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I& #39;m not sure I ever did a thread on my career and how I got to where I am today, so here it goes!
THREAD
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THREAD
I went to a state school and double majored in finance and accounting, graduated with a mediocre GPA and a few wealth management internships. My sights were originally set on IB but I quickly realized that ship had sailed a long time ago.
I was fortunate enough to find a quasi-mentor. He had been in IB and then moved on to starting his own business, real great guy and we are still good friends today. After many talks over beers with him (pre-grad) he helped me decide to look at a career in RE.
It was a perfect fit! I had experience from my family& #39;s personal REI and was able to craft a good story on "why RE". RE also allowed me to use both my degrees and position myself for a front office role where I knew I could learn the ins and outs of the industry.
Upon graduation I had 0 job offers and ended up spending 7 months back at home looking for a job. I was extremely frustrated with my lack of success in securing a role in RE and almost gave up several times by taking just any job. But I persisted and continued to perfect my pitch
Ended up landing an acquisitions analyst role in a tier 1 west coast city for a satellite office of a fairly well known and active REPE firm. The focus was MF value add and I was the 3rd team member in the office with an acq director and managing director.
I found the job on Craigslist and was able to blow the acq director away with my knowledge and underwriting coming from basically 0 experience. This was my launching pad and I knew I had my foot firmly in the door for a future career in RE.
Fast forward a little over a year and I learned a ton but outgrew the shop. I wasn& #39;t learning anything new due to get me to the next level due to the small size of the firm so we parted ways on very good terms.
My next role kept me in the same city where I worked for a much larger investor/developer in asset management. Again I was lucky and worked as the right hand man for one of the partners. This role really boosted my knowledge, confidence and capabilities in my career.
I was exposed to very large institutional transactions, my network expanded across the country as we worked with some top tier firms in the RE world and my sophistication level was elevated. I really excelled at this company and made a name for myself.
I spent a few years with this shop before I got tired of the AM grind and again felt like I was stagnating. I wanted to get back to the deal side of the business and felt that I would be a lot stronger candidate with my previous experience.
Moving on to my next gig I worked with a national MF developer in one of their west coast offices. This was my first real experience with ground up development and I had always been curious about the industry.
I had a boss who loved to micro manage but I can& #39;t complain too much because his micro management taught me a lot, and honestly he is still one of the smartest guys I have ever met.
My tenure did not last long at this shop as the direction of the overall firm was moving away from west coast multifamily development. I was quickly moving back into an asset management role and did not see my role changing at all in the future. Back on the market for a new role.
That leads me to where I am today. I found a local no name shop that was a few years into the game. They had an associate leave which opened up an opportunity for me. I was bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to a new firm and had an offer before leaving my interview.
Due to my experience I was hired at a VP level and given the responsibilities of overseeing acquisitions and asset management. The role has been a perfect fit for both parties on so many levels. I am truly happy at this firm and got in on the ground floor of some major growth.
I have been with this firm for a little less than two years but we are doing some big and exciting things. I am anticipating this will be my last W-2 role before making the jump to being my own boss. I hope this thread was helpful for some of you and as always my DMs are open.
