Military- Too old for Consulting/ IB?

I had a manager who joined a bulge bracket firm in her 30's (35ish) after completing an MBA and she said it didn't make a difference since quite a large percentage of MBA's are career changers.

Thank you for your service.

Both the government and aerospace are very conservative industries which place a lot of value on seasoned professionals. They like to see grey hair and years of experience, so it should not be a problem to start in consulting 10 years from now and would actually be a benefit. Enjoy your time as a pilot in the Navy: this is an amazing decision you are making for both yourself and the benefit of our country. Hooyah.

Do it. I went that route out of undergrad, best 10 years of my life. Stories, friends, getting to do something super badass and defending your country, totally worth it. And actually, you'd be surprised by the money. It's not IB money, sure, but when I got out if I had wanted/needed to match my all in take home(including retirement benefits) I'd have needed to get an MBB offer. I went another way, and I've done just fine. You'll have a different outlook at 35 then you do now, obviously, and the IB or broke mentality might not matter as much to you. But it's life experience you can't pay for, don't give it up to sit in an office for the next 10 years regretting it.

Excited for you dude - you're heading into an amazing 10 years. Recently left the Navy myself (though not aviation) and went into an M7 MBA at 30+ y.o. and I don't feel limited at all. Got several summer offers and headed to an EB. As others have said, it's all about whether you want to jump into something like IB and the hours and everything as a mid-thirties dude.... You'll be surprised how much your thinking will change by the time you get to that point.

Anyway, good luck w/ OCS and flight school! Start running now, and if you can't swim, FITFO (figure it the f*** out)

You'll be plenty marketable after your time served. The bigger question is whether you want to subject yourself to 10 years of working Roche government. There's a lot of red tape and training on how not to drive drunk or rape people, and you can't decide you are fed up and quit because you haven't been home in 14 months.

You are also paid just as much as the least competent among you. If you are dead set don't let anything stop you, but it's definitely not top gun all day.

We hired a guy last year who retired out of the Army, as a post-MBA (and he doesn't actually have one, we just gave him credit for his experience). It can be done.

Honestly, the challenge usually is not age. People in their late 30s get hired into MBB as post-MBAs all the time (not that they're common, but there are some every year). The hurdle is almost always the candidate.

Someone coming out of the military in their late 30s has usually made O-5 rank at minimum. Going from being a battalion commander in the Army, where you command a thousand soldiers, to being the most junior member of a 4-person team where a 25 year old manager is editing your emails for tone can be a difficult transition to navigate. A lot of older military officers have trouble with it.

So if you're planning to just do 10 years and get out as a LtCmdr, go for it. The age itself won't be a huge hurdle, and the military experience should more than make up for it.

This post gave me a lot of hope. I'm glad to see a lot of people who have truly made it after their military career ( even if it isn't in IB or Consulting) You are all right though, things might change in the next 10 years. There is a good chance of having kids before I am 40 years old, or I might meet my future MD boss while at a gentleman's club in Singapore haha. Who knows, i might have a business idea to act on before I get out and go start it myself. I am glad to see that this is an option when the time comes. Who knows, In 10 years I might find myself over in Qatar selling attack helicopters. Another question to ask, I know that the path to MD in MBB/ IB is around 7-10 years. Audit in big 4 is around 15. What's the time line to partner/ principal in b4 Management consulting?

Another question to ask, I know that the path to MD in MBB/ IB is around 7-10 years. Audit in big 4 is around 15. What's the time line to partner/ principal in b4 Management consulting?

Does this still hold true nowadays? I would say 3 years ASSO, 3 years VP and 3 years ED at a MINIMUM before making MD?

You'll be fine. If you can handle the US Navy, you'll be able to handle banking / consulting ;-)

The biggest benefit is that you won't act like a total pussy all the time like most of the ivy league brats in consulting/PE/banking. The biggest downside is that you will consistently fantasize about throat punching 80% of the people you deal with.

mid-30s is not too old.

I'm a current Marine F/A-18 driver putting together B school apps at 32, to matriculate at 33.

If I could back, I wouldn't have picked aviation. I would have done infantry or something else and been out in 4 or 6 years. Do not take any advice on this issue from old family friends that flew back in the day... even if they gout out in the early 2000s. The landscape has changed and its not the good old days anymore. Yes, I think you will have a certain amount of cachet. Everyone will ask you (more than once) what its like to land on an aircraft carrier.

*** Random tangent: The first trap is like auto pilot, like that scene in Old School where Will Farrell is debating and he gives a great speech and blacks out. Then you get a little shittier, cause you over think it, then you sort of get OK with the whole thing. If you do a boat tour (I never did) then you get really used to it and its competitive against your buddies and fun. Night time is scary and I never got used to it but maybe some folks do. ***

The other thing to consider is that you are grouped with other military folks when you get out. Sure, certain MOSs get more prestige, but in a way I think lots of civilians will just lump military folks together. What does the 35 year old fighter guy have over the 27 year old who was an acting company commander in combat? Or hell, the Fobbit (person who never left the wire in Iraq/Afg) who can write a bunch of crap about how they managed 100 people in a combat zone and implemented ABC process that saved $X and was Y% more efficient. No civilian will understand they didn't really do anything, just implemented someone else's BS fitrep bullet, then massaged the stats to show savings. To most civilians, you are all just military.

Your analysis of the training timeline is probably off-- I know mine was. I expected to wing in 2009, but it took a whole extra year until 2010 (random waiting when you move from base to base, etc). So IF you do make it all the way through and get Rhinos (nickname for F/A-18 E/F) or even the F-35 you probably won't be done until 36.

Luckily for you, the retirement system is changing. My generation of guys got fucked, but you will be able to get about 5% matching into the TSP (military 401(k)), so you can leave at 10 years with a decent nest egg. However, the way things are these days, I would not sign an aviation contract and commit to 10 years-ish unless you are 100% committed to staying for 20. Could you imagine any other company where you had to commit for that long? And oh, by they way, they have almost complete control of your life, and by the way the job could kill you? One of our guys recently got permanent brain damage (can still conduct daily life but his IQ went down significantly) from decompression sickness in a Hornet. That's when the cabin pressurization fails, your body is rapidly transported to 30,000' and the nitrogen in your blood collects into huge bubbles in your joints, teeth, brain, etc.

Sorry for the rant. The Marine Hornet community is in pretty bad shape these days, and the Navy is only slightly better. I can't post the link, but google "Marine hornet fox news" to see how bad things are these days. I worked with some amazing people and did some amazing things, both in a Hornet and with the infantry as a Forward Air Controller, but if I could go back I would have decided not to fly Hornets and stay in for 10 years+.

One more thing... check out the website Airwarriors if you haven't already, its a Navy/Marine aviation forum. Just keep your mouth shut and read through old posts at first, and don't be a douch. Later, ask questions but don't be a douche and nobody cares about your opinion on the F-35 or Obama's foreign policy unless you actually used to work at Lockheed or you did a post-grad in international relations. And that's also good advice for flight school and the fleet if you make it there.

Either way, good luck.