Positive PE Experiences?

Pe is more like a 1.5x the hours for .75x the salary job with option value if you are able to not get pushed out for 15 years until you make partner (extremely rare)

It’s been horrible for every aspect of my life outside of learning, professional development and comp (but still would likely make more short term in IB).

I am curious since I am interested in Growth Equity. Some say it's closer to VC environment than normal PE , is that true? 

My 2 cents:

PE gave me skills at a junction in my career where it paved the way for my next steps which was stepping into an independent advisor/operator role. LMM so more operationally focused than what folks are experiencing up-market. It also provided amazing relationships and experiences in holding responsibility that I wouldn’t trade

That being said, I find career stability very low, with little tolerance for deviation from the path. I find that way too rough and unnecessary and the industry is probably wasting a ton of human capital with its inflexibility and set in stone ways.

many a day I wish I had gone the harder skill route, either engineering or applied science. Despite lower pay, those skillsets are less commoditized and its way easier to learn deals especially as you develop muscle memory in business and get reps, at least in my experience.

In UMM/large cap fund. I am based in EU but we have offices in the US. Pay at the fund is very good, and above IB (bonuses are better than IB, carry has been materialising for people). In terms of hours, I saw a net improvement in my WLB, social life, sport life, hobbies since I started. People in our US offices I would argue have a better life than in EU offices (hours & pay). Their hours are very good. It might be a bit tougher during deal sprints but these are limited in time (I.e. you won’t have another Phase II directly after finishing one generally) and tend to still be better vs IB hours. In deal sprint you can sometimes (but rarely) finishing ultra late (3am), sometimes goes to 1/2am but you’ll never have to pull an all-nighter, it would just be equal to mismanagement of the work streams which tend to not happen at all as people want to be efficient / don’t waste time. In Phase I deals or whenever there is no Phase II hours are great (not like a 9-5 but still very good especially considering level of pay).

Experience will vary a ton from fund to fund, hence just wanted to share a firm-specific datapoint. Firm is not a MF / ultra prestigious but has a good reputation in the finance world, you just won’t see articles on it every week.

Feels like there's a thread on this every day... It 100% depends on the culture of the firm you're going to. Some will be better than banking, some will be worse... Asking for anecdotal experiences isn't going to help you lol but yes I've had good PE experience, so you've got at least one to count on

My experience in PE was at a old UMM PE fund. My random thoughts below:

- I worked under a VP that was just a bad person (narcissist/pathological liar) and really made my life/job pretty difficult on a day-to-day basis to the point I thought about leaving early all the time. One of the Principals I worked with was the opposite and I would have taken a paycut to work under him for my 3-yrs at that firm.

- People were generally less abrasive than banking but somehow came off as worse although there are good people and you have to seek them out. I learned a lot about corporate politics / how to handle a bad apple (or a bad apple tree)

I would say this:

1) It depends entirely on the firm / person at the firm you work with although PE generally leans sharp elbowed / everyone out for themselves given how hard progression is and how much is reliant on others not progressing 

2) It is a great job at its core. You are paid to learn about businesses and industries. Yes its intense and there is a high bar for the quality of work but I found myself more engaged with the day to day of the job than I did in banking although I miss the culture/people at my old banking group

3) Regardless of what you want to do with your life I would recommend it. Money rules the world and you are in the center of that in PE. Also for some reason, it makes you think big picture. In IB exits are PE, Corp Fin / Strategy, HF, AM, etc in PE, people feel like the world is their oyster

Very good, because the whiners or people who couldn't last are already washed out, so all those who made it to VP+ have been very positive. 

A lot of people I know who grinded hard for PE are not from rich families as well so their greed for money is real so they definitely work hard to chase them. 

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I had both great experiences and poor experiences. The difference is the team. No news there. But I found the variance in PE to be even greater than in IBD / other parts of finance.

I’m in BD (banker coverage) at an MM fund, and this is probably the closest thing to a dream job that I’ll find. I get comped very similarly to the execution team to hang out with people and talk about deals. It’s surreal.

Making it to VP does not mean you are going to last in PE. It is a STEEP climb, often the climb to Partner will not be available to you.

"I joined KKR because it was KKR. I didn't realize it just wanted to be buyside goldman sachs and now I'm getting killed for no Carry, help!"

Honestly for apparently intelligent people coming from top educations and sellside institutions I do wonder why people ever recruit for MF PE.

Part of me is glad because I wouldn't have as many clients as I do without them.