Travelling until 30 - beginning career later
Hey guys,
It is my viewpoint that there is no rush to attain one's career goals in their 20's - rather, this is the time for travel and achieving other goals which can only be done during this time period (eg sporting). I met a guy in Austria who worked at a bar on the mountain during Winters, and on boats in the Mediterranean in the Summers. I'm intrigued by living this sort of lifestyle as a temporary alternative to the white-collar path. Eligibility for most working holiday visas run out at the age of 30, so, it seems like this is the best time for it.
Who thinks it is at all possible to return to the corporate path after working abroad doing low-skill jobs with zero relevance for several years?
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EDIT:
Thought I might flesh out a more specific/ updated game plan: continue on the 'prestige' track for several years (most likely sell-side finance), saving up as much money as possible. Testing the career on the side - eg what @mech60 suggested with doing the sort of work I intend on the weekends. Buy equity in a small business in sport tourism sector with the potential for operational improvements or a roll-up etc. If it fails, I'm only 1-3 years deep and play it as an entrepreneurship experience and return. My plan Z is continuing family property development biz. Feel free to punch holes, or add some advice on how to further mitigate the extreme potential downside.
you would be putting yourself at an extreme disadvantage
There is merit to choosing the road less traveled, so I'm not going to put it down. That said, that will 100% eliminate you permanently (for the rest of your life) from working any career which this forum commonly discusses. The issue with "Wall Street" and "Wall Street-adjacent" high finance is that there are strict career paths. For example, you can't just become an investment banking analyst at 30 (it's theoretically possible, I suppose, if you know the right person). And you can't just come in at 30 as a VP or Director without relevant work experience (relevant = something in an office + elite MBA).
In fact, I'd assume it would hamstring you in most career paths, from accounting to law. But our careers can be golden handcuffs. I sometimes wish I would get fired because it would force me to really pursue my dreams. There's merit to not going down the strict "corporate" path, so I'm not gonna dog that decision. Just know what you're getting.
Lol, this isn't true. OP can always get an MBA afterwards and move into banking. There's no hard and fast rules to anything.
Yes, I'm sure HBS and Wharton are taking a ton of bartenders among their ~10% acceptance rate.
You don't need to go to HBS/Wharton to get into Banking.
Which investment banks, PE firms, etc. are recruiting out of tier 2 and 3 MBA programs AND picking the recruits from those schools with zero *relevant* work experience to manage analysts? Like I said in my original post, it's POSSIBLE you could pull it off, but it's highly improbable and would take luck or knowing the right person. It's definitely not probable enough to put it into your 10-year plan. 1) travel Europe and be a bartender; 2) get a tier 2/3 MBA; 3) become a VP at Goldman.
Your advice is so bad that I think it has to be on purpose to discourage competition.
There are people across m7 programs who come from non traditional backgrounds (teaching, entrepreneurship). Its obvious that he can't write an app saying he just traveled for 8 years, but if he's a bit creative, maybe he started a low maintenance business and have someone run it (bar/restraunt/ecommerce biz, digital nomad, etc) then he wouldn't have any issues breaking into IBD/MBB.
Careers are gonna be so long to begin with that its about completing a marathon, not a sprint. Social security isn't expected to pay out till 73 and with lower interest rates, its gonna be much harder to retire early. Honestly, I can't imagine taking 8 years off just to travel, but I would have taken a year or two after graduating to become a ski instructor or travel a bit.
Everyone has "issues" breaking into those fields, regardless of the pedigree of their resume. You go to HBS you're not guaranteed to break in, it just vastly improves your odds. You're making a ton of assumptions: you'll have *no problem* getting into an M7 program (which is true for literally no one) if you start a bar (or something?) and once you're in you'll have *no problem* beating your competition at your own school for the open positions, regardless of your lack of any relevant experience at all even in an office environment *relative to your competition*.
Utterly asinine advice.
Dude go for it.
Just make sure you're developing a transferrable skillset while you're doing it.
I'm in my late twenties, travelled around the world for much of my early and mid twenties. Founded a start-up along the way, did door to door sales and learned a shitload.
Broke into IB as an associate last year, no MBA. Didn't know anyone in it, just applied like most people.
It's all about how you frame your story.
How?
Boutique that specializes in the same sector as your startup?
Either way, congrats on the offer but this is pretty much peak survivorship bias.
Bookmark
Maybe working till 35-40 and opening up your own café later would be more peaceful. After working at beautiful locations in your 20s or early 30s you might end up never wanting to return to the busy shore.
I kind of disagree with this. I already feel my tolerance for bull crap starting to decrease and almost feel like younger would be better as you can/probably put up with more pains of daily life.
I would hate to get to 35-40 and just begin to take career seriously, not have any serious savings, etc. Compare that to someone who grinded, or even someone with a typical marketing/accounting/finance career who at that same age should be approaching a 7 figure net worth which basically opens the door to anything as you get older. NOTHING is sadder than the 50-60 year old joe shmoe still keeping up with the joneses who is a slave to 9-5. You dont need a 250k+ job to secure a high net worth and financial freedom. Any good job (70k+) will get you there in time.
That said the ability to travel the world would give an amazing perspective - I feel that perspective would ultimately lead one to never even enter the rat race and just work non profit or something. At the end of this life I doubt it's something you would regret
I knew a guy who tried to combine lifestyles, worked hard M-F during the year, and took a few weeks off in winter and the summer to be a skiing instructor and work on sailing boats. It was more a hobby than a lifestyle, but he enjoyed it. I wouldn't throw away a great start in a career unless you have to or really want to.
sounds like the life
Ok, real talk. I am in the general range of the “settle down” age you are proposing, as are my friends and past classmates.
I know of only two people who did as you described - traveling around, getting bullshit grad degrees abroad, generally fucking off - and came out fine, and that is only because one is now working for his dad and the other is using his trust and family members’ money to “seed” his “angel fund”. I know many many many more people who went that route and are now paying for it. They are all working as some flavor of “account manager” or in (non-lucrative) sales at random companies/startups alongside 25 year olds or are planning to go back to school (and literally any school they can get into) to pivot.
Most low risk/high reward careers are built upon in your 20s and early 30s. Even unicorns in tech were built because their founders were slaving away in their youth (FAANG, PayPal, etc). Pissing away your 20s is the dumbest career move you could make unless your parents are billionaires imo
Eh I agree with you, but your parents don't necessarily have to be billionaires... just rich
no fucking shit
Thanks everyone for your comments. Thought I might flesh out a more specific/ updated game plan: continue on the 'prestige' track for several years (most likely sell-side finance), saving up as much money as possible. Testing the career on the side - eg what @mech60 suggested with doing the sort of work I intend on the weekends. Buy equity in a small business in sport tourism sector with the potential for operational improvements or a roll-up etc. If it fails, I'm only 1-3 years deep and play it as an entrepreneurship experience and return. My plan Z is continuing family property development biz. Feel free to punch holes, or add some advice on how to further mitigate the extreme potential downside.
"In his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9
Thanks to COVID, many firms and industries have accepted WFH as a norm. Why not work at a firm that has a lenient WFH policy? With this option you can generate a good income and develop a solid skillset.
I've met many people who had done the full time traveling thing. The common theme was those people were miserable and traveling was allowing them to get away from their problems. Over time you may start to feel regret and a growing feeling of anxiety while your bank account is at 0, and your friends are progressing in their careers and saving money. There's nothing worse than traveling with 0 money in your bank account. I've met people at hostels that wouldn't have a single penny to visit museums or try out different foods, and it was sad to see. Traveling all the time will also be rough on the body, and you'll feel burnt out from traveling.
I've been thinking this too, corp dev at tech company ? Anyone got other ideas where lenient WFH policies will be most common? Can't imagine too many employers in the finance industry with flexible WFH policies post-COVID.
I mean to a certain extent you don't have to work your full time while traveling just run rate to cover your travels. Lets say you get an employer that demands back to office in a year or two. great hopefully you have saved enough to just quit
in ideal world - great idea, exactly how life should be
in real world - bad idea, gonna ruin your life
This kind of stuff is a LOT more popular in European fuh-nuance. Don't listen to the US dogma on WSO.
If you want to take a break and go the MBA route, you first have to consider what MBA adcoms view as favorable in the admission. There are three key factors:
- GMAT/GRE score
- Undergrad GPA
- Recommendations/Experience
Places like Stanford are more liberal with experience, but there is one theme you have to meet - proving a record of excellence and progression through a certain field with leadership capabilities and increasing responsibility. You have to craft this experience in your essays to convey your progression of responsibility and leadership qualities, demonstrated by concrete results.
If your uGPA is lower than the average, you're going to have to become a GMAT/GRE splitter and score very high on the exam. So best practice would be for you to study your ass off while you're traveling and when ready, ace the exam.
There are some books on Amazon with successful Wharton and Harvard MBA essays. Buy these books and read them. Begin to frame your life around what you will write in the essays and you might make a desirable MBA candidate.
https://www.amazon.com/Successful-Wharton-Business-School-Essays/dp/061…
https://www.amazon.com/Successful-Harvard-Business-School-Application/d…
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