Big 4 Audit to Big 4 Strategy in Alternative Investments
About
In this episode, Adam shares how he broke into Big 4 Audit after working for a year at a non-profit after graduating his super non-target with a degree in accounting. We learn how he ended up at that non-target, how he made the jump into the Big 4 and then how his impressive performance opened doors internally to make his final transition into more interesting strategy work. Learn why his bosses were consistently impressed so you can try to emulate his path.
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WSO Podcast Transcript:
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:00:05] Hello and welcome. I'm Patrick Curtis, your host and chief Monkey. And this is the Wall Street Oasis podcast. Join me as I talk to some of the community's most successful and inspirational members to gain valuable insight into different career paths and life in general. Let's get to it. In this episode, Adam shares how he broke into Big Four audit after working for a year at a nonprofit and graduating from his Super non Target school with a degree in accounting. We learn how he ended up at that non target, how he made the jump into the big four and then how his impressive performance opened doors internally to make his final transition into more interesting strategy work. Learn why his bosses were consistently impressed so you can try to emulate his path. Enjoy. All right, Adam, thank you so much for joining the Wall Street Voices podcast.
Adam: [00:00:57] Yeah, thank you for having me.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:00:58] So it'd be great if you could just give the listeners a short summary or your background.
Adam: [00:01:02] Sure. So right now I am a big four consultant. I work on management consulting, operational consulting, a bit of strategy. I work specifically with alternative asset managers, so most of the listeners should be familiar with that. But we're talking PE, hedge fund, real estate, not so much on the on the VC side, I have an accounting degree from a non-target school I recruited into the firm in the risk assurance practice after doing a year at a nonprofit, actually, and then ended up making my way into one of the broader management consulting commercial service lines two years in. And then just due to working with some great people, I ended up transferring into the alts practice. I've been here officially for like three or four months.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:02:04] Awesome. And so coming from that non target, what was kind of in graduating with an accounting degree, what was the thought process? Were you thinking big for why? Why go nonprofit when you first came out?
Adam: [00:02:16] So it's it's a bit of an interesting story I guess I two offers coming out of school. One was with the nonprofit which I had gotten the offer there just because I interned there one summer and then I had an offer at a small local accounting firm. So it wasn't even on the mind. Big Four didn't really have a presence in my school. It was even a non target for the assurance practices.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:02:45] Got it. Okay, so you're at like a super non we'll call it a super non target basically that people you're even with, with accounting background you're basically it's a stretch to get to the big four if you were to make it to the big four there it's like wow kind of impressive, right? Is that accurate?
Adam: [00:03:01] Yeah, exactly. Like we I think in my class we had maybe two people that got big for a lot of like your Grant Thornton RSM level. Yeah but after maybe six months working at the nonprofit, I found out two things that were very surprising to me. One, there was a job posting on the school job board for the Big Four role that I ended up getting, and two, they allowed people to use that on campus recruiting even after graduating. So putting in an application and, you know, went through a pretty standard recruiting process.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:03:42] So you're still able to use OCR even after you graduated, would be able to join. So like even if you're a year out, how long do they extend that for alum?
Adam: [00:03:50] Um, you know, I don't know. It's at least at least a year out, obviously. Maybe that's one of the advantages of going to a super non-target. Weird policies like that.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:04:01] Okay, so you're you saw something through OCR. You kind of you were close enough to campus where you're able to kind of participate or is just was it just this one position you applied for?
Adam: [00:04:11] It was just the one position I applied for. Okay. They had again, no on campus presence, so it was just a phone screen and then a final.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:04:20] And can you tell me a little bit about so you got selected for the phone screen, obviously. Was there anything unexpected on the phone screen? It was just very much like FICC.
Adam: [00:04:27] Question That's your standard, not maybe not even fit questions, just like HR telling you what the role is and then just don't trip over your words too hard and you get the final, I guess.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:04:37] And specifically about the tell me a little bit about know know kind of case interview. What was the final like.
Adam: [00:04:43] Yeah. So like, um. Frankly. Like accounting gets looked down on a lot and like the finance community. And I'd say that this part of it might be a good reason for that in that really at the entry level, the accounting firms are looking for warm bodies. Anybody can do the job. The entire interview is about are we going to be able to stand sitting in a room with this guy for 12 hours?
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:05:09] Right. Like, are you are you diligent? Are you going to get the work done or are you going to complain? And can they say, yeah.
Adam: [00:05:15] It's fine that yeah. And I'd say even bigger than that is can they hold a conversation?
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:05:21] Okay, fair enough. So but let's rewind a little bit before you kind of let's go back to the nonprofit. So you had intern there and you were doing what kind of stuff there for them? Did you enjoy it? What made you kind of why were you still looking? I guess.
Adam: [00:05:34] Yeah, so it was. So I, I guess I'll there's a couple of parts of that question. I did enjoy it very much. The people I worked with were great. I am still a little bit involved with that organization, even though not as much as I'd like to be as far as the work that I was doing there. It kind of kind of evolved. So when. So I first went on as a volunteer because I didn't really have a lot of internship prospects, and I figured some volunteer work would look good on the resume. They passed me with pretty much doing a data cleanup exercise and all their donated donor data. Mm hmm. So what I did was I took all their garbage Excel spreadsheets, cleaned them up, ended up building a pretty functional access database that worked pretty well with all the donor data. And then that was around the point where I was finishing up my internship.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:06:32] So you actually brought in Microsoft Access, You built it, you took all their Excel database crap and sheets and you got it into an actual using access, basically. Yep, You built that in, so you got all of that. So there's a lot of like data mining data entry, I assume, or just copy and pasting.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:06:50] Or well, what was it? So it's.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:06:52] Scripts or.
Adam: [00:06:53] I would say the biggest lift was normalizing the data. Right? So obviously any idiot can copy and paste everything in and frankly, any idiot can do a normalization, but it's a lot more involved, like making sure that the donor doesn't have their name in there two different ways the address formats line up, you know, that kind of thing.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:07:13] Yep. Okay. So that was kind of your internship. Sounds like a pretty standard internship. And then you they gave you the offer. Was it something where you were excited? Were you just like, Oh, this might be a good option and let's go back a little bit? What what made you go to your your super non target or did you not know? Was it just what was available to you kind of going back further?
Adam: [00:07:36] Sure. So I. I started college at a target. Mm hmm. I due to a number of reasons. Picking a major that was above my depth. Um. I don't know. I just wasn't maybe mature enough for school. I ended up doing pretty poorly there.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:08:02] They're tough, major at a Target school where the competition is real. So it was basically a tough major at a Target school, really tough competition. You didn't do well. Maybe you're weren't ready or mature enough. You do go at like, right, right after high school. Like 18. 19.
Adam: [00:08:18] Yeah, 17. Okay. Um, started as a chemical engineering major. Looking back at it, I don't like chemistry or engineering, so I don't know what made me choose that. Okay. Kind of cycled through a couple of STEM majors in my three years there, and then the kind of writing was on the wall that time, too. Oh, you get your shit together.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:08:42] So you did.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:08:43] Three figure.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:08:43] Something out. You did three years there.
Adam: [00:08:45] Yeah.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:08:46] Yep. Okay. And tell me about the family situation. Parents kind of supportive during this whole time. They're paying tuition, and I know target schools are expensive, Right?
Adam: [00:08:54] So, yeah, I mean, it was on Target State School, so it was in-state tuition. It wasn't like, horrible. But yeah, they were supporting me financially. Yep. They were understandably pissed that my like, I was, I got like a 3.95 in high school and going from that to kind of floundering college was definitely a shock to the system for for me and for them.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:09:17] That's, that's really interesting to me like because you clearly had the intellectual chops to do. Was it more like, tell me why you think the maturity wasn't there? Was it because, like, you had freedom for the first time where your parents really strict and didn't let you party and then you got to college and it was like fun or was it more of the workload was just so different from high school. Like the high school year at wasn't competitive. And then when you got to there, it was like just a whole other level or a.
Adam: [00:09:40] Combination, you know, I'd say a little Italian, a little column B the freedom definitely was problematic. Um. For me at that age. And then also, like I was one of those kids that never had the. Study or really do much and get A's in high school. And I don't think. I don't think that's because it wasn't a difficult high school. I just think I was good at high school and a lot less go to college. I came out of college like 38 credits or something dumb like that.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:10:13] Yeah, it's interesting how that that works like that. It's almost like the lack of structure of college can really make people flounder a little bit if it depends on like, how structured the high school is versus the college. It's an interesting transition. So thank you for sharing that because I know it's I don't typically ask that, but I was just curious kind of how you ended up at the other non target. And so you kind of were like, okay, something more reasonable accounting degree, I can get a job. It's something more kind of lower risk, right? Is that the.
Adam: [00:10:43] Thought? Yeah, pretty much. Lower risk. And it was just kind of the best major at the non-target, I guess.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:10:52] Got it. Okay. So it's all making sense now. So you're you do the internship at the nonprofit. The nonprofit gives you the offer. Are you thinking, hey, this is a potential long term career career here. I really like these people? Or are you thinking, hey, this is a good first job out of college?
Adam: [00:11:09] I was thinking this is a good first job out of college. One of the he was a donor to the nonprofit and also volunteered a lot of his time, probably a later career professional, like 10 to 15 years in. He actually worked at the firm that I work at now, and he kind of opened my mind about entertaining other options other than the nonprofit. And it was a coincidence that that same firm was also the only Big Four firm that ended up recruiting or posting the job listing at my college.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:11:50] So how did how did you.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:11:52] Find impetus.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:11:52] There? How did you even meet this donor? Was it like an event or something?
Adam: [00:11:56] I was he was volunteering on something that was related to what I was doing and I don't remember what it was.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:12:04] And did you just start up a conversation? How did that work and was it awkward? Where were you actively networking on purpose or was it more of a just a serendipitous meeting?
Adam: [00:12:13] Um, I'd say it was more of a serendipitous meeting. I mean, it wasn't awkward. I Yeah.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:12:19] You are like asking for a. You weren't really trying to ask for a job or anything like that at that point. You were just curious.
Adam: [00:12:24] Definitely not trying to ask for a job. And he was completely unrelated to me getting the job. I believe it was more just like we were working together. I thought he was a smart guy. I asked him what he did. Went from there.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:12:37] Got it. Okay. Fair. So you're you're basically think he kind of plants the seed in terms of a possible transition. That job pops up on your on campus recruiting. You apply you do the easy phone screen, get passed on to the final round. Tell me the final round was still pretty, pretty straightforward. Like you said, they're trying to get warm bodies in there for. And this is for the audit, right? The audit rule?
Adam: [00:13:02] Yeah. It was risk assurance. Some firms thought risk advisory. It's basically controls.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:13:07] Work. Got it. Okay. So what other people can call either back office or middle office, similar kind of type type of roles. You're coming in, you you land the job, obviously. Is it a big pay jump? What can you do you mind sharing like pay ranges in terms of from the non pay cut. Okay. Interesting.
Adam: [00:13:27] I took it to because I knew the long term was better. I didn't answer all your questions about the nonprofit. Yeah.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:13:34] You can go back.
Adam: [00:13:36] The. So the work was actually really good and led to me getting the offer at the firm I'm at now. After I built that Access database, my biggest project once I was on full time was I was looking into like a real system. They were looking at some profit focused CRM. I watched a demo. It looked like complete garbage to me. I did some more research, found out that Salesforce gives a limited number of licenses for free to nonprofits. So I signed us up for that. We ended up not paying for the other system. I built out a custom app and Salesforce got all the data in there. So that was nice. Pretty cool project. I learned a lot. I had barely even heard of Salesforce before that, but learn how it worked. Learn how to build things in there. Even did some some coding and automation in there. Hey, that was like my crowning achievement, I guess. And I finished that up pretty much right when I was making the transition to my current firm.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:14:47] That's awesome. And a lot of that was it. It's obviously just self taught and the training videos and all that stuff. But did you feel like. You could obviously talk to that during the interviews, which really helped because you're kind of a go getter and starter. And tell me a little tell me a little bit about like the. So all those was it like more hands off than non profit where you had to kind of lead yourself or like you're like, hey, they're like, do you just handle all the data? We don't know what we're doing or what was the was it a small enough team that you're kind of just given the reins?
Adam: [00:15:15] Yeah. So I was under the CFO who was under the president. The supervisory. Relationship that I had with the CFO was essentially. I. Came up with a proposal of what I wanted to do. Got her sign off than I did it. So there was really no like. Direction per se. Right. But she was still signing off on my proposed direction.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:15:48] Okay, that's fair. So tell me about. So you took a pay cut. Are we talking, like, from, like 60,000 base or 50,000 based on 240 or what do we.
Adam: [00:15:58] It was 57 to 53, so pretty nominal.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:16:02] Okay. And so but you knew the long term at at this big four obviously had much higher much higher.
Adam: [00:16:09] At the nonprofit like people sit there at the same pay for years so I wasn't really having that.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:16:14] Okay so you're you land this new job, you make the transition out. Tell me what's kind of the first week like? What's the surprising? Is it is there anything that shocked you or was it just more standard? Okay, here's how you're going to block and tackle and help us. And then let's talk a little bit about the transition. Like, how did you go from that one group to the other? How delicate was that? How hard was that to do?
Adam: [00:16:37] Sure. So those are two very different questions. The first one. I don't think I was really surprised by any of it. I mean, I've always been pretty savvy on like what these career paths mean. I spend a fair amount of time on your website, and I think I did even back then. And like the Reddit, accounting and consulting communities are both fantastic. So I don't think I was super surprised by anything except that. Pretty quickly I learned that I was picking shit up way faster than anybody else, and that's part of what made me explore a transition. Like, I was just like, it just. And part of it is you're doing the same thing every year for the same clients. I don't know.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:17:24] It it gets old. I've heard this from other other guests, like, yeah, it just gets repetitive after a couple of years. So you're there for two years. When do you kind of start angling for this transition? How are you doing it? Are you networking internally? And then tell me about that, like that kind of lead up to it?
Adam: [00:17:40] Sure. So I knew from almost day one that I wanted to make a change. I my path was probably 40% skill and good networking, 60% pure, unadulterated luck. I proved myself on one of my first projects to a director that had a very good opinion of me. Then she happened to be staffed in the lead PMO role on a consulting engagement. She brought me in as PMO support. Interestingly, the client liked my performance when they liked hers, but that's a different thing.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:18:31] Tell me what is what is? Tell me what is PMO support? What is what is PMO stand for? Sorry.
Adam: [00:18:37] Project management.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:18:38] Project me. Okay, got it.
Adam: [00:18:40] Yep. So then on that project, it was her and I as the project management office, and there were other consultants that were doing the actual consulting work. I ended up building really good relationships with a lot of those guys. Part of how I did that, I mean, this client was like an hour away, but I would even if I wasn't there for the day, I would drive down for team dinner. Like, honestly, that's the biggest piece of initiative that I can really claim credit for is putting in the time and effort to build relationships with those guys.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:19:17] Yeah, and this was intentional. This is intentionally said, Look, these guys, this is the type of work I want to be doing eventually. I don't want to be brought in for a manager role or like a management role support. I want to be on this team. Is that the.
Adam: [00:19:29] No. So I wasn't explicit about it, but they are not stupid. It's basically the Cliff notes. They're like, they saw that I was putting in the time to build the relationships. I was going to float the idea like as the engagement was wrapping up and one of the other guys floated it before I could got it.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:19:46] So tell me how that how that went down. Was it the director? Was it somebody else more senior in that.
Adam: [00:19:51] It was a manager on the engagement.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:19:54] Like, Hey, you should come over and do the next one with us too? Or and or How did it work?
Adam: [00:19:59] Sorry, repeat.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:20:00] That. Was it where they just said you should go on this next one with us or like. And then tell me the logistics.
Adam: [00:20:05] No, it's only it was that simple. We were at dinner one night and the manager was like, Hey, you're clearly pretty sharp. You should think about making a change to something more interesting, like what we do. And I was like, Yeah, I was actually going to bring that up basically. And then so I knew I had him on board. And then for the next year and a half it was just like pulling teeth, going back and forth with HR for. Trying to figure out what the pipeline was, where the needs were. And then finally, we did. What we should have done in the first place is the manager was like, Look, I'm just going to get you in front of the partner. Gotten from a partner. Transfer was finalized within a week. So I know the movers and shakers, I guess.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:20:53] Yeah, fair enough. So like you were trying to do it through air or the right the right way, but that was clearly getting you nowhere or just dragging because probably the audit partners were saying, no way, we need it, we need the bodies. Right.
Adam: [00:21:05] And he's good. I don't even think the audit partners were saying no. I just think that.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:21:08] Air was just dragging. Like who was dragging their heels for a year and a half. That seems like a long time to be waiting for that transition.
Adam: [00:21:16] I want to say it was air. Yeah, I get.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:21:20] The I don't blame I don't blame. I don't blame them. I mean, it's probably hard to get people who are decent in your seat, so they want to. Well.
Adam: [00:21:28] It's partly that. I also think there's just a huge volume of people trying to go through HR, so they probably don't take any of the request seriously.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:21:34] Got it. So unless.
Adam: [00:21:36] There's not that many spots.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:21:37] Unless a partner kind of.
Adam: [00:21:40] Yeah. The partner tells them what to do. They do it. Yeah.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:21:43] Fair. So. And then your pay. Did it take a big jump when you went from audit to the this other group. What's this other group called management.
Adam: [00:21:51] So the first group I transferred to, I don't want to say the name because it's firm specific, that's fine. But all the big four firms have the equivalent of it and it's essentially doing. Um, financial transformation projects is like the bread and butter. So that's really like process overhaul projects in the back office of our clients. Now the way these practices started, and I think this is the case for all four of the Big Fours, this is really just any project that falls under the CFO's purview and our clients pretty much goes to this practice. Mm hmm. So our bread and butter was financial transformation, but we do a lot of did a lot of other work like, um. I was on a lease accounting implementation project, for example. So it can be a number of things.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:22:51] Got it. And so you're in that group and then how long were you there and then when did you make the final transition to the group you're in now?
Adam: [00:22:58] So I was officially there for two years. Hold on just a second. Yep. I was officially there for two years, about a year in. I ended up getting staffed on a lease accounting implementation for a client in my current space and they staffed it. Cross practice, brought in some people from my area that were better at the lease accounting stuff and some people from their area that had more industry knowledge and depth. So I ended up impressing this director who, knock on wood, will be partner this year. Ended up impressing him a lot. Floated the idea of making the change and then he was like, Hell yeah, man, let's do it. And so after that lease accounting project wrapped, we did a couple of other projects in his space while I was still officially on the books of the other practice, and that was kind of like a two way feel each other out process. We wanted to make sure, one, that the work that they do is work I want to be doing because at least counting if you don't know, sucks ass. And I didn't want to do that anymore. Yeah, okay. And then we also wanted to make sure that then being impressed by me on that project was not a fluke and I could deliver on other projects. Long story short, we both came to the answer yes, and we processed it as a July.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:24:25] Awesome. And so tell me specifically about why you think you impress them. Like what? What are you doing? Did like day to day because it happened. It sounds like a pattern where you impress the first group and then press the second group. So what was were you going into these like knowing that this potentially may be a group you want and then just like putting in long hours and being really diligent and building relationships, or was it something you were just doing on all your projects?
Adam: [00:24:50] Yeah, it's something I was doing on all of my projects. I didn't even consider the idea of a transfer when I started working with these guys. Um. And honestly, when when I was talking to them about making the switch, I wasn't even 100% sure I wanted to do it because. While I really enjoyed the people I worked with, like that was really the only reason I wanted to switch. Like, I didn't really know that much about the work they did, about how I would like the industry. But to answer your question more directly, the way that. I impress people is. One I'm good at. Time management project tracking, just like organizationally what you need to do to succeed on a project. Two I am good at breaking down problems into the pieces that you really need to think about to get to solving them. Mm hmm. And three, I've been told on multiple occasions that one of my biggest strengths is is taking a complex. Uh, system or, or situation and explaining it in a way that. That people can understand. And that includes client executives, because a lot of times they're they're flying at 30,000 feet level and you're deep in the weeds and you need to bubble it up and explain to them in a way, in a way that makes sense and more importantly, matters to them. So those are like my my strengths, like. Uh, like consulting strength, I guess.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:26:29] Yeah. Dealing with the clients? Yeah. Dealing with anything.
Adam: [00:26:30] That impresses people is. Is just being proactive. And that's something I've always been good at.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:26:39] Do you think that's changed a lot since you struggled in college at that target? Is that something that's completely changed in you? Like just a maturity thing where you're like, Okay, I got to get my this is the real deal now I'm on my own. Or is it is it something that you always had? And it's just it was the environment that didn't let you kind of. Have similar success when you were 17.
Adam: [00:26:57] It's a good question. So. And I haven't really thought.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:27:02] Because we all we all change. We all change a lot, you know, coming through college, obviously, in their twenties.
Adam: [00:27:06] So but definitely part of it is that I've changed. Yeah. I'd say one thing that's made me a lot more successful. In my career than I was academically. Is that. I feel like the goals and what you're trying to accomplish in college are more abstract and less tangible. And that was especially the case for me when I started, because I was a lot less informed about career paths, what I wanted to do, etc.. When you get into the business world, especially in a client service project based role is there's. There's always like the next thing to work towards, both from a macro and a micro level like macro being career wise and micro being project delivery. There's there's just that always that next thing to work towards and it really. I don't know. It makes it easier for for my personality, I guess.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:28:08] Great. And then looking back. Before we call anything else you'd like, you'd give your younger self any advice? Would you have taken a year off between high school and college? Would you have kind of done the same jumps that you've done along the way or any other kind of words of wisdom?
Adam: [00:28:27] Don't subscribe to World of Warcraft.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:28:29] Probably what happened. Too much time, too many hours wasted.
Adam: [00:28:36] Yeah. Yeah, Maybe that's.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:28:38] Yeah, It's addicting, huh?
Adam: [00:28:41] Like other pieces of advice. I mean, frankly, it's. It's hard. Like one little soapbox moment here. I feel like some people are seriously, seriously privileged when they're going from high school to college to career with a family and parents that actually know what the fuck the business world is like, which I had none of. Yep. And I'm not like, blaming that on on my path. Like, I guess my advice would be to research more and care earlier in my life. But I feel like. Like. For example, some people get to senior year of high school knowing what a consultant or an investment banker is. I didn't. And I feel like if you if you're armed with that, you can you're just. Probably a lot more set up for success.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:29:41] Of course. Yeah. I mean, especially nowadays with with the accelerated recruiting cycles, all the stuff going on. If you don't know by end of your freshman year and you have like a full set of classes and only a short amount of time to prep, it's just.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:29:55] That you're.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:29:56] Behind, you're behind, you're already behind. So knowing, knowing before your freshman year, I mean, it's I'm doing this other show called Monkey to Millions where we are mentoring these four kids. And one of the mentees is she's just started she's a freshman in college and like, she's already like laying the foundation for the fall that freshman summer so that she can get the sophomore summer internship, which has now become kind of like the junior internship was. So it's just crazy how early everything is shifted. And yeah, you're right. If you don't know, let's say your parents are in medicine and you have no idea about finance or let's say.
Adam: [00:30:30] Exactly the case for me.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:30:31] Yeah, my dad was was in medicine. I had no idea. I didn't even know until my I think junior year really what an investment banker was. And I still didn't really know what I'm really fully understand it. Back to back then. There was a lot more leeway for that and the competition wasn't as tough. But anyways, thank you for that. For that advice. I'll definitely still steer people away from war or what it's called War of Warcraft or World of Warcraft. That's right. Yeah. I think my friend in high school was addicted to that too. Way back.
Adam: [00:31:05] I yeah, I mean, I don't know how you, how old you are, but it's probably pretty similar to my.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:31:11] Age, almost 40. So. Yeah.
Adam: [00:31:13] Fair enough. Well I'm late twenties, much older. The game kind of sucks now, so it's probably less of a less of a draw. But back when I was.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:31:22] Playing Fortnite, I think Fortnite is the real addicting one now.
Adam: [00:31:26] Yeah, probably.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:31:27] But anyways.
Adam: [00:31:28] Kids get off my lawn.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:31:31] And van, thanks so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it. I enjoyed it.
Adam: [00:31:36] Yeah. Sounds good. You have a good weekend.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:31:38] You, too. And thanks to you, my listeners at Wall Street Oasis. If you have any suggestions whatsoever, please don't hesitate to send them my way. Patrick at Wall Street, Oasis. Dot.com. And till next.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:31:49] Time
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