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Career Resources
Biggest Fuck Ups (Originally Posted: 05/03/2011)
Well, I just deleted 4 pages of schoolwork which took me about 4 hours to pull together (maybe 2 to get it all back). So, anybody else care to share their stories that end something like:
I AM A HUGE FUCKING MORON
I supported Reagan.
I chose another school over Wharton.
I clicked on this thread.
the final im taking in 40 minutes
Not getting a well known TV news anchor's daughter knocked up when I had the chance.
^^ ahh same boat...not getting a well known businessman's daughter knocked up when I had the chance....now I have to "work".
Going into consulting. Which is why I'm making the switch to IBD big time.
Having a gf for 3 years of College
Taking a scholarship to a non-target Division I school to play baseball because at the time it seemed like the greatest thing in the world. Should've leveraged my talent to get into a target school that would've been a little out of reach for me to begin with and just paid more in tuition.
Bigger the fuck up, bigger the lesson. Bigger the lesson, better I get. So looking back none of my shit seems to stink.
Reading this post
This semester
Ohh man, c'mon guys this thread is pretty weak. What's your REAL biggest fuck up?
I was expecting this thread to get really funny...really fast. Like getting caught banging a Partner-MD's daughter at a wedding, kind of thing. Not fucking up a test.
I'd post my actual biggest fuck ups on here, but I dont want anyone on here that I meet in real life to know them :-p
What Is the Worst Career or Education Mistake You Ever Made? (Originally Posted: 03/21/2013)
?
I declined an offer from $GOOG when I was young and naive. Wanted to work in Banking and thought I would make more money in Finance... i did make a lot but had I taken that job with GOOG my stock would be worth a lot more by now.
Obviously this was a long time ago.
Went to a non-target undergrad.
Worst education mistake I ever made was not learning to shoot a gun when I had the chance when I was 14 and waiting until I was older
Not aiming for 2300+ SATs. That stuff follows you for life.
Taking a job with people I hated because of the comp
Agree. But then I adopted the mentality: Another day another dollar.
A) not transfering to a target after freshman or sophomore year B) not getting an internship C) in sum- finding out how shit worked far too late
I think having "C" down would've prevented a lot of mistakes.
Harvard dropout here (and not a successful one like Gates or Zuck), come at me bros.
Being an over-represented minority. Oh wait, I don't have any control over that.
being a white male
Not taking HS seriously and going to a non-target.
I did not take HS seriously. I went to a non-target. I am better off today for that.
Not transferring to b school.
Don't think it'll ruin me, but definitely would have made things easier.
Though, then again, I really love my double major and being able to "have it all" in terms of education - it's definitely made me a more well-rounded person, so I have a feeling I won't regret it 20 years down the line.
Falling in a bonfire in high school.
Discovering WSO.
Would've felt like a badass and on top of the world with just a Big 4 accounting career...aka the "Gold Stamp" as many of people I talked to in Corp Fin called it.
FUCK YES. While I learned a ton from a few people, I also feel depressed and cynical about my career prospects, where as before I felt like I was gonna be a boss. Now I'm like, "Ehh $150-200k career high? Should've went to a target"
But this also kinda goes along with the "finding out how things work too late" thing. Had I known about targets and nontargets, and careers in high finance, I would've applied to more schools than just my state schools, and would've gotten some acceptances from at least some semi-targets.
Still, I try to just remember that the past is over, and coming from an absolute non-target this is the absolute best I can do.
Not seeking out mentors at an earlier age so that I could learn from their experience/mistakes and not make the same ones.
Going to a non-target for an athletic scholarship rather than going to Dartmouth/Harvard and paying for it myself.
Not really sure if I regret it, it would've just been a different path.
Not being black or a squash player.
Biggest SA screw up (Originally Posted: 07/05/2008)
Hey, just wondering what is the biggest screw up you have heard of or personally experienced / done by an SA?
im still in college but i was talking with an analyst at CS about this today and while he didnt give specific examples, he said the worst thing an SA do is try to act like hot shots by speaking up in meetings, or take way too long on an easy project, or be too quiet and not socialize with their peers.
i know that doesnt directly answer your question, but if youre trying to figure out what NOT to do then i would say all of the above.
Wiping out 3 days of an associates work on a model by saving a blank spreadsheet over it. Don't do it.
You might as well buy a one-way ticket home after that.
How the hell do you do that anyway?
You might as well buy a one-way ticket home after that.
How the hell do you do that anyway?
I smell some bullshit. Even middle markets have some concept of version control.
don't beat up your MD. that's the biggest screw up.
cursing accidentally in front of a client is hilarious, but also really bad, i saw this happen firsthand.
zip:
My BB had an autosave by date for each saved version to prevent this...AKA you'd have to be really stupid to have this happen.
Guessing the poor dude didn't get an FT offer haha
sleeping during a client meeting
Hook up with an associate
Yeah, I call BS on that too...my bank saves and archives file versions by the hour going back a few days. I did something like that once and just pulled up the version in the server from an hour before and saved that back over.
Okay it's not banking but a good story anyway . . .
a few years back my girlfriend was a summer associate at a law firm there was an email going around describing an incident in the LA office.
It seems that one of the summers got pretty drunk at a firm event and agressively pursued an associates girlfriend.
When the associate politely tried to intervene to help the guy out, the summer threatened to "fucking kill" him.
I don't think he even made it to the end of the summer.
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