How much sampling bias is there in the WSO PE community?
The content on the WSO PE forum generally leans negative. Maybe it's just the business we're all in, but my hypothesis is that it's more negative because people are coming here only when things are rocky / to not feel alone in their issues with the business. I say this because as I look at the VP comp thread, it feels like the average comp is lower than what you see in the 3rd-party comp surveys from e.g. Odyssey. Makes me think that if you used the WSO community as a barometer for sentiment on the industry or comp, you'd generally be sampling a less-happy/lower-performing/lower-paid group, i.e. we may be operating on a non-representative dataset. I hope this doesn't come across as a dig because I'm here too, but just curious -- do people agree with this?
First year associate comp - after your first 6 month trial period is now $400K for mid-bucket. Is that enough?
Obviously there are exceptions to everything, I'm just asking a hypothetical on the aggregate.
There are like five other threads complaining that comp raises across banks make median PE jr comp only marginally better (if not worse at some smaller funds).
I think there’s greater representation of non-MF PE, which skews the figures, but that’s because there are fewer MF roles compared to UMM and further down.
I think wso in general leans more negative, but not by much. I think most people in the finance industry are pretty unhappy. A mix of hyper competitiveness and a lack of balance makes for a very brutal existence. Also, I think high achieving young people are this websites primary demographic and your early/ mid twenties are a very uncertain time.
Interesting theory and there's definitely something there. I also think the subset of people in finance using WSO tends to be nerdier/grindier, which may contribute to unhappiness. And to your point, people who are satisfied usually don't feel the need to write a post about it
Probably. WSO posters tends to be nerdy, young, nontarget, guys. A lot of people browse this forum but most of them don’t feel the need to make threads/comments.
As a counterpoint, I’m a MM senior associate with line of sight to upward mobility and partners who generally respect the juniors, and I’m very content.
I never comment on any of those posts (I get it, sometimes people need to vent), but I also never post anything to the contrary because “today was fine, like most days” doesn’t really motivate me to tell everyone I know.
I’m not exactly changing the world and achieving nirvana, but I live in a sleek Manhattan high rise, have a stable long-term relationship and a few decent friends, don’t need to budget, and still drop six figures into the bank every year… I’d love to do that and work 40 hours a week, but really things are pretty good
Lower performing and lower paid, no. The sampling bias I think is the people who post, not necessarily the people coming here. My hypothesis (maybe Patrick has some data) is there are way more people coming than posting. E.g., you come but don't post about how chipper you are or how fairly you are paid. Less happy - maybe. You might seek community in reading posts.
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