Stay in PE or transition out?
Some background on me: I spent a few years, fresh out of university, on the tech side of stuff for an institutional investor before moving over to the front office as an analyst on the private equity team. The team was very small team which allowed me to pretty much immerse myself in virtually everything from underwriting to investment monitoring/reporting and we did pretty much all sorts of deals including primaries, secondaries, co-investments and directs and all kinds of sectors. I also got exposure to a number of different asset classes besides PE like private credit and infrastructure but PE just seems more interesting (credit -> limited upside so therefore very little recognition for doing your job and lots of blame for when shit goes sideways, infrastructure -> overly complicated investment models for super long lived assets and relatively low returns ... at least relative to PE vs what we were usually looking at in Infra) since there was more value-add activities and you can really get a chance to see the fruits of your labour.
The downside of all this exposure though ... is that I was pretty much drowning in work and particularly with the super hands-on approach + small team, meant limited time for coaching and mentoring from the senior folks on the team. This was reflected in my pretty borderline performance reviews (but I did contribute significant value-add to the team which was why they kept me on). Lately, the organization has undergone pretty seismic shifts in terms of people and culture leading to the departure of my boss (the MD) and my boss's boss in pretty rapid succession (left on own accord, not for performance reasons).
Fast forward to today, for whatever reason, I was given the heads up I was going to get restructured out in the new year with no clarity as to what will ultimately become of me (whether severance or alternative employment within the firm) and pretty much has me considering the whether or not I should be staying in PE or looking transition out to something else.
Staying in PE:
Pros:
- Having broken in already ... means some experience and credibility
- Like the job of being an analyst for the most part
- Have a compelling, differentiate skillset relative to other entry level folks (programming, automating experience, double degrees in engineering and econ)
Cons:
- A little burnt out from the culture change and political stuff
- Competing with younger folks that have a strong IB background and me not being nearly as machine-like and consistent as someone like that
- Much prefer analysis and doing work vs working on relationships which seems to be in greater emphasis as you progress up the ranks.
Going into tech
Pros:
- Pretty lucrative and shouldn't be a tough transition
- Better long term fit for me (long term career aspirations in PE usually means a greater focus on relationships and less if not zero on analysis ... in tech can keep doing analysis and problem solving as a consultant or work the ranks up to management)
Cons:
- Potentially as much political, relationship/ego management as PE
- Still having to compete against younger, more talented folks
I've also thought a bit about potentially moving over into a more operational type role or maybe something within corporate that can utilize my skill set. I feel like I'm kind of between worlds at the moment, not as strong on the financial stuff as some of my peers in PE and not experienced enough to get into tech. I'm also at the age where I can't really spend another couple of years starting over again.
Not sure if anyone has any ideas to offer me or advice. Not even really sure who to talk to.
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