How Has WSO Affected Your Life?
While dabbling around the "How many people on WSO actually Make It" post: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/how-many-people-on-wso-actually-m…
I started thinking, in my mere 22 weeks of lurking and posting here I gained at least 9 solid and VALUABLE connections along with 2 very affluent one's. I'm not talking about "here's my card, let me take yours, blah blah blah we'll follow up" either.
Actually, the people I met here affected my business directly. I improved in a lot of areas.
How many people have you met from WSO?
Did it change something in your life (new job, offer, recommendation, etc?), has it given you a connection you can utilize in the future?
Have you learned anything from the valuable wisdom of BlackHat, Ed, TNA, UFO, and the many others who regularly post on here?
If you can, give a little anecdote! If you can't just say what you gained, i'll be throwing SB's to the good one's.
I've learned a hell of a lot, both from the Certified Users and students (mostly how stupid many college students are, but some good info, too). I also figured out what I believe will be my ultimate career goal and that IB probably isn't for me (a couple of exceptions, but for the most part it's not where I want to be).
I also learned that despite the varying political and social views, there are a lot of guys in finance interested in and willing to help. I mean, a LOT of them. WSO is a pretty cool site, look forward to seeing Pat continue dominating the niche.
WSO has helped me out in MULTIPLE ways. Unfortunately, I found out about the site a bit too late (and was quite the lost puppy at school) and had to climb up from the depths of hell to get my foot into the industry in any way shape or form. Having said that, without WSO I would have never gotten my foot in the door at all and who knows where I would be today. I'm very thankful for all the wise posts I've read and the assistance I've received throughout my time here.
turned me into a real man.
I rained down the first round of SB's to everyone but fez over here. Will wait until some more comments come in to shoot down a second round. Clean me out guys!
Really wish I found this site when I was in college during summer and full time recruitment. By the time I found WSO I was already employed FT but still learned valuable tips on networking and what to expect. I also enjoy reading success stories from non-targets, BO to FO and anyone who had a "disadvantage" early in their careers
I wish when I was searching for internships a few years back there would have been more info on areas of finance outside of IB, because when I was interviewing for private banking positions, I couldn't find anything useful. That's why I joined once I secured a full time private banking spot so that I could help other kids in the same situation.
It has however helped me keep entertained on Friday afternoons when I am counting down the time to happy hour, and the value of that alone is incredible
I've found a facebook alternative for wasting time at work.
Honestly though it's nice to have a venue for writing and it's cool to see so many people who know so much more than I do about finance. When I apply to business schools in a couple years, I'm sure the information here will be invaluable as well.
Why do we think so alike lol. Right there with ya, FB alternative
Obviously because we are awesome
I echo this. I used spend stretches of time looking at facebook just because it was a habit. Since i've found WSO i feel like my time is now well wasted :)
I'll echo the whole "wish I found it sooner".
WSO has made me simultaneously more knowledgeable and less productive at work.
It's probably the reason I have a job in banking at all.
It's also probably the reason I haven't started studying for the GMATs/caught up on my reading list/cleaned my bedroom/etc.
I learned that Barack Obama is the devil and Ben Bernanke doesn't understand monetary policy.
I also learned to never overestimate my competition.
I have met some really interesting people from WSO, both online and in person.
I learned a lot about the industry and connected with like minded people. I am really grateful for WSO. I also got a bunch of internship offers for the summer which is solely due to reading of WSO daily. I plan to be more involved once I will be working in the industry and share my knowledge. WSO has been entertaining and crucial in my careers choice.
after WSO i started acting like an elitist prick, even though i don't have any of the qualifications like pedigree, education, or job.
it made my interviewing and finance knowledge 100x better. Even if I don't land in IB, I will still be above most of my classmates when it comes to resume formatting and interviewing and networking.
Also, I choose this over reddit now...just as many trolls, but it is finance oriented haha
but in all seriousness... WSO has impacted my life and career quite substantially in the past couple of years. after consulting with people on this board, i decided to stay put in my current corporate finance job and shoot for a top business school instead of attempting to jump into a middle-market investment bank.
so ironically, WSO pushed me away from a career in IB (for the time being, at least). i'll let you know how it goes in a year or two.
big shout out to Andy for putting this together for us.
taught me how to network, about recruiting, interview prep, books to read, how to suck other bankers dicks....all essentials that got me my FT offer. i can easily say that w/out WSO i would NOT have gotten a FT offer in IBD (and a pretty respectable on at that :)
Stumbled upon WSO 6 years ago completely by accident, when it was still called iBankingOasis ("iBO"). IB/PE/HF were all on fire, debt was cheap, big deals were getting done, LeveragedSellOut was still actively writing. The good old days -- damn, I miss them. I remember some of the most eccentric user's on here as well -- markkleinmd anyone?? (http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/why-hasnt-mark-klein-md-been-bann…). I'd guess almost 90% of posts were pro-Wall Street. We did not hear as much about entrepreneurship back then.
I knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about finance back then so I learned a ton from the postings, especially early on. I remember during my first 6 months I would hardly miss any new content that was posted (WSO was not as active as it is today and I was still an undergrad with lots of time on my hands ;) ).
My school was absolute shit for prepping us for finance careers, so WSO was my one and only source for information (it was the only really finance community back then -- before even M&I). It helped me craft my resume, learn how to network, learn about the industry, the pay, the day to day life....95% of the stuff I knew about finance came from WSO. And I fully admit that had it not been for WSO, I would not have landed my 2 jobs (banking & buyside) post undergrad. WSO even helped during my MBA applications. I guess I've been around for the full WSO cycle (ugrad --> finance jobs --> MBA). Fuck I feel old....@ 25 hahaha.
Oh, and I have met some pretty interesting people as well. Midas was the best!!! What a character.
Thanks WSO!!!
this thread made me go awwww....
WSO is the bau5.
Thanks everyone...reading these really helps motivate to keep pushing and improving WSO.
I've also met some amazing people through the community and can't wait to meet a lot more coming up at WSOCon 2013!
I think 2013/2014 will see our happy hours grow into mini-events in most major financial hubs around the world -- so hopefully a stronger offline component will help us connect and establish more meaningful relationships that can help us in our careers.
In the meantime, we will continue to try and find great new bloggers, improve UI/design, etc etc.
Thank you to the WSO Certified Users that give back so much. Without you, WSO would never be what it is today.
Stay Strong, Patrick
Really looking forward to this^
WSO opened my eyes to what was really out there. Wish I had known about this site when I was in highschool or even early college, my decisions would have been very different. Finding it mid senior year and lurking for a while was better than never stumbling upon it though.
Aside from all of the things everybody above me said, I also gained a great deal of confidence. The confidence isn't because I realize something about myself, but when someone tries to one-up me in terms of their career and prestige, I can shoot them down quite easily. That in itself also taught me that humility is the best way to go in life.
It helped me land a F500 FLDP internship as a sophomore from a non target. It taught me how valuable networking is, and I now have about 10 really solid connections that will help for SA recruiting next year. It also helped shine a light on a lot of careers; HF and PE especially, as well as information on business school. As much as I hate that I waste a lot of time on it, WSO is a necessary evil that helps me learn from some of the most ambitious people in the US.
Completely changed my life for the better over the past 3 years:
Helped me transition from an unrelated engineering job (with an extremely non-target background) to an IB internship, then to a 1 year graduate program, and eventually to an MM firm. I owe a lot to this website.
I got into high-level commercial real estate coming from a school that teaches zero real estate classes, and I wouldn't be anywhere near the industry without reading through practically everything on this site over the past two years. Taught me how to look for jobs, network, learn to model, etc....for free. ROI, baby. Looking forward to helping the RE section of the site grow over the next few years.
fist bump
Rock on, my friend
I didn't know what networking was 6 months ago. WSO taught me within 1 week, and corrected my resume and cover letter for free within 2 weeks. If not for the help, probably wouldn't have landed my internship this summer.
I've also learned a lot about finance in general...coming from a non-finance background. I seriously have a 200 pages bookmarked from wso, and I have the bookmarks on a backup drive in case my hard drive crashes. I consider some of the information equivalent to 1000s of dollars. I'm thankful and grateful to all of you who share such advice and to the fellow monkeys who are trying to break in.
I will definitely be there to give back to the site "Once I've made it" lol, which I'm darn sure I will thanks to this site
Congratulations to Patrick for building so vibrant a community and helpful a resource.
WSO is what I replaced reddit with, reddit = ZERO productivity.
WSO is full of actionable information and intelligent/helpful people. Especially now I am one step closer to my goal - thanks to a very patient and obnoxiously nice mentor who always took time to answer my last-minute questions... It's sad that I no longer have the chance to say 'thank you and sorry' to this person, but WSO definitely has a positive impact on my life.
I have found WSO to be a huge resource as well which has helped me gain a deeper understanding of the industry. Sure, you definitely have to apply a filter on some of the stuff here (welcome to the internet), however most stuff is quite good.
Mostly lurking for now, but this site is making me want to contribute with my own stories. A pretty good sign for a message board I think.
my balls finally dropped after becoming a member. Thanks WSO!
This makes me want to stay on WSO more. Time to read some more blogs and threads!
WSO has greatly diminished my productivity during the day.
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