Should Prestige Not Matter At All When I Found a "Cheat Code Job"

Analyst 2 in IB at a EB and was pretty confident like everyone else I was just going to go the standard UMM / MF PE route. 

However, got super super lucky through a random linkedin posting for Strategy, and after passing the interview process and receiving an offer, my all in comp is about $245k, 9-4pm. 

Feel weird not doing the whole "tryhard" and hardo route, but should I just throw all that away out the window and accept this job instantly? Seems pretty insane. 

14 Comments
 

Analyst 1 in IB - Cov

Thank you.


Do you believe the company you have that offer at will succeed / is a creator of value? The answer to this question should drive your decision.

The most successful and happiest people I know are ones who believed their seat could create value and actually created that value. Prestige doesn’t matter (who cares if you create value) and WLB doesn’t matter (if you create value, you will rise fast enough the create your WLB). 

 
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I've been in a similar "coasting" job for the last ~year after getting up to the VP level in growth equity. It's mostly pretty good. I workout 6-7 days a week now, can accept almost any evening commitment no questions asked, and have plenty of money to finance my lifestyle. 

On the "prestige" question, if you ask 10 people what's cooler between working in Strategy at Uber, etc. versus working at a PE fund they've never heard of, 9 of them will say the first one. And your finance friends will inevitably hit you up for intel on "operating roles" once they realize they hate their PE jobs.  

If you were smart enough / worked hard enough to get to EB, be advised there are tradeoffs depending on your level of ambition. I get a little jealous of my friends still in PE closing new deals even though I know it sucked to get there. I also have constant anxiety my employer will realize I'm scamming them -- based on how much I'm actually working relative to what I ~could~ be doing -- and eliminate the position (they think I'm a genius and praise me constantly so this wouldn't actually happen). I also just don't feel as sharp as I used to and miss working on more interesting problems with smart people.  

I think there's a >60% chance I stay in a role like this, especially as I get closer to kids, but the grass wasn't quite as green as I anticipated. 

 

Jobs with good pay on an hours-adjusted basis are either godsends or traps, depending on how well you're going to utilize that free time.  

If you're going to use it to fuck around and have a "lifestyle", you're probably in for a rude awakening down the road when you haven't developed into the mid/upper level person that can compete for the best opportunities in your 30s and 40s.   

OTOH it can be a great play if you use that time wisely and pick up outside interests that help you grow. In my case for example, I took an easier job once and got heavily into startup investing with my free time (leading diligence, board meetings, the works), which taught me a ton and helped my career later.

So be brutally honest with yourself about whether you can be disciplined with that free time and turn it into an asset.

 

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