pluto
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- Jun 2, 2019
- 4
- 2
Hey guys,
First time poster, long time lurker here. I’m at the crossroads in my life right now. I’m 23 and about to graduate a top 10 university this time next year with an Economics Major and a CS minor (took 2 years off to travel Europe, Africa, Asia and run an online biz). All of my friends (from college) are either going into banking or consulting. I have had internships in investment banking (they sucked) and, with some serious hustle, could get a job at a large IB or consulting firm after college.
The problem is I can’t really see myself working for anybody because I know the entire time I’m going to be anxious about the opportunity cost of my tenure at one of these sweatshops (i.e thinking about my buddies (from home) who are out there grinding on their own businesses while I’m working like a peon for $80k/ yr). At the same time, however, its really the only way I could get into the MBA programs I would want to attend if I pursued an MBA and I would learn valuable experience, meet great people. etc etc.
Obviously my buddies won’t have the security I would have (or the mentorship) and they would prob be making the same money if not less but I just don’t see IB or consulting as Fast Lane…
The way I see it I have a few options:
Yes, even as I write this option 2 sounds like it is the most fast lane option at first. But then I remember something Mark Cuban said in “How To Win at the Sport of Business” and that’s “get paid to learn!”. Option 2 would not be paid and I wouldn’t have anyone teaching me anything. I would be learning things as I go along.
Also, I have no college debt. Not from a rich family, just paid it off myself. Therefore, it is not a factor in my decision.
Please be kind enough to let me know what you think, I appreciate all of your opinions.
- Pluto
First time poster, long time lurker here. I’m at the crossroads in my life right now. I’m 23 and about to graduate a top 10 university this time next year with an Economics Major and a CS minor (took 2 years off to travel Europe, Africa, Asia and run an online biz). All of my friends (from college) are either going into banking or consulting. I have had internships in investment banking (they sucked) and, with some serious hustle, could get a job at a large IB or consulting firm after college.
The problem is I can’t really see myself working for anybody because I know the entire time I’m going to be anxious about the opportunity cost of my tenure at one of these sweatshops (i.e thinking about my buddies (from home) who are out there grinding on their own businesses while I’m working like a peon for $80k/ yr). At the same time, however, its really the only way I could get into the MBA programs I would want to attend if I pursued an MBA and I would learn valuable experience, meet great people. etc etc.
Obviously my buddies won’t have the security I would have (or the mentorship) and they would prob be making the same money if not less but I just don’t see IB or consulting as Fast Lane…
The way I see it I have a few options:
- IB or Consulting for 2 years then 2 year MBA and another perhaps 2-3 years work. Cons: This would mean my entrepreneurial ambitions would have to wait until I am about 29 years old.
- Graduate and go straight to working sales/ marketing for my dad’s brand new weed farm. (This would mean moving to Denver and hustling every day trying to pedal the product to dispensaries. Face to face sales, etc). and hire a dev to help me finish my adult entertainment site, Nutflix (Shameless plug: mobile-first, feels like an app, cheeky, trendy, amazing UI/UX, ~10,000 people on mailing list waiting for release). Cons: No guidance or mentorship, would have to rough it and do my best in sales.
- Get an internship at a tech company next summer (summer school and travel this summer). Then get my Master’s Degree in Computer Science—I know Masters isn’t that special I’m just not going to do a 7 year undergrad in order to major in both CS and Econ and I’m certain that if I didn’t get a masters I’m not going to self-teach some of the advanced topics like ML, AI, etc—and work at a big tech company as a front end dev while working on my site. Cons: I can’t really see myself as a software engineer.
Yes, even as I write this option 2 sounds like it is the most fast lane option at first. But then I remember something Mark Cuban said in “How To Win at the Sport of Business” and that’s “get paid to learn!”. Option 2 would not be paid and I wouldn’t have anyone teaching me anything. I would be learning things as I go along.
Also, I have no college debt. Not from a rich family, just paid it off myself. Therefore, it is not a factor in my decision.
Please be kind enough to let me know what you think, I appreciate all of your opinions.
- Pluto
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Last edited:
I want to go with option #2 as well. My main concern is that I don't want to throw away option #1 considering all of the work I put in. Yes, you might say that I am not throwing it away, but in a way I am. These firms recruit straight of college and taking a year off to work sales and marketing at a no name startup doesn't bode well with them, no matter the business acumen you may have accumulated by doing so.
