Is this the right industry for me?
I really like the idea of working with owners and investors of real estate to make a lot of money finding winning investments, or possibly get into development, and have been looking, but I'm not sure if this is what I should be doing.
The main problem is that I make about 80-100k right now working in software. Each time I get a job offer for an Analyst job, my current company just bumps me up in pay until the point that it makes no sense to leave.
Another problem is that the opportunity cost of spending time trying to market myself to job opportunities in finance is that I spend less time developing a skill-set (which is more fun anyways than advertising yourself and networking).
Another problem is that I'm not a well-connected, Ivy League/WallStreet investment-banking-pedigree'd guy. It seems like things like that really help you a lot in this world of real estate. I'm just a normal, hard-working guy who put himself through college with the help of academic scholarship.
I currently do work for a company that produces software for the CRE industry, so I still am getting some exposure to it, which is great. But I'm starting to wonder if it's unrealistic that I will get an analyst position without taking a stupid-huge pay cut.
I do know Argus super-well, and am really good with Excel and VBA. I've also read Linneman's CRE book, and have been working on Geltner's.
As far as the opportunities out there, can I find something where I don't take a huge pay cut?
To be honest I would say that I know more about finance and economics than computer programming, databases, and project management; but sometimes I get the feeling that in finance the saying, "it's who you know rather than what you know," is what matters at the end of the day.
Thoughts?
It's all what you want to do, If you are young it cant hurt making the switch. Software lifestyle is probably much much better but honestly it's your choice and do what you want. Software is boring as hell in my opinion and I'm sure you feel the same way. Just because the money starting off is worse than it is at the analyst positions means nothing. The upside is higher unless you start your own company in software. Think about things down the line. Compensation is like an investment. Now is not equal to future pay.
That's definitely one of the things on my mind, and I do want to make millions. One additional thing to consider with that argument is that, at least in my opinion, the relationship between expected utility from income is such that you get less out of more. In other words, the difference between being young and making 50k and being young and making 90K is a lot. The difference between 500K and 540K at age 45 is relatively nothing.
I don't really know how much I will be making at 45+ if I go into CRE, though. In software, I would get up to 150k-200k in 5-7 years if I keep it up, but there's not much room for growth after that unless I start my own company and am successful, or I play politics well and get into an executive position with a bigger company, like you said.
Edit: And on lifestyle. Yes the lifestyle seems like it can be great. From what I know and have seen: you will have long days and some all-night'ers. You will also be able to work from your home in Vail (or wherever) 90% of the year if you are good enough. You have independence in your work, etc. The one thing I hate about it is that you can go so long without interacting with anything but a computer.
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