Tech is the wrong path for me to go if I want to optimize TC?
May 21, 2021
21 Comments
I have friends that are planning to go into consulting or finance, and from the research I’ve done, they all seem to be guaranteed 7+ figure comp after 10 yoe or so (MD/Partner) if they get into the big firms. Promotion seems to be very expected and virtually guaranteed if you perform ok and stay? I mean MDs are 5% of the population and they make multi million salaries. Same with partner at MBB.
In tech, it seems to be much lower? I mean everyone is talking about how hard it is to crack L6 and it doesn’t even pay close to 7 figures. L6 also seems to lead around 20ish ppl, which is 5% and they make fraction of MDs?
Are my concerns justified?
comments
Frankly finance doesn’t require the specialized skillset that many highly paid positions in tech do, so most of what prevents low level saturation is credentialism/favoritism rather than talent.
You’re also looking at burning your youth on 100hr weeks to get there. If I wanted to burn that much time on work I’d found a startup—much higher reward if it pays off.
Directors easily match (and often surpass) partner compensation in top tech companies. Which in itself is a bit difference because as a partner you are on the hook to keep making sales while you don't have the same pressure as a director in tech. Even as a partner you are effectively a very highly paid salesperson who can be let go based on a single bad year.
Now comes the fun part which is maximum potential upside. In consulting the very top partners still probably make 1X million in a given year, I.e. mid tens of millions. Again the very top few. The equivalent in tech would be SVPs who typically make ~$50M. That's a massive difference. You could do better in finance but that's typically only if you start your own fund which is the equivalent of being Page/Bezos/Zuck etc.
Just look at the top of the Forbes list and see how many consultants or financiers you see in there.
Oh and yes finally the work life balance. I work maybe 30-50 hours max depending on the week with $2M in comp. My friends who make the same at McKinsey work 70 hours on good weeks while also being on the road for 60% of the time. Why would you want a deal like that?
Hell I would take an L7 tech comp of $800k over $2M being a partner in consulting because there isn't much of a delta that amount gets you. If it was $800k vs $10M then sure but otherwise it makes no sense.
And we do have hundreds of VPs just in Google 😂
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They’re very visible, but also a small percentage of folks who started out at the bottom, and many of those higher-ups have shitty WLB that makes all that money not all that fun to use. It’s all a front/tactic to get lots of work out of junior employees, “just think, you could win the lotto and end up like that BSD over there, better grind out that pitch book!”. Secret is, you probably won’t win that lotto, but they get the best years of your life all the same.
If you can handle the grind, get to Senior Staff at a FANG and enjoy yourself OP! It’s a grind, but one with 5 weeks of vacay and solid pay the whole way up.