My fellow primates,
Hi!
Title says it. I'm trying to convert to the other side but I'm still not sure what would be best for me. I did a few practice case interviews with my buddies who work in consulting and they tell me I have potential for consulting mostly because (according to them) I'm an immigrant who can speak English with almost no accent and that "I have an okay understanding of business".
Last resort is of course an engineering job in Silicon Valley but I'm not really interested in solving other people's hard problems to make someone else rich and I'm not young enough to risk joining an early stage startup.
Thanks for reading
Quick walk-through of my life :
I just finished my M.S. in EE at UCLA and I was on my way to going towards a PhD until a series of red flags about academia and PhD life surfaced and I'm considering alternate routes. I am trying to understand different career paths like IB, consulting, buy side, etc. This might be an open ended question but I really want to hear from you. Which path would be better for me to pursue and whether or not I have a chance or should I even bother?
What exactly are you trying to understand about IB, buy side, etc? They are all different. If you are wanting validation of whether or not you can break through to finance with a degree from UCLA, the answer is yes. My MD graduated from some school I had not heard of, so it's possible.
Thanks for the reply.
(DISCLAIMER : All I know about things other than engineering comes from looking things up online and I know some of the stuff that I talk about might be laughable but please bare with me)
My final goal -though idealistic- is to get into buy side (PE, VC, HF, ...).
In short, I'm searching for precedence as in people with similar backgrounds that have done it? and how did they do it? I've received anecdotal advice about career paths that could end up landing a lucrative job at a hedge fund or a private equity firm. Here what I have so far:
Someone said because of my engineering background, it'd be best if I get into consulting first for a year at least, then go back for an MBA (HBS or Wharton if I could land MBB job which is highly unlikely or NYU or UCLA if I could get a job at a big 4 company or Accenture). Then get an internship in IB and consequently a FT job. Hustle for a few years and learn. Then try to get into buy side. (This guy also wants to get into buy side but he works in Accenture so his advice might be skewed to accommodate his own dreams)
Someone else said that I should avoid consulting altogether. Get a job at a boutique wealth management firm and again hustle my way up (don't need an MBA)
Someone else said, that because I have 1 year experience in the industry (Visa), I could focus on getting into Anderson MBA since I'm already here and figure it out once I'm in the program.
Someone else said, practice ib interviews and focus on getting an IB job and follow the path towards getting into buy side.
Now all this sound reasonable to me but each of them would require me to focus all my energy on one thing (cases for consulting, finance for IB, etc.). I wanted to know what do you think? Do any of these make sense? Do you know anyone with a similar background that has gone through any of them? Do you have an advice?
Thanks
The advice that you are getting is solid. Second note that you mentioned about avoiding consulting altogether is what I came more across of at USC. A lot of peeps were going to boutique firms and hustling their way up, and you are right, no MBA needed for that. In the end, experience is important too, so the more "real world" experience you have, the more valuable (I feel) it is to prospective firms that are wanting to hire. Before I ended up with the firm that I was with, I literally started with a small firm and got everything that I needed from that firm (licenses, experience, etc.). It's a hustle whichever route you decide to go, so be prepared for that.
Thanks man! I found a boutique HF in Boston that is exclusively looking for technical people with zero financial background b/c they want to train their analysts themselves. I'm gonna apply to these things and keep that channel open. To be honest it always feels great when an experienced person seconds your plans. Thanks again
No problem man. Enjoy Boston, always be prepared for the grind, learn as much as you can, network, update your resume, and have fucking fun because it's an awesome industry!
T10 MBA
Unfortunately my highest chances of admissions are at Anderson right now and it ain't T10. Unless I can get a referral maybe? :D
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