IB - PE v. FAANG SWE ?
Creating a poll to see how many people prefer each path. Just seeing what people’s opinions are Which is better? More prestigious? More difficult to navigate within the career? Has a better endgame? * Investment Banking Analyst to Private Equity The path is usually 2 yrs in IB (hopefully at a bulge bracket like Morgan Stanley, Barclays, GS, etc - could also pivot to one after a 1-2 yrs in boutique, etc) then exit into PE. The upwards mobility from then-on has more money and quickly from Associate -> SA/AVP -> VP -> MD etc (> $1M/yr before age 30). The WLB is bad but depending on the IB or PE firm, can actually be alright like at Barclays for example I hear good things! * FAANG SWE Right out of undergrad hopefully at Google or Meta but parts of AMZN are also fine - if you don’t get in as a new grad, it becomes a lot harder to break-in. Once in, it’s standard entry -> mid -> senior level -> staff or management (big bucks, also very quickly like before age 30 but caps out at like 500-600k compared to PE and you’d have to grind for this trajectory, also faster at Meta - much harder to do elsewhere). Can move between the FAANGs too for max comp after a few yrs on resume, boomerang, etc
Hitting MD before 30 is very, very unlikely. It does happen, but not to people who spend their time on blind and almost never in tech.
is it really harder to break into faang swe if you don’t get in as a new grad?
No
Yes, the internship -> return offer is the easiest path, and the new grad interview process is the second easiest - then your resume now has FAANG on it already Full-time interviews post-grad are the worst and you do not have FAANG on resume already
Getting to MD before 30 would be insane and arguably much harder than staff eng before then. I got to faang staff around 28 and my friend who graduated Yale/HBS top of class is still a VP. He makes slightly more than me with bonuses, but he and his peers are significantly smarter.
MD is equivalent to E7 which pays over 1m so the comp doesnt seem that different, wlb will be better in tech
Not sure why people want to compare IB/PE and SWE, it’s two very different jobs that suit different personalities. Culture is also vastly different. I would never fit in in IB/PE
Exactly. I don't think there is much overlap.
Can you elaborate more about the two paths suiting different personalities?
Upside is way way way higher on IB-PE path. The only reason that IB early years are so painful ( 80 hours week etc ) is because later years are so sweet. 1M is lowball for IB MD or PE Principal, many make 2-5 millions and they also have carry which is easily 2M+ per year. They can also transition into CEO and CFO role. The only attractive part of FAANG is the early years, 200k for 30 hours week, the per-hour-rate is literally higher than any entry level job on earth. But the growth stagnates really quickly. Many people are doing low-visibility projects or some sort of product experimentation which are bound to fail. Promotion comes heavily with luck, many are stuck at L5 for their entire career. Now, even the sweet early years are coming to an end. FAANG stop giving 200k new grad offers and the pay band is decreasing to normal street level. While many tech people laugh at bankers for their poor pay-per-hour, they are not grinding for the 200k pay in early years, they are grinding for their future prospect to make tens of millions. Think bigger I would say IB—>PE wins big time unless you are in the specific elite teams at FAANG ( generative AI team )
Agreed but I think IBD M&A and PE buy outs might suffer in this new macro environment, but they'll still make bank. Private credit and lev finance should kill it.
Honestly these are such two different paths that have divergent personalities, recruiting, and demands from the job. With that said if your end goal is simply money at any cost than going finance is the way to go.
Curious – can people actually pick a career based on the benefits and tradeoffs like that? I can only do what I have an inclination to (tech) and will fail miserably in any sort of job that I have no interest in. Even if wanted PE I simply can't do the job?
^ this comparison is absurd.
I think IB is overrated as hell. The hours are incredibly long and the culture is so insufferable. My cousin is an MD and he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. However, he has excellent EQ and is a natural salesman.
Can someone confirm the $1MM under 30 actually from the PE industry? My girlfriend is in a big PE fund and that’s pretty rare. It’s like startup IPO before 30.
Easily at top PE firms (like KKR, apollo, bain) at VP+ including bonus etc, but also at many others I believe (at MD, definitely) Hyped for your gf, she’s quite ambitious!
Might be outdated but here was a survey in 2021 https://www.efinancialcareers.com/news/finance/heres-how-much-youll-be-paid-in-private-equity