Should I take a job with Apollo?
I am a petroleum engineer, been working at major O&G firm for the past 6 years as a reservoir engineer in A&D. I’m also in business school for MBA. I got a job offer with Apollo mgmt in Houston as an engineer to help manage a small portfolio of oil companies. I have no clue about Wall Street or the world of finance, but the offer is very interesting. Should I take it? I’m worried about work-life balance and the fact that I don`t come from Wall Street. Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you.
Apollo has a reputation of grinding its (very highly compensated) associates into the dirt.
That said, it sounds like this is not an investment professional position and is instead more focused on management / operations for a specific port co or set of port cos. For this reason, I wouldn't worry too much about not having a strong background in finance - they aren't going to be looking at you to run models or pencil out returns.
With the disclaimer that I only know as much as you have shared here, if I had to guess, this will be a very similar roll to your prior one just with a financial sponsor "behind the curtain". This aspect may actually be a benefit relative to your prior job working at a public company as you will have access to the resources necessary to help make your job more efficient and productive.
Hope this helps
Grind them into the dirt... in search of oil.
Bro be careful how much information you put in these posts i,would try to be more discreet or take this down.
It's hard to say without knowing where you'd like to take your career in the future, but I think it would be a good move. In general, oil nationals and corporates manage their balance sheet/investments in a relatively different nature than PE firms.
For instance, I have seen very few PE firms play in the upstream space as dry-hole risk (and associated loss of capital) is too great to mitigate. Mid-stream and down-stream producing assets; with a focus on maximizing production and reducing cost, is a classic PE play with low risk relative to drilling a new well. Returning capital to investors, with strong returns, is the main investment goal.
In contrast, large oil majors will develop riskier assets with the chance to monopolize or claim a large portion of future production, and are willing to risk capital that may require significant re-investment if things don't go according to Plan A.
Since you are working in A&D, you likely have a reasonable grasp of O&G valuation. I think this role, if you are given good exposure, will likely make you a better operator in the long run as you will work with a different operating model.
Regarding work-life balance, it will likely be a little worse than a corporate, but most firms treat their technical staff well as they are can always leave for "industry" with regular working hours, which is not the case for junior bankers. It's ultimately up to your manager, so you never know.
Finally, I would take a little detail out of your post. It's a small world out there.