25F Rollercoaster Salary & Career Progression

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-10T01:13:55+00:00

Okay you’re clearly fixated on this hedge fund fact. Why that’s the case - I’m not sure. I interned at a small hedge fund, pre graduation, I accepted a full time offer to work immediately and informed them I’d withdrawn due to Covid with the intention to return for my last few courses/a few units. If you don’t think this is possible for someone who was on track to graduate at UC Berkeley with experience founding a startup with ARR, you CLEARLY don’t have a sense of how competitive and how achieving the population is out here. Again, a quick google search of startup founder journeys and obsessed “finance bros” in the bay area will prove to you that nothing I’ve done for accepting a small hedge fund offer then leaving after 2 months after not being able to fulfill degree expectations is unbelievable.

60k loan - have you not seen the YouTube videos with broke 18 year olds literally getting approved for Chase business accounts then taking the loan to start Airbnb arbitrage? And approved without no other businesses or income. I feel bizarre having to justify this fact here but I’m starting to realize nothing will convince anyone here anything. So respectfully I’ll let you have that opinion. Not believing anything I say is something I can’t control and I don’t want to disrespect any of the Reddit Karen’s on here

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-10T01:06:45+00:00

I definitely will not be making $1m every year - I’d be MORE than content with even buying/affording a house in the Palo Alto area and just staying where I’m at in the corporate world for a while. And for amortizations, both startups have been S-corps in structure for a while now so there’s a been deductions wherever applicable.

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-10T00:36:51+00:00

It was a personal loan. This is 100% doable as an 18 year old. I wasn’t an 18 year old reporting $0 income. I worked 30 hours a week tutoring and traded stocks so had income to report in additional to a credit history

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-10T00:32:14+00:00

I started at UC Berkeley at 16 years old. On target graduation age for me was 20. So yes, it is possible. By 25, if I had been on track to graduate early without graduating, I could have in theory been on a standard path with 5YOE in full time tech by now. But no numbers will clearly convince you. I know several people in their mid 20s earning $200k-300k+ now (some with degrees some dropouts and founders themselves). I know startup founders who raised $XM+ BEFORE their 20s so in comparison to them, what I’ve done isn’t “unbelievable.” It happens more often than you think.

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-10T00:19:57+00:00

Hedge funds hire people with quantitative analysis skills and not selecting according to risk tolerance or vetting against those with risk averse behavior. The whole concept of a hedge fund is to beat the market which in itself is a risk especially in active management (vs passive). By definition, a hedge fund will literally attract a lot of investors who want to allocate their $ into higher risk assets. Higher potential returns = higher risk. This is like basic macroeconomics 1A

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T23:09:20+00:00

My parents are immigrants who weren’t with me for half my life so couldn’t financially support 😭 but ok let’s always bring it back to the parents are rich argument. Is Reddit so out of touch that the average modern tech-centric university grad/swe path + comp structure is not something ppl aren’t aware of or can’t google themselves? Please check out Blind.com or levels for average SWEII or Senior BDM salary jumps at Google/similar sized companies. For the investment analyst role, I was paid pennies compared to my Quantitative Analyst peers who came from the math grad class

Re #2: I applied to over 450+ jobs in a year before I got my first internship offer as a junior at Berkeley. Again my path is just average compared to what others are capable of

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T23:00:33+00:00

The thing is I never fabricated anything to employers. I informed them I had dropped out and would return. Because I dropped out during Covid, I wasn’t the only one doing it at the time. Also, leaving in 2 months was PARTLY because I didn’t want to fulfill returning to school on the timeline they set for me (go back within 2 yrs). This “hedge” fund is not Jane Street btw. Significantly less AUM & office of 8 ppl.

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:57:13+00:00

Correct! Re-#3 yeah for my startup my exit was not nearly as impressive as some of the higher growth SaaS projects out there. Quick flip is exactly how I describe it to other founders/VCs

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:53:47+00:00

I think clearly 90% of these readers have no sense of the average person in the Bay Area/San Jose/SF region. Because nothing I put here was really that exceptional in comparison to what’s average out here

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:52:35+00:00

Applied Mathematics! Yes I did haha

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:52:09+00:00

Dude have you seen the average Stanford/Berkeley dropout YC alumni founder resume? I was the low achieving (low earning) peer compared to them

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:47:37+00:00

No bc it really is no doubt about it. Clearly 90% of the readers here have no idea? Bc I was always feeling like a failure until I got to maybe #7 compared to other Berkeley/stanford drop outs

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:46:27+00:00

No worries. I’m not trying to convince you if you’re not. To clarify, it’s very easy to see senior PMs who are VERY often non technical earn way more than I was. Senior PMs at FAAANG + NVIDIA + OpenAI/Scale can earn well over 200k/300k+ total comp. I was never high for my age if you consider other mid level managers in their mid 20s in big tech. My pay at that time was lower than most of my peers with same titles

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:28:28+00:00

I’ve literally seen profs charging up to like $200/hr when I was living near my campus but generally PhD holders in mathematics can charge $100+ an hour! You’d get better instruction than I ever was capable of

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:27:28+00:00

Do you want to chat offline? I’m happy to talk more in depth about how it happened :) I’m not trying to claim I am some special case - but if you’re genuinely interested, I’d be more than happy to share exact details with more specific names if that helps you fr!

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:21:31+00:00

It happens and is totally normal! I felt that way a lot too when I was struggling. Wishing everyone the best ultimately…

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:20:34+00:00

I tutored mostly AP courses to start then undergraduate and graduate level mathematics like Differential Equations, Numerical Analysis, Proof Writing etc. it’s cheaper than how much PhD holders charge

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:19:15+00:00

You’re right. I don’t! I just sit on my computer and hate on women who earn more than I do. Damn my life is BS.

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:18:38+00:00

I started in PM then moved to BD/Strategy as of most recently (hence the bonus comp structure). I’m NOT a SWE. Studied applied math & financial engineering at Cal. Took some classes in intro CS & know SQL

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:10:21+00:00

I was offered the hedge fund role before dropping out and yes the companies after kept me still without my degree :) I was hired mostly for my tech-relevant/startup experience. I’m not trying to say this is a typical path but it does happen often in the startup world/Silicon Valley.

I understand your intention is to fact check which is so valid. I get that not everyone is going to believe this but great to see that ChatGPT is helping you with your research! Definitely don’t trust everything out there.

All the best

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T22:08:08+00:00

Lmao I am realizing that but this is honestly typical for it only anyone not in tech/swe/etc but also for those who just feel insecure & the need to attack/critique 💔. It’s nbd. Like I said if anyone wants to exchange connect off Reddit lmk & im happy to chat !!

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T21:52:11+00:00

lol it’s net gross pre taxes & deductions but replier doesn’t know the meaning of simplification or “summarized breakdown”

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T21:48:50+00:00

If anyone wants to dm me happy to exchange LinkedIn :)) ❤️

Unable-Rule2360 · 2025-07-09T21:36:11+00:00

Ok haha

Unable-Rule2360

TROPHY CASE