What are you good at professionally? How did you know?

Was reading through this discussion on buy-side vs sell-side and I found the most helpful comment to hit the nail on the head:

"...The trick on the career point assuming maximizing risk-adjusted earnings is one of the main goals (and to be clear it really shouldn't be...) and assuming you're picking between the general set of white-collar things very smart, insecure, risk-averse overachievers pick from (consulting, banking, PE, hedge fund, lawyer, etc.) is this - you need to have a really, really good understanding of what you are good at and what you are most likely to be top 1% at - and then go do that. The innate skill that is required to get to the top 25% in all of these careers are similar - sufficient smarts, okay people skills, willingness to sacrifice most other parts of life to grind.

However, to get to the top 1% is completely a different story - M&A banker - sales monster. Lawyer - bulldog. Hedge fundinsane risk tolerance. PE - consistent judgement (or appearance thereof). Consultant - inspire deep trust (note - all of these with the exception of maybe the HF requires a very high-level of people skills too though so that's table-stakes)..."

So my question to you all is what are you good at professionally and how did you know? As someone just starting their career, better understanding myself and what I am good at will certainly drive some of the career choices I make.

2 Comments
 

For me it really comes down to what you enjoy the most, or what feels the most “natural”. If you genuinely enjoy markets for example you’ll probably do better at a HF then at a PE firm. If you really enjoy talking to people then naturally you’ll be a good sales person. So find what you enjoy the most and make that your career, you’ll find that you’re pretty good at it because you have a drive other people simply don’t have.

 

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