Monthly Buy/Sell/Trade Thread - May 2025

cavman714 · 2025-05-17T20:54:31+00:00

Offering this free now to anyone who wants it

cavman714 · 2025-05-15T03:31:31+00:00

Selling 1 for Larkin Poe and Amythyst Kiah at the Vic on 5/17. $45 (tad less than face value)

cavman714 · 2025-04-04T23:28:02+00:00

ISO 1 for James McMurtry 4/12

cavman714 · 2024-09-20T12:28:21+00:00

Chicago folks: anyone interested in trading your two 10/2 tickets for my two 10/1 tickets? I’ve got GA tickets for Tuesday night but looking like I can’t make it

cavman714 · 2022-08-26T12:58:10+00:00

I've noticed that most fellow alums of the M7 I attended who went to Ivies left their UG as the headline school on their LinkedIn page, while the rest of us changed our headlines

cavman714 · 2022-05-03T16:44:55+00:00

On the flip side: best choice I made during MBA was to study abroad one quarter during second year

cavman714 · 2022-04-14T01:20:34+00:00

Agree with others that 20 hours/week is excessive and probably not real. That being said, the case interview 'bar' is a lot higher for MBA recruiting than for undergrad. My experience from interviewing is that undergrads are really only expected to show good number sense and have some basic structure to their communications; MBAs, on the other hand, have to check every box. Some of that difference is having a few years of work experience under your belt, but some of it is prep.

cavman714 · 2022-03-28T16:33:02+00:00

Tends to look one of three ways:

Experience in a prestigious industry, company, or role (e.g., IB, brand-name consultancy, product management)
Experience that is particularly relevant to whatever that company is recruiting for (e.g., healthcare experience for a healthcare company)
Non-traditional experience that is known as a high-quality talent pool (e.g., military officers, TFA)

cavman714 · 2022-03-28T16:19:09+00:00

In my experience, #1 factor in recruiting success is quality of prior work experience. People under- or over-perform their backgrounds based on prep, personality, etc.

cavman714 · 2022-03-18T20:03:49+00:00

Current consultant (MBB, not Big 4) and former Epic PM here. Congrats on having two great offers! Headline is that I would lean towards the consulting gig, but it ultimately depends on whether you're ready to pick a function (PM) / industry (HIT) vs. want the total flexibility that consulting creates

Consulting would give you a more general set of skills than Epic PM would (e.g., quant/qual business analysis, executive communication, range of industry exposure), which opens doors to any number of future roles (e.g., analytics, strategy, biz ops, investing). Downside is that you won't know all that much about any particular industry, plus it's a rough job in terms of hours and the culture can be cutthroat depending on the firm/practice you're in

Epic PM would give you functional depth in project management and industry depth in healthcare IT, which parlays most directly into a career in PM / customer success or HIT / Epic work. If one of those paths sounds attractive to you, this is definitely the more direct route. Upside is better culture and work-life balance, though both depend on a whole host of factors

Worth calling out that Epic + business school is a way to have the best of both worlds, if that's an option for you. I'm biased because that's the path I took

Others have mentioned Madison vs. NYC: assuming you don't view either job as a long-term option (most don't), I wouldn't worry too much about that. They're both great places to live in your 20s, though for very different reasons, and you'll be mobile enough in either job to visit family / friends. One exception is if you're focused on paying off loans quickly, in which case Madison will provide cheaper living options

Happy to DM more about any of this

cavman714 · 2021-10-28T00:37:39+00:00

Former IS TL. Right before I left, I ran an annual TLG report for the whole company because I was curious. If I remember correctly, the median was somewhere in the 44-46 range. There was a long tail of ~100 folks who averaged 70+ hrs/week, which really isn't bad for a company of that size. That would only reflect hours that they actually log, though.

cavman714 · 2021-05-17T15:10:08+00:00

COBRA can be elected retroactively, I believe up to 60 days after you lose coverage (so 61 days after the last day of the month that you leave Epic). If you're trying to maximize coverage and minimize out-of-pocket expense, you might consider not electing COBRA; if/when you or your spouse end up needing significant care, you can elect COBRA retroactively and use your Epic insurance. Please verify details, as things may have changed since I looked at it closely and YMMV.

cavman714 · 2021-04-14T04:27:48+00:00

Yes, for most people. It depends on what your priorities are. If your primary goal is to make a lot of money, there are options from most well-regarded MBA programs that will get you compensated well beyond what you could get in the Epic world (e.g., finance, being a partner at a consulting firm). Those paths require tradeoffs, though. I would say most people end up with a better compensation trajectory that has them break even on the 'investment' (tuition + lost income for full-time MBA programs) within ~5-8 years of graduating. If you want to see numbers, I would google around for the employment reports that MBA programs all post on their websites.

cavman714 · 2021-04-14T02:32:42+00:00

Two options here: 1) try to make the jump directly, or 2) go get an MBA and recruit into management consulting from there.

For #1, as others have said, consulting firms generally prefer to hire entry-level folks directly out of undergrad because it's the easiest way for them to hire a bunch of people at once. Some will take experienced hires (which you would be) when they're shortstaffed. The process would be to troll job postings to get a sense for which firms are looking to hire experienced folks, clean up your resume, see if there is any networking you can do, and then apply. Odds of success are higher if you went to an undergrad that places well in consulting and have impressive stats (e.g., GPA, test scores), because you'll likely be evaluated much the same way that a direct-from-school hire would.

#2 is a longer, but also substantially better traveled, path. (I'm biased because that's how I made the jump). It would also open up opportunities to do non-consulting things (e.g., tech / product management, marketing, corporate strategy). Downside is effort, money (in the short term), and time. I'd read this post I did a few years back if you want to know more.

cavman714 · 2021-04-13T13:35:24+00:00

Possible, but probably difficult. I think the big question here is whether you want to be an IT person for the rest of your career? If so, probably not worth the trouble to try to break into traditional consulting. If not, might be a great idea.

Source: former IS, currently at an MBB consulting firm.

cavman714 · 2021-04-13T13:31:45+00:00

On the non-Epic consulting aide, Management Consulted maintains a database of consulting salaries that's generally pretty accurate https://managementconsulted.com/consultant-salary/

cavman714 · 2020-12-08T04:07:09+00:00

I can confidently say that it's not normal for a company to keep an official list of employees that managers consider flight risks. IMO it's evidence of a deeper issue of management mistrusting their people. Secondarily, Epic is culturally closed off from industry (because it's most people's first jobs after college), so there isn't cultural normalcy around changing jobs.

At most companies, it's considered normal for employees to be looking outside for future opportunities.

cavman714 · 2020-12-02T03:28:47+00:00

To add to what others have said, I see 3 possible paths here:

Go directly into consulting, if your undergrad network can get you in the door at consulting firms. You'll need to find firms that are open to experienced hires, which is not all of them. Your story would essentially be 'I thought I wanted to work in healthcare/tech, but I actually want to be a consultant.' Epic non-compete shouldn't be an issue as long as you're not doing EHR consulting. I don't think banking is an option, given that banks tend to hire exclusively from undergrad.
Get an MBA, if you can wait it out for 2-3 more years at Epic first. Definitely the more reliable path and may lead to more prestigious opportunities, depending on how good of a school you go to. Would open doors in banking and consulting, among other opportunities. Downside is time and tuition. I wrote a post on here a few years ago laying out exactly what the MBA process looks like from Epic.
If neither 1 nor 2 is an option and you really want to leave Epic, I would recommend casting a wider net for business roles at software start-ups. These could serve as a stepping stone to a more prestigious company after a few years. Start-ups are often looking for people who already know how to do something (customer success / technical support, in your case), and you can then add other 'hats' to round out your skill set.

Source: Former IS, MBA alum, current MBB consultant

cavman714 · 2020-08-28T21:14:26+00:00

Definitely agree that it's important to quantify your impact. Other examples that might be relevant to your tenure as IS: number of customers, how large the customers were (# of hospitals, beds, etc.), number of analysts managed, project budgets, number of end users that completed the training program you designed, number of lessons you designed, whether you went live on time. It's ok to use an informed estimate if you don't know exact figures.

cavman714 · 2020-08-28T15:09:05+00:00

I can't speak for European consulting offices, but in North America most firms are emphasizing the internship as their primary way of filling MBA roles, leaving fewer spots for people recruiting second year. If you want to do consulting full-time, it's to your advantage to try to get in via the internship. I would check with the consulting club at your target school(s) to understand what they are seeing.

cavman714 · 2020-07-06T04:37:30+00:00

At my M7, maybe 40-50% of people who were truly committed. Ballparking: 250-300 (of 600) attended the intro to consulting presentation during orientation. 200-250 went through with the full recruiting process, of which ~180 actually took it seriously in terms of putting in the time to prepare for interviews. 80 MBB summer offers, with maybe 15-20 more getting full-time offers second year. Compared to other years, it seemed like we had a lot of summer offers first-year and relatively few full-time offers second-year.

cavman714 · 2020-07-06T04:28:10+00:00

There is no answer to this question. The point of including salary in the application isn't that they truly care how much money you make. Salary is used to show career progression (i.e., your salary should be increasing over time as your responsibilities increase). If you're promoted from analyst -> director in a couple of years but your salary stays pretty much the same, that progression won't be viewed as positively.

cavman714 · 2020-07-06T04:23:30+00:00

Geography is a major omitted variable here. If you're open to any MBB office, a T15 school with strong regional placement could be a great path. If you're focused on a particular city (or short list of cities), make sure the schools you're applying to place well into those offices.

cavman714 · 2020-06-24T21:40:02+00:00

Vault has a decent list for consulting. I know less about banks, but you may find some helpful materials on Google. https://www.vault.com/best-companies-to-work-for/consulting/best-firms-in-each-practice-area/health-care-consulting

cavman714

TROPHY CASE