The next "hot" career path?

Hey,

I just read a passage in the "WSO Business School Bible" about how every decade since the 80's has it's "hot" career path wich all MBA students aspire. In the late 80's it was working on Wall Street especially in Trading, during the 90's the technology startups and venture capital where "en vogue" and for the last decade it was working for a private equity firm or a hedge fund.

So I just wondered what you guys think that might become the next big thing?

35 Comments
 

alternative energy, new energy, green/clean tech, startups and vc

...but pe/hf is still a desirable path

------------ I'm making it up as I go along.
 
Corneliusalternative energy, new energy, green/clean tech, startups and vc

...but pe/hf is still a desirable path

uh,no. VC hasn't been hot since the late nineties....where have you been..

 

Aceman...if you knew what VC firms did then you would recognize their likely resurgence with the advent of alt. energy and green tech start-ups. So, I agree with cornelius in that VC could very well heat up with these industries needing seed capital.

 

Energy...but realize, the energy companies make make billions but their employees are maxing it out at 140-150k.

Just b/c you work in oil, doesn't mean you're rich.

 

@redhill. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. employees dont max out at 140-150k (if you include benefits) in energy companies especially at oil and gas servicing companies, even in developing nations. Maybe HR accounting and other back office guys but definitely not the engineers.

and yes I agree that the energy industry in general will be the next "hot" career path but dont expect that hotness as far as your pay. The only guys that will be really happy from it are the energy entrepreneurs and executives

 
NeverSurrenderI know a few senior level engineers (VP or above) who took home several million last year.

How long/rare to get to the VP level at an energy company?

 
TrippinBillyGuys,

Ive worked at a gas station for about two months and I dont think my manager gets paid that high at all... your all wrong.. you top out at around 15/hr

Win

jhoratioTrippin,

You do technically work in oil, but you are too far down the value chain to make any money. You just get retail margins at this point. You need to expand your footprint, or perhaps backwards integrate.

Fail

 
Brown_Bateman
TrippinBillyGuys,

Ive worked at a gas station for about two months and I dont think my manager gets paid that high at all... your all wrong.. you top out at around 15/hr

Win

jhoratioTrippin,

You do technically work in oil, but you are too far down the value chain to make any money. You just get retail margins at this point. You need to expand your footprint, or perhaps backwards integrate.

Fail

Win win.

A double win for you for pointing out the fail, lol.

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 
jhoratioTrippin,

You do technically work in oil, but you are too far down the value chain to make any money. You just get retail margins at this point. You need to expand your footprint, or perhaps backwards integrate.

rightly said....btw i'm a newbie to the field ...which role u think can suck more money as a corp. exec out of these multi billion dollar O&G projects??

 

apparently, top kids in Russia are all trying to break into the spy business-- i hear they all get a black card and 007 type gadgets

 

I don't know how "hot" it will be, but there's gotta be an infrastructure boom at some point in the foreseeable future. The developed world's infrastructure is all from the 50s and 60s and will need to be replaced, while the developing world needs first-time infrastructure.

I'm making a macro call here, it may not be glamorous, but there will be plenty of money to be had.

"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars." - J. Paul Getty
 

Not only VC in green tech, but VC in biotech & genomics. Energy, life sciences, and technology will be the most important industries in the world going forward (especially when they intertwine). The application of genomics to the consumer products industry is a specific segment that will be much more popular than it is currently (I think it's safe to say we are seeing early signs of this in the cosmetics and food sectors).

 
"monty09"

I work in energy and the last five years have been pretty interesting... when all the ivy kids want to move to houston everyone is drinking the same kool aid... I think energy in several different markets will do well over next 5-10 years however most will crash/burn.. its not a cheap space to do business in

Apparently Monty called it 6 years ago. When you see Ivy league kids sprinting in, you know your time is up soon...

 
Best Response

Not sure if it really qualifies as a "path", but there's huge push towards "entrepeneurship", in no small part thanks to the glamorization of people like Elon Musk and Elizabeth Holmes. This is somewhat encouraged by schools themselves who figure that they'll get more donations from 1 alum who starts a company worth 100 mil than they will 100 alums who go into IB/consulting and top out at 1 mil (made up numbers, but you get the point). I think it's going to have a somewhat limited run on this fad though because schools are dramatically over estimating how well their curriculum prepares you for entrepeneurship and students are dramatically over estimating how likely they are to become extremely wealthy that way.

 

Entrepreneurship has always been the way to get super rich even though almost all fail. I think more people might think they can do it now simply due to the popular entrepreneurs such as the ones previously mentioned, and the fact that it is much easier to find the people you need and really get your idea out there than several decades ago.

I'm not that well informed on the area but what about FinTech? From what I hear it's quite an important topic at a lot of banks.

 

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