that even if I had better WLB in my current job, I won't be seeing much of her anyway for the next 5-7 years) and will not be making even remotely enough money to suddenly take on the load of me not having a full-time job anymore. Alternatively, I heard people go into consulting and switch to PE from there, but at this point I feel like consulting would bring me further away from the finance world if anything, given that my current job is at least tangentially related. So what do you think? Is it impossible? Any advice?

I'm obviously missing both required technicals and networking, but would love to use whatever time I have left after work to start learning the required finance concepts (It's not like I know nothing, given I had a couple basic finance courses in college and both my jobs were at least tangentially related, but I obviously lack the actual skills needed). At the same time, from what I've heard from my friends the skills they've had to learn for their IB analyst jobs were very much separate from the skills they needed and use in their PE associate jobs, so I'm not sure in what order I should best be learning which skills. 

Any advice and opinions would be much appreciated. I know some of you must find this post ridiculous given the lack of dedication to one particular cause it shows in my past, but the past is unfortunately something I cannot change. Thank you!