Pivot from Tech PM to Real Estate Development?
Title says it.
Graduated three years ago from a top 15 liberal arts school with a degree in Economics.
Spent 3 years in tech - 1.5 in sales, 1.5 in product management.
I've become interested in real estate, and I think Real Estate Development could be a perfect blend of project management, finance, and deal-making for me. I'd like to understand the route I should take if I want to break into it.
It seems I could:
- Go get a master's in real estate development. Is it too late?
- Go get an MBA and focus on real estate. Will I get taken seriously? Big investment.
- Any other alternatives?
Any guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some insights and guidance for pivoting from a Tech PM role to Real Estate Development:
Potential Routes to Break into Real Estate Development:
Master's in Real Estate Development (MSRED):
MBA with a Focus on Real Estate:
Alternative Paths:
Additional Considerations:
Conclusion:
Transitioning from a Tech PM role to Real Estate Development is feasible with the right approach. Whether you choose to pursue an MSRED, an MBA, or alternative paths, focus on building relevant skills, gaining practical experience, and networking within the industry.
For more detailed discussions and advice, you can explore threads on Wall Street Oasis related to real estate development and career transitions.
Sources: Career Path to become a Real Estate Developer, Best path to Development?, MBA after entry-level development role?, MSRE vs. MBA decision - looking for opinions based on my situation/interests, Q&A: Master of Real Estate
Tough market rn so switching to dev might be a headache until deals start making more sense.
I'd strongly recommend just looking at firms doing cool projects in your area, and reaching out to the people working there to know more about their path and get your name out there.
Also, get familiar with the general financial metrics/mechanisms of the industry if you're not already. Cap rate, yield on cost, DSCR, ...
I'm curious to know what's making you switch though? Tech comp is probably way higher until development pay (maybe) catches up after several years. I've actually been considering switching to a business/PM role in tech.
Yeah what you said at the end, comp progression flattens out in tech. Real estate offers a high ceiling and ideally a more structured career path. Thanks for the insight, but really looking to understand the path to an institutional player in, say, NYC.
Tech is cushy, but I'd like to do something with that higher financial upside, more quantitative, and honestly where I'm working on the real world, not on the internet.
BizOps/PM roles can be cool/dynamic. If you're looking to make 150-250k + call it 40-100k in stock (FAANG + a few others pay more) and you have the right personality it's great. Longer-term: higher level PM roles seem to cap out at 250-300k + stock. Yes, the stock can very lucrative, but at most startups especially it can be worthless. It just feels risky to me to be on making the big bucks on company equity. Stock at most private companies will go to zero. I'm fortunately at a unicorn where it's worth something, but hard to expect I keep hitting winners at future career stops.
Also as a side note - VP of Product roles are really tough. Especially true at product driven companies, the whole company's future is riding on you and your work cuts across so many departments, it's really hard to be good at it. I heard from one person the average tenure of a VP of Product is 18 months. Directionally, I think that is correct that it's not an easy job to hold on to. That all goes to say, pick the company you work at and, in the case of a PM, product you work on carefully.
Happy to discuss more or answer specific questions as this was a stream of conciousness.
Thanks for this insight, super helpful. I am starting at a M7 this fall and unsure whether to choose Big Tech PM vs. RE Dev. One of the big motivators for me in good WLB and exceptional financial reward. At what level does RE Dev pay catch-up to big tech PM? I see Big Tech PMs hitting $500-600K TC at around L6 level at 10-12 yrs experience and the pay touches >$700K-1/2Mn at Group PM / Director or VP level role in Product but I have a hunch it's super stressful and hectic. I want to understand how that compares to RE Dev. and what does the avg. comp trajectory look like at Greystar/TCC/Related etc.?
Funnily enough I did basically this. 1yr in data science consulting, 1yr in fintech PM, and then now 2 years in at a big RE dev shop. Didn’t need an MBA, but there is definitely a lot of luck involved without it and I needed to be able to tell the right story
Ha, wow. I love it. Curious how you got interviews (i.e. how to get people to take you seriously and prepared for the interviews?
Hey do you mind if I dm you to see what helped you make the switch? Coming with 5 years background in finance and own/operate my own resy portfolio and seems like shops only want people that have direct experience. At this point, I'm being outcompeted by undergrads.
First things first, the hiring market is tough right now. You're going to be competing against a ton of people that have experience in RE, which will make it hard for you to land a decent position.
As for getting a masters degree. Here's my opinion: in RE, experience is always valued more than a degree. However, a masters is still very helpful to break into the industry and also for building a network (peers, professors, and mentors). The network I got from my MRED program was very valuable IMO.
If you can't break into the industry with your current credentials & the current state of the hiring market, I would lean more toward a MBA with a focus in real estate rather than a MRED. Reason being is that you might realize that you actually want to go back into tech and a MBA sets you up for that. A MRED degree is a commitment to RE. Also, RE firms don't prefer a MRED over MBA with a specialization in RE. From what I've seen, they're basically valued/looked at equally. So might as well choose the more general option (MBA) in case you need to pivot.
Again, if you can land a job first, then that's ideal. If not, then it may be worth looking into a masters.
Thanks, this is helpful. Yeah, MBA is more expensive but probably worth it to keep my options open.
Save the opportunity cost from losing out on 2 years of work, and the 200k tuition.. If you have the savings to get an MBA, develop a spec home in your market while working at your tech gig. If you develop one deal on your own you’ll be able to network into any shop, and you’ll make some money doing it vs. wasting two years on a piece of paper
lol please post advice for doing the opposite. For a technologically competent RE finance person that is not a programmer but a lot of domain knowledge and has ideas…
May be worth looking into learning Bubble.io (low-code/no-code programming platform). Depends how complicated your ideas are.
If you're going to start a startup, and you can't code, in most cases I'd recommend finding a technical co-founder. Don't waste your time trying to code because unless you love it and are great at it, you probably won't make it. Even if your idea is spectacular, you will get out-executed by a technical team. YCombinator has a matching service, check that out, and whatever it takes, find one. Your odds of success are an order of magnitude higher with one.
I also recommend you go work at a prop tech startup in a finance role, first. Then go follow along with the product development at the company and try to think like a product manager. You can a) see if you like being around product development. If you hate thinking about bug fixes, the 10 different ways to design a few buttons, scoping projects, you'll probably need a co-founder who absolutely loves that stuff in my opinion. If you do like it, then you might get away with a more heads-down engineer type who you can direct, but even then, I'd be careful as you won't have much experience building products. Honestly, even if you like it, I actually would recommend finding a sick product-focused engineer.
If you want to learn more about what it's like to start a startup, I recommend checking out YCombinator's content. Hope that helps.
Great advice. Question, are you a PM at a proptech/RE tech company or in another industry?
Funny enough I pretty much made the same post a few days ago. Tech right now is really tough, and it's also pretty much all made up.
How broadly in your opinion is "tech right now is really tough"? Does this also apply to tech sales roles?
Sent a DM
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