Anyone else Realize They are Too Dumb for PE?

Bump curious to hear other views here

I'm with the other guy. Unless you're going back into banking, there's nothing that's going to pay as much. Who cares as long as you keep getting paid? 

What is your end goal and why would you want to leave? If your goal is to make money just stay put.

I wouldn’t give your seniors too much credit. They’re smart, but not that smart. Definitely not all that smarter than you are, just experienced. 

 10 months into the job you still have lots to learn - you can process things efficiently, the next step is just listening to the VP and how they phrase questions, ask them “why” when they ask you to do stuff to learn how they think. I guarantee you after another year, you’ll realize they’re saying the same fucking thing 80% of the time themselves. 

In banking and PE, I feel like the learning curve time differs but it’s steep when it happens, and after that you realize everyone’s the same. So yeah you might feel like a total dimbass now, but give it a few more months, maybe an intense process and a good VP to guide you, and then you’ll realize you’re actually average in a room full of average people who’ve learned to talk the talk and walk the walk. 

I would give yourself another ~6months. Typically takes at least a year to get your feet under you and almost every associate has gone through some degree of this. There's not much rocket science to this job, just pattern recognition and posturing.  

Yea, agree with everyone else here. Just keep trying your best until someone complains. Then have the chat.

Yeah man I pretty much felt the same as you did starting out. But as some have mentioned above I was always a team player, generally figured sh! out and was willing to grind hard to produce decent work. Have received top performance reviews every year and have been told there's a track past Senior Associate for me - I am very confident this is driven by having a good attitude and personable more than anything. Still feel way in over my head most of the time and have all the stress you mentioned, but you're probably not giving yourself enough credit, see how your first annual review goes then see how you feel. 

Sounds more like you didn’t get any training, a lot confirms have onboarding training or boot camps these days. Then a mentor where MMV

you’re not too dumb, you just don’t know what to do 

Is this a troll? PE interviews are multi round filled with modelling tests, case studies up to aptitude tests. The shops I interviewed at had literally candidates lined up from all over MBBs, banking, etc. - how would you just stumble your way in if you are that bad as you describe it? 

You sound like one of the kids in school who always said their test went bad and then turned out to have performed well above average.

I refuse to believe that after 10 months in a job, pulling 10-14 hours a day, you still don't see the big picture of many things unless you have 80 IQ (what's your undergrad btw, to get some idea on how intelligent you were prior to banking - just don't say physics plz). On defending/arguing things that's another story. I can partly blame this on the training. 

The issue is that it's ok to ask questions, especially when you are new (and preferably lots of questions and good questions), however you have 10 months in the role so asking them now will raise eyebrows. So just sit quiet and keep taking your paycheck - and if you want to do this long-term better start hitting some books/GPT to explain you everything you don't get because it's not that hard. 

Another idea is that maybe you lack curiosity and that prevented you from learning what was above the minimum requirements of your job, which means that you may not be as interested in this career path or in general you might not have curiosity for anything, which should give you even more reasons to stay in your role as it doesn't require the same brainpower/constant seeking of novel ideas to do your job properly as in public markets/etc. and has some prestige/compensation and a luck element that may hide incompetence.

so just out of curiosity, any examples of what processes/bigger picture you don't understand?

This happened to me in PE 

I doubt you are actually dumb. Truly dumb people wouldn't stop to think maybe I'm too dumb for this? (Dunning-Kruger effect). Seems like you simply need some mentorship. Perhaps book a session with @CompBanker who started a service a few years ago that provides personalized career mentorship.

I can't tell if you're trolling? What is complicated about PE? 

There are plenty of people who aren't the brightest minds that made plenty of money and advanced extremely far, would just keep going. You are still very young. 

Good thing for you is that most in PE are a bunch of tards where the “math” is four function and most scenarios have probly already been modeled somewhere and stored on some share drive.

I hear you – this sounds like classic imposter syndrome to me, not a reflection of your actual ability. A few things that help me:

1. Repetitions. It took me about 16 months to become comfortable at my private equity role. before that I also felt retarded. Sometimes you just need a bunch of reps before you're good at your job. Trust me, everyone always said this and I never believed them but one day I said something in IC and everyone was like: “That was amazing”. Modeling prep can help but don’t overdo it – which it sounds like you are already doing.
2. Learn Stress Management.
   1. Meditation. Take a self-guided meditation class until you can meditate by yourself, this is an amazing way to reduce stress.
   2. Techniques like box breathing (inhale-4, hold-4, exhale-4, hold-4) or the 4-7-8 method can help you clear your head between tasks instead of letting stress pile up.
   3. Diver’s Method. Fill a sink with cold water in the bathroom and throw your face in there. It will release adrenaline and directly reduce stress levels
   4. Exercise. 30 minutes of high energy cardio is enough to reduce your stress a lot and increase sleep quality.
   5. Medication. SSRIs or other medication may be helpful. Lexapro has been amazing for me.
3. Build your presence and confidence.
   1. Joining Toastmasters (or another public-speaking group) gives you a safe space to practice defending your ideas and thinking on your feet in meetings.
   2. Self-empowerment through volunteer work. Getting outside your day-job bubble by volunteering can do wonders for your mindset. Touch grass, help people, and see firsthand the impact you can make—NYCares has high-impact opportunities if you’re in New York.
   3. Get Laid. I will do wonders for your confidence.
4. Assess your environment. If you work with a bunch of cunts you won’t be happy. Many years ago, I worked with a bunch of cunts and took shit from them under the guise I was the problem. Be sure to evaluate your environment and ensure you don’t work with cunts.
5. Plan for the Long Term. Make two lists—“What energizes me” and “What drains me”—then compare those against roles like corporate development, FP&A, or allocator work. If another path fits better, an MBA could be a smart bridge to that transition. I am not knowledgeable about careers outside finance buy maybe you should do some research there too.

You’ve already powered through IB and survived ten months in PE—give yourself credit for how far you’ve come, lean into small wins, and know that growth often feels uncomfortable before it clicks. You’ve got this.

This post shows a high level of awareness. I think you are probably being too hard on yourself though. Without hyperbole, some of the stupidest people I have ever met work in private equity (admittedly at the junior level of some 100MM fund you've never heard of, and they will never advance). 

Making it through a semi-target and doing well enough to land a job in IBD, and then surviving the two years means your intelligence probably isn't the problem. Perhaps you're being asked to do too much too fast, or to handle more Senior Associate type work, but I really dont think your raw IQ is the thing holding you back. You are disadvantaged in that you survived banking without being forced to do more of the critical thinking elements, which admittedly start later in banking, but some Analysts get exposure to them (or look at the problems their Associates face and try to decide how they would solve them). 

I would lower your expectations and try and get incrementally better at each task, and re-evaluate where you are six months from now. Unless you think you will be fired for performance, perhaps it is better to try and push through this challenging period, assuming you want to. 

The flip side is I could be completely wrong, and you lack the passion and interest required to try and think critically about how to excel in the role. I know I sucked at banking and was always horrible at the critical thinking elements, but then I switched to consulting and had so much more interest in the work I was doing, that I was top bucket almost immediately. 

I recently left M&A after 5 years and the biggest takeaway was that I was mediocre the entire time because the passion was never really there. I am now being fast tracked in a Strategy role and have found much more meaning in the work I do. 

I know my various word vomit structured points don't really go hand in hand, but I wanted to throw out several different perspectives because it is hard to gauge what the real issue is, at least from my POV. 

While I think there are some true geniuses in PE, imo I don't think there are that many and most people are above average intelligence but just have seen a ton of deal reps.  The talented partners that crush it are very creative and love doing deals (not necessarily intelligent beyond your capabilities) - so I don't think you should let your experience 10 months in get you down. 

I am the same I feel like I am incompetent and the stress that somebody will find out is what’s eating me alive. Every new task or deal I get staffed on I wonder if I will manage to get by with the task at, it’s affecting my body like crazy where I am getting body numbing levels of physical anxiety. I could almost throw up anytime I know I will be put in a spot where I just have no idea what to do and deadlines are approaching and everyone will get upset and angry because timelines are pressing