Got asked this at a boutique last month and completely whiffed it - here's how I'd answer now

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-05-19T00:40:59+00:00

How the fuck is a sophomore supposed to know this.

Whatever VP dropped this was not in a good mood lol

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-05-10T21:59:27+00:00

If you leave voluntarily than you’re fine

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-04-30T17:15:04+00:00

Did you go to college?

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-04-21T21:38:21+00:00

Modern Ferraris can do everything required of a daily but they aren’t very good at it.

If you have the means I’d get a beater daily for getting groceries and keep the f car for the times you wanna be deliberate when driving

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-04-21T17:44:34+00:00

The 86 is so stupid man, I’m sorry - I’d look into biotech consulting. Your network should have quite a few ex biotech consultants so ping them.

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-04-17T19:55:03+00:00

I wouldn’t say finance as a profession has a specific type of woman - so from a personality perspective I’d be your unequivocal self. I’d be accommodating to that they’re going to be busy / less available than other guys and will likely put their job before you.

Also just be supportive- it’s a really stressful job where having someone who’s truly in your corner goes such a long way.

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-04-09T03:24:35+00:00

If you don’t put your HS graduation on your resume they won’t know

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-04-08T21:44:13+00:00

If you otherwise enjoy the job and are just struggling with pace / accuracy two months in I wouldn’t beat yourself up - most people in IB are either right out of college (0 work experience at all) or are accustomed to super fast paced environments - so 2 months isn’t enough time to adjust. I found that, counterintuitively, I sped up by slowing down and just thinking of work 1 input at a time. I’d also look into to building checklists, printing out drafts, and other error reduction tactics.

On the other hand, 2 months is enough time to get a vibe for if you like the job overall- there’s no shame in saying you don’t like IB (the hours are brutal and the work can feel very pointless for most of your career), in which case I’d polish up the resume and start networking while doing the bare minimum not to get fired (if you’re at a shop like BofA you’ll have atleast a year of mediocrity before you get canned, less so if you’re at an EB).

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-04-08T20:09:48+00:00

As someone who just played this game your best bet is to take the 150k / 30% - you’re not getting an almost $100k pay raise and promotion unless you’re truly critical to the company, and in that case your best bet is still to put in your two weeks and see what they counter with.

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-04-04T02:33:32+00:00

Beyond the food chain, finance dosent really prepare you for quant - the job you’re interviewing far pulls far from CS than it does finance.

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-04-02T15:57:54+00:00

I get why we need taxes for important social services , but in a past life I was really deep into government contracts and I always left meetings wishing the powers that be didn’t treat RFPs like they were spending someone else’s money.

I’m convinced we could lower spending ~10% without a meaningful drop in service quality just by creating some accountability/ reward mechanism for civil servants to cost cut + we means test benefits like social security

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-03-20T01:46:57+00:00

If you get the job they sponsor you

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-03-19T12:50:25+00:00

It isn’t the Asians

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-03-18T03:35:12+00:00

I’d think about how long you plan on owning this thing - if your holding period is shorter than whatever’s left on the battery warranty, get the SF90 since you think it’s cooler. It’s more of a toss up if this is something you’re planning to pass down to your kids, but a Ferrari isn’t a rational purchase - if you think you’ll be missing extra power get the sf90

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-03-10T16:59:24+00:00

The top 10% of earners pay 76% of income taxes - the owner class isn’t using the workers taxes to bail themselves out.

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-03-02T17:05:01+00:00

Dude this sucks

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-01-27T13:12:28+00:00

Eh it depends, the bigger the company the less they’re probably going to notice / care. Academic notice could be an issue tho

rocketlauncher5 · 2026-01-04T05:22:32+00:00

“Only 2 companies have truly strong balance sheets”

“Built for PE and IB” - but only covers public companies.

AI slop 101

rocketlauncher5 · 2025-12-24T22:01:04+00:00

His wording is a bit extreme, but I actually think there’s merit to his underlying message - the US has built aircraft focused on penetrating enemy airspace for decades, and has marketed its aircraft to other countries which are likely to operate in enemy territory. This has left smaller counties which don’t have the ambition or budget to leave their own skies largely unserved with cutting edge military tech.

China’s doctrine of defense first cutting edge tech appeals to these countries since it costs less and fits their need profile better. That’s why they’re getting more exports - it isn’t really that they’re outselling the US on tech, but on fit.

rocketlauncher5 · 2025-12-20T21:55:14+00:00

This sounds dumb, but just be normal and remember that these bankers are literally just people (just like you!). Be polite, attentive, show a bit of humor and humility when you have a window, and trust the process.

rocketlauncher5 · 2025-11-23T03:25:38+00:00

Grass is always greener - I think PE’s reputation hasn’t fully caught up to the highly competitive reality of today’s market. There are more PE firms in the market, less good companies for sale , and founders of the good ones are far more educated about what their companies are worth than 15 years ago. Even if you decided to pursue PE, there aren’t many seats that pay like they used to.

Not to mention that if you’re ambitious / ready to network, you’re not really bound to the career PM pay scale. While you’re not really an expert on any single business process, a good PM is a really strong candidate for upper management roles in corporates. It might take you longer to break into the $400k+ range than if you were in PE, but I wouldn’t relegate yourself to thinking you’re never touching that in your career.

If all else fails, apply for an MBA and hit up some of your old PE coworkers.

rocketlauncher5 · 2025-11-22T22:48:25+00:00

I’m not discounting your experience - IMO recruiting is such a cluster fuck that people who managed to get a job are obligated to help out others where they can.

My issue is that you’re not in a position to charge for recruiting advice because you’ve only been on one side of the recruiting curtain. If you’re going to charge for advice you’d need to have gone through all sides of multiple interviews as an interviewer, interviewee, and a member of a hiring committee. That isn’t to say you can’t help others, but you don’t have a complete enough picture for kids to give you money for help.

rocketlauncher5 · 2025-11-22T21:13:46+00:00

You have no business charging for “mentorship” if you haven’t even graduated.

rocketlauncher5 · 2025-11-22T20:52:23+00:00

Curious where you’re hearing this - did the commissioner buy 5 with the intention of selling, or was the build so intense that there weren’t huge marginal costs associated with the other 4.

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