Are you satisfied with your career progress? Min 5 YOE
Question is geared towards those with minimum five years of experience. Is your career moving forward as you anticipated? Regardless of the answer, are you satisfied with your progress? Why or why not? Is your progress in line with what you envisioned when you first started your career ?
Yes - Have worked on some amazing projects at my prior job and now at a start up brokerage.
Been promoted 3 times in 3 years at my prior place and now waiting to see, but already been promised a promotion at YE, though nothing is guaranteed.
Yes and No- For someone who dropped out, then finished college later in life and even then with a 2.0...and ADHD. I am at a decent place where I like doing what I am doing and the deals I work on and the hours. I clawed and failed and clawed and failed and clawed to get to where I am. It was brutal. BUT I had more fun in college and my early 20s than most people.
I’m realizing that the fastest way to VP / Director / MD is by joining a legit, growing company straight out of college and staying there. I had to job hop twice to land at a solid PE shop and now I’m an associate making $250-$300k but I’m 27 and some of my peers are already VPs.
So yeah I’m happy but also wish I did PE sooner rather than wasting time in brokerage.
My brokerage comp was really good for an analyst ($130-$170k during analyst years, $250k as associate) so I didn’t think about the long term and how I’d benefit from going straight to principal side even if it meant making less as an analyst.
Imo staying at a fast growing small shop is also a pretty big risk because your pay will be less and your hoping nothing happens in the first 5 years you're there. I have been at a small firm for 2 years as an associate and we've doubled our AUM in the last year, but the CEO's only focus is on growth and not on retention, so benefits/pay have been put on the wayside in order to continue to see similar growth.
I didn’t say “small, growing” I said “legit, growing”. Look at what Blackstone’s AUM has done over the past 5 years. Look at what Artemis RE Partners AUM has done over the last 5 years. Look at ACORE (or pretty much any debt fund), MSD, etc.
I agree. Staying at a small place in hope of a big pay day is risky. I’m talking about working at a large / mid size place that has positive growth / is not stagnating.
CIM, Lone Star, SL Green, would be examples of large shops that are not high growth. Probably others that I don’t know personally.
Definitely agree with this. Sure many others, myself included, have experienced this for themselves. Hard to have that perspective in your early twenties though when you’re geared on finding your purpose/passion vs getting up the ladder, any ladder.
Yeah the alternative is also scary. You stayed at your first job and now you’re a VP at a NNN investment sales broker and are finding it incredibly hard to lateral.
I guess I’m jealous of the guys who landed at great PE spots that hire out of undergrad. Morgan Stanley, Starwood, etc. Such a massive leg up if you plan on staying in REPE for the long haul
Still underpaid, but have a solid w:l balance and can take time off whenever I want. So I’m content
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