How to have a long career in PE?
Getting a bit disenchanted... how do people in our generation (mid/late 20s) have a long career in PE? Most funds are political and top heavy, unless it’s a growing asset class like infra...
What are you guys’ thoughts? Thank you!
Right answer. #2 can be less hard if you save your money. Opportunities to grow and advance your career come up often, but many of them require a pay cut at first. Get your lifestyle and savings in order so you're in a position where a pay cut isn't too painful for you. You get a lot more bites at the apple when you don't need as much salary.
This is underrated generally - forcing yourself to maintain a reasonable lifestyle that allows for financial flexibility and/or taking of opportunities is extremely important - especially as you advance in your career, and not just in PE.
Getting into infra was honestly the best career decision I’ve ever made. Comp is great, people are smart and tend not to be finance hardasses, deals are competitive and exciting despite most thinking infra’s boring, hours are great. etc. Culture in infra makes me want to stick around.
But will you ever know what it is truly like to work in “real PE”? Don’t you fear when people see your resume they will lump you in as a real asset cuck with penis envy towards girthy LBO Bois??
You read my mind. Every day, I go to bed wishing I worked in traditional PE. When I’m on the bus with the other peasants, I wonder: “Where did I go wrong? Why couldn’t I make it to REAL PE, where investment processes are exactly the same, comp is the same, hours are longer, the modelling is elementary, but you get to brag about investing in companies rather than assets?” I can barely stand the shame as it is... Please advise on what I should do? I beg you for help.
Bahahaha look at all the traditional PE bros monkey shitting my other post. Apologies for hurting your feelings. P.S. transaction and trading comps doesn’t count as modelling.
All of the people who through MS at you make more money than you. You are the outsider that has failed to penetrate their elitist bubble. They are laughing at you from above because you will never know the prestige of being a God Tier LBO Boi. They were the kids in better fraternities than you in college, with higher GPAs. They aced the tests you stressed over to get B's on. While you run DCFs on cuck-tier real asset financing deals with thinning hair, they are getting BJs under their desk from rock solid babes who exist to please their fully levered penises. None of them need viagra to get hard. They are always hard. They work in real PE.
This thread took a really exciting direction.