I’m a first year analyst coming up on my 7th month at a large institutional shop working on acquisitions. I feel like I’m getting better at the job, but still not an expert by any stretch especially given the remote nature I started in.
How long did it take people (at any level) to actually master their job and become really good at it?
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It depends on what your role is. In an Analyst role you’re not going to master anything until year 3. After a year, you’ve just learned the lay of the land.
What does your day to day consist of?
Acquisitions analyst so basically modeling, PowerPoint, and whatever ad-hoc things get thrown my way
What are you doing in powerpoint day to day? Curious because I'm looking to switch to acquisitions and am curious what skills are necessary outside of excel.
10,000 hours.
Work in development. It took almost 5 years. Level comfort ebbs and flows depending on the deal and how company is structured. Over the course of 5 years I’ve worked 3 different companies. Everyone went about there processes a little different. Started my career in more analyst like work, but I’m doing much more project management now.
So how can guys like Michael Stern go out and do their own projects at these marks? From what I remember he worked for a GC/PM for a few years (2-3) out of high school. Then started building homes in Queens to get experience/money and is in his 40's now. So how was he able to run his own deals very young when it seems from your experience, this thread, and other people's experience here that even at 5 years in the industry you're still not certain on everything and he was probably out doing complex projects at that age?
Hit the market right and you can’t miss.
Some people have more exposure than others, when I was in construction I was on a team of two, I had colleagues on other projects who had more time at the company but less overall construction experience because they worked on a team of 6, so they had less exposure to different areas. And it's not necessarily like they got a deeper knowledge of the stuff they covered, truing up a doors, frames and hardware schedule requires the same knowledge for a 4 story office building as a 35 story one, the latter just takes significantly more time.
Stern also went balls to the wall and just went for it. A lot of people (myself included) are terrified of reaching out into the unknown and want to know everything before trying something new, the few that aren't are able to learn as they go fearlessly and can try new things much faster. Some make it, a lot more fail, but they just went for it without feeling like they were masters of it.
"Good" is moving target in real estate. By the time you master what you're attempting to master on day 1, you've already moved on to learning and attempting to master other things. I'm infinitely better at my job than I was 3 years ago. 3 years from now, I'm betting I'll be able to say the same about how I am today.
Just keep improving, observing old heads, absorbing knowledge, and moving forward. Half the time, you don't even realize you've learned something until you call on that information when you need it.
Similar to CRE ..I think in development its especially prevalent that whatever knowledge you have, it continues to compound almost 'infinitely'. For us in development, you do (or should) get better with each passing year with more projects/deals under your belt...but honestly, I became much more confident in my role probably within the last 2-3 years, once I was a solid 10-11 years in post UG. I think my 20's were really just about being a sponge, listening to everyone, doing things over and over etc. I never really felt I could lead anything of REAL significance until I hit 30 honestly. I think a lot of that is maturing in personality and learning how to talk to all types of people and walks of life. But now I interact with the most senior stakehodlers in any deal or project and don't feel I can get duped by anyone that bad. Kind of like a feeling of handling your own.
Doing new shit every day man.
I think you are really experiencing the joys of "new to business" world of an early career. I tend to think most people pretty much suck first 1 to 2 years, then you can start climbing and really adding value. I've seen the Gladwell 10,000 hrs rule mentioned above, a lot of truth in that. I wouldn't really bet on anyone really "mastering" an trade, skill, craft who didn't have at least 5 years of aggregate/related experience (in theory 2000 hrs per year X 5 yrs = 10000 hrs exp).
If you are to have a successful career, you better be getting more and more challenges and thus always have some "figuring this out" learning curve. The real difference is after maybe 2-3 years (I guess could be less for some), you have internal confidence that you will figure it out and thus stop worrying. You also probably have learned how to learn, as nerdy as that sounds.
I think people get this idea that you jump out of school and start "crushing it", you are probably in for at least a year or maybe two of mainly getting your ass kicked. You might get some legit wins, but more likely due to luck and/or major assist from work peers.
At your stage, just learn and survive, you are doing fine. Not sure how COVID has impacted work, but if you have been mostly remote for these 7 months, it probably will take longer. So much is gained by being able to see other people do stuff in the office, it's going to be a legit setback for many.
Probably until 30 since you’ll actually be respected.
No 20 something year old has work credit.
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