PE Associate: Duration of the role?

I'm trying to understand what the duration of a PE associate role is, especially at MFs. Not sure if there are any geographic differences, but I'm particularly interested in London. 

I've always assumed the duration would be like 4-5 years before becoming a VP (so similar to banking), but I saw on LinkedIn people with 6+ years of work experience at MFs still being associates... 

So can you please explain how it actually works?

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6+ years is pretty rare especially a single firm. If you don't get promoted within 3-4 years its typically a sign you aren't good enough to make it to the next rank and a firm would probably give you a soft (or hard) signal to leave after year 4.

2 years at associate before VP promotion is also really rare (at least in the UMM/MF space). Most common track you see is 2 years associate + 1/2 senior associate. OR if the firm doesn't have any sr. associate then typically it would be 3-4 years associate -> VP. 

 

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