After a couple of Goose Island Pale Ale's, and waiting for the Hawks game to be over, I have decided to write my "success" story on this forum. Over the past couple of years, I've spent my time lurking WallStreetOasis/M&I, picking up important pieces of information along the way, so I thought I'd share my path into investment banking.

I grew up in a pretty rough neighborhood. My mom cleans houses, my dad works in a factory. I've lost some friends along the way to violence, prison, etc. I could sit here and create a long sob story about how I have overcome so many obstacles. But tough shit, everyone's got their problems. Whether it's growing up poor or not getting that summer analyst position in Goldman TMT or Walgreens closing before you had a chance to buy more beer. The world's not fair, you will only get what you fight for, if that.

I interned in Corporate Development, after receiving a number of rejections from Bulge Brackets. When I got the offer, I thought "Great, I just moved 2 years forward in my career without actually having to work the grueling hours of banking." I was completely wrong. Who would have thought that working in Corporate Development would mean pulling all nighters or staying in the office until 1 am. Granted, going in I was entitled little shit who had a chip on his shoulder. It slowly broke me into realizing I was not as smart as everyone said I was. I honestly believe this is the best lesson I have ever learned in my life. No matter how high your GPA/GMAT/SAT/whatever you want to consider a metric, you can/will still be an idiot when you first start off. And if you're not, more power to you, you're a better man/woman than me.

Long Story short, I didn't get an offer to join the Corporate Development team full time. Even if I had, I would have rejected it. The culture on the team was toxic, and I could not see myself working there full time. This led into a senior year without a job offer locked in. Which, I'm sure, sounds like a nightmare to most of the users of this forum. After a couple of months, I decided it was time to consider a back office position or finance leadership development program. Ultimately, I decided that a FLDP program would provide better experience than doing financial control at a big bank (I'm sure this is debatable, and you will have success stories on both sides).

After spending about a year and a half within my FLDP program, I have received an offer to join a MM boutique investment bank. And that's my story. If a kid from the hood can do it, you can do it too. It's possible! (although that may just be the booze talking).

Inspirational story about the adversity Zack Hodges overcame.

Left Parentless and Homeless, Harvard Star's Amazing Journey May Lead to the NFL

Now that I can delegate, I'm looking to use the additional time I have at work to study for the CFA. What's the quickest time that I can pass all 3 exams (I'm planning on not having a life for this) if I register now?

Dudes, I've recently accepted an offer to a BBIBD group after 2 years of absolute torture in terms of uncertainty and leverage. Here's the background:

- Non-Target UG, B.S.E. Engineering
- Multiple internships in heavy industrial mfg.
- One Year post-grad work in sales in electronics mfg.

After roughly three months in the sales org at this firm (global leader in energy management solutions, think Siemens, Eaton, ABB, Schneider Electric, etc..) I realized the deals weren't as lucrative/exciting and I wanted to be challenged in the early stages. Obvious answer: banking.

I had zero connections in the industry, or in any industry for that matter, and decided I needed a formal education in finance to make the transition...

Began applying for MSF and MSFE programs in late February (nearing the deadline for most top programs) and was fortunately admitted to my top two choices. I eventually decided on a program and quit my job (I had just been promoted and was making quality money). This was a 10-month program that was supposed to turn me into an investment banker with zero prior experience........

Immediately after relocating I started networking with every firm I could find in the area that was even remotely associated with finance. I'd had no prior internship or full-time experience in the industry and was looking for anything to help compliment my coursework. I eventually took a part-time internship with a local VC firm, working for free.....

I interviewed with several BB's during fall recruiting, but received no offers. Extremely defeating, especially given the rigor of the program that was only beginning. Just kept the nose to grindstone, networked my face off, and ultimately got a position through a faculty reference and some elbow grease.

Doesn't really make sense to me at this point. Everyone on this site and others said it was impossible, but I somehow pulled it off. I just hope other people reading don't get discouraged and keep the end in mind. Don't allow yourself to get distracted by things entirely accessory to your goal.

Complete 180 career move. Now third year medical student. Here to chat with anyone that dipped their toes in and didn't like it.

Hi guys,

I have a question and your help would be much appreciated. I understand there is training courses for e.g investment banking, like a package of videos and courses you can buy.. Is there something similar to that for finance in general? Something that would go over everything related to finance and different components of wall street.. for someone who is still a bit of a newbie.

Thank you!

The background story is here: I'm so pathetic--I can't get past 1st round Interviews

Finance:
Goldman Sachs 1st round. No.
Altamont Capital 1st round. No.
Bracebridge Capital 1st round. No
Bridgewater Associates 1st round. No.

Consulting:
Cornerstone Research 1st round No.
Analysis Group 1st round. No.
Simon-Kucher 1st round. No.

Final Rounds:
Centerview Final round. No.
BlackRock Final round. No.
JP Morgan Final round. No.
BB-- YES! the final interview I ever had AFTER the slew of rejections above.

I'm not going to say what company I did get into (to remain anonymous), but I did get into a BB this year. Coming from a finance background with a high GPA at an IVY, I started getting depressed because I got dinged in so many interviews. There were so many times when I felt like my efforts were futile. THEY'RE NOT! Once you get rejected, move on to the next one. Learn from it. What did you do wrong? Was it a technical question that stumped you? Was it the fit questions? Behavioral questions?

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. With your roommates, friends, and career center. Whether on the phone, skype, or in person. There is ALWAYS room for improvement. Smile during the interviews. I found that you have a much personable look when you do. Don't be afraid to talk about you what makes you unique (I won art competitions in the past, which surprised many interviewers). As for consulting, don't be stupid like me--go and PRACTICE how to answer case study questions with someone. As for finance, make sure to study up on the technical (the WSO was a god send here!). There are always the same questions (DCFs, valuations, etc.).

In summary, this was the most grueling thing I did in college. I'm glad I did it because it was a great learning experience. Moral of the story: DON'T GIVE UP, NO MATTER HOW IMPOSSIBLE IT LOOKS. If this didn't convince you, then I don't know what would.

Thank you that is what I needed

Since we've had so many of these lately, I thought we would start a forum dedicated to the success stories of WSO members to serve as a place where people can go to get inspired.

What I actually did was get rid of the Entrepreneurial Forum since it had the least # of posts and technically could fall under the "Other Road" forum anyways.

I will be periodically moving the "Thank you WSO" type threads to this new forum, but if you see any I missed feel free to throw a link in here.

Also, mods, if you stumble upon one that I miss and have time to move it, that help would be appreciated.

Thanks again guys - hearing these awesome stories is what makes my job fun.

-Patrick

Please read in the WSO User Guidelines in detail before posting to WSO.

Hi

In a relationship, you talk about everything because you are best friends. This is easier said than done for us in Finance because they simply do not understand what we do. There is absolutely no point in explaining something to aliens (and we appear like aliens to them). I'd say keep them guessing.

When I was young, I used to get pissed when say Margin Call (movie) depicted our lives in a wrong way (I admit it's one of the better movies though). Wall Street (movie) is just wrong, that's not how we conduct ourselves and what we do. More wrong is American Psycho. Even in the 90s (before really smart people came into the scene with PhDs, armed with their "investment thesis"), that wasn't the case.

Now I think this;

The less they know it, the better our lives are. The less they know about what we do, the better their lives are. Let's keep them guessing, let's not correct them. I am asking.

You want to be best friends with your spouse, fine, but there are some things that are better unsaid. The only thing we have to do is to pretend, pretend that we know what they are talking about.

I was asked once what I did for living. I said I was a stockbroker because that was the only way I could explain to them even remotely what I did. Of course I have never "stock-broked" in my life, but that was the only way I could communicate to my school friends who I played football with what I did for living. I couldn't go into "portfolio management" that leads to more questions that would involve even more specialist knowledge, "M&A" that really puzzle normal civilians, "DCM/ECM and underwriting" that is just hopeless. If I tried to explain really what i did for living, that will make 99% of people in this world feel stupid. It will alienate them. They can pretend to understand, but you know, they don't even get 10% of what you are saying!

It's like this. You explain to undergrads what IS-LM curve is. Before you can do that, you must try explaining to them for the first time that the "interest rate" is what the money is worth. We in finance buy and sell money just like Ralph Lauren sells clothes. We sell and buy money, that's what we do in finance. The normal civilians never get that. They can't think of money as a commodity. Hence they end up making movies like I mentioned above.

Finance remains an area for those with capabilities to understand that level of thought. We are lone people, we can be popular, we are smart, it is ridiculously easy to be popular, but we know that there are people who struggle to "fit in" and "survive."

I don't feel sorry for them. I just don't care and it's best if our relationship with normal people is kept at that level. They think we are people with "greed," with more than enough possessions. We think of them as "simpletons" that want to do 9-5pm and "enjoy life" (whatever they mean). Let's keep it that way. Then everyone is happy and will be happy.

I'd go one step further. Let them win. Let them think that they won. That will make both of us happier.

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Mod Note (Andy): #TBT Throwback Thursday - this was originally posted on 4/9/13

There are a couple different paths that you can take as a finance major:

1. Commercial Banking
2. corporate finance
3. Financial Planning
4. Hedge Funds
5. Insurance
6. Investment Banking
7. Money Management
8. Private Equity
9. Real Estate
10. Other

I picked investment banking...

In investment banking you will be working with companies, CEOs, CFOs, and other corporate strategy personal to help grow their business. This can be helping them with buying another company or issuing capital. They may also be interested in selling their company. It is your job to advise them and help them pick the best option. This requires analytical due diligence to guarantee that you are advising the company in the right direction. The analytical due diligence is where the majority of the hours come from. You may have to change the growth rate on a model several times and re-run the due diligence to guarantee that you are really giving the best advice.

This part of the job is basically the sole factor for burnout. If you can make it through the tedious due diligence work and constant revision, the rest is easy, in my opinion. -less alcohol, now only have a couple drinks once per week. This is assuming that the conclusion you have come up with for the client is correct, if it is not, the whole deal can blow up. The other half of the job is meeting with clients and pitching the material that you have created. If you are a social person and

can intelligently express your ideas you should have no problem. Building the model are fun and interesting, but my favorite part of the job is meeting with the clients hearing their stories and helping their business. Investment banking can be a very rewarding career financially and can be fulfilling emotionally knowing that you are helping business, which is helping people and communities. There are people who get into this business and abuse it, but they are easy to spot and usually are unhappy with their life. I have seen it too much during my interviewing and work at various banks. If you are only doing something for the money, stop, and doing something that makes you happy. For me that is banking.

Everyone ask me about my social life. Since I became a banker it is different than before, but it is better. I go out to nicer places, eat better food, and can afford to go to different entertainment events like concerts. Just the other day I saw Markus Schulz, front row, and got his autograph, stuff I could never do before. My time is much more limited than other people's time, so when I want to do something I make it happen. My time is valuable to me, so I don't waste it watching re-runs of friends or surfing facebook. Too many people waste their time doing dumb stuff, and banking has taught me the value of time and how important my family is to me. I make time to call them and I make time to hang out with my friends.

As far as relationships, I have a great girlfriend. She is extremely understanding of my career and we get along great. She also works in finance and knows the pressure/stress that I am under daily. She is very supporting and isn't out for my money. We don't live together and she pays her own bills. When we go out to eat or for entertainment, she always offers to pay half and pulls her weight. Couldn't ask for a better girlfriend, the key was building the relationship before I became a banker. I can't speak to starting a new relationship while being a banker, but from watching the guys I work with it looks very, very hard. It is also who you target, a lot of people play up the investment banking job to girls, don't do that! Meet a girl that likes you for you, not your job.

A lot of people talk about how great the money is and they buy all these things. I am saving money and paying college debt right now, but if I wanted I have the money to buy things that I have always dreamed about having, like nice cars, a house, and awesome clothing. I don't do this though, and I don't really plan to until I start a family. Right now I am happy wearing old clothes, I sold my car because I live in the city, and I have a good, but not over the top apartment. Don't get me wrong, I wear nice business clothing, but I have learned to be happy with what I have. My life style is one that could be sustained on roughly over minimum wage.

I came from a non-target west coast school and a family where I was the first college graduate. My dad and mom worked very hard to make sure we made it every month. I had no contacts in banking when I started school and no contacts in any other finance areas. When finance classes began and I saw investment banking described in a book it caught my eye. The social and analytical aspect was a perfect combination for me. Since I was at a non-target there was no information about banking or how to break-in. I turned to the only place I knew, the internet. In my searches I found Wall Street Oasis and Linkedin. I began to read all the guides about how to break-in and I began to build out my Linkedin.

Going to school during the day and cold emailing people on Linkedin at night. I was also reading everything investment banking related that I could find and studying technical questions like a mad man. At this time I also joined my school's small investment group and began to develop my analytical skills. With much effort and no luck I wasn't able to get an investment banking internship. My first internship was on the east coast working for a major bank on the community banking side. I got this internship from cold calling and emailing people at the bank.

My senior year of college was deja vu, a lot of networking and hard work that didn't land me an investment banking job. I only had two investment banking final round interviews. One at Goldman Sachs in New York, which I got from cold calling, and another at the bank I currently work at, so I won't name it. After finishing school I got a job working on the asset management side of the same banking I interned with previously. I still wanted investment banking and continued to network.

It was extremely difficult being from a non-target school and interviews for investment banking were basically impossible to get. I took the asset management job and continued the grind of networking. Now that I was in a major city networking was easy! I got coffee with everyone I could and grew my network tremendously. Within less than 6 months I was having interviews at investment banks and received an offer. At times I wanted to quit and give up the dream, but I knew I could do it. If you are still trying, don't give up, keep trying, you can make it!

I was a first generation college graduate, with no contacts in the industry, from a non-target west coast school, with no investment banking internships, and I made it. Hard work pays off. Keep networking, keep studying, keep trying!

We're all gonna make it brah.

I know many of the people on this forum are professionals in the world of finance. Many of you probably know what it means to work very hard, especially for those of you in investment banking. In your opinion, do you think many young people today are unwilling to commit themselves to "hard work"? I hear so much complaining and lamenting about how tough jobs can be, especially in the world of finance. For example, I've heard how tough hours in IB can be. That's a given. But those at Big 4 firms seem to complain just as much. And while I think it gets better in consulting, it doesn't. There doesn't seem to be the work-life balance anywhere, anymore. And people complain about pay...all the time. And in the background, I here the voices of those entrepreneurs screaming, "Don't give in to that 9-5 job...go build a product, and do what you're passionate about!" Is any of this really real? Are people just really making a big deal out of issues that have existed for a really long time? Or is the world of work really becoming unfair and unjust? Personally, I believe that young people like myself complain too much about hard work and that we should just suck it up and be grateful for what we're given.

What is your definition of "hard work"? And do you think that many young people today complain about things that they don't even understand? Is working in finance, etc. really as bad as people make it out to be?

Hey guys, so I know there are a few posts about the back office (i.e Operations) on this site but I just thought I'd add my 2 cents as I recently left for another job after spending 1 year in BB Ops.

1. Pay:

I don't know about other banks or regions but in mine, the base starting salary (non-NYC) was around ~45k with a signing bonus of ~7.5k. During training in NYC, I learned that my NYC counterparts received a base of ~60k and signing bonus of ~10k.

This is actually not too bad, considering that I live in a VERY cheap area. Unless you are an idiot, you are able to save at least 1.5k EACH MONTH and even more if you're super frugal. Obviously it's not the same for NYC but where I live, this is not uncommon.

In addition to our base/bonus, we were paid overtime (again, in my region... not sure about NYC). Depending on your team you worked anywhere from 10-14 hours a day. We worked 10 hours each day (7am-5pm) and were paid half time for each hour over 40. This added up to about ~52k, plus ~7.5k means we made about ~60k our first year in a VERY LOW COL area!

2. Performance Bonus:

It seemed like the first year bonus was usually around 4-5k across the board since most of the analysts had only been working for a few months and were still learning. After that, it could go anywhere from 2k-20k. Despite the fact that these bonuses were "discretionary", I had a lot of alum just tell me flat out what their bonuses were. The top performers (yes, even in Ops..) received anywhere from 10k-16k. The average was around 6k-9k, and if you sucked then you can go as low as 3k.

Another cool thing was that our bonus was ADDED to our BASE and our OVERTIME pay was calculated with BASE+BONUS. Ex:

48k BASE + 10k BONUS = 58K
Hourly = 58K/52/40 = 27.80

Working 10 hours per day turns 58K into 65K.

Yes, I know this is still considered "low" at WSO but the average salary in my region is like 40k-45k.

3. Lifestyle:

We worked from 7am - 5pm, sometimes 6pm. Usually we were done by 5. 18 Vacation days that we were free to take whenever we wanted. Unlimited sick days (at least for my BB, as long as you didn't abuse it). Easy to work from home when feeling sick or have other obligations that required you to stay home. Work was EASY AS HELL and had zero pressure/stress.

4. Exit Opportunities:

This is where I feel most WSO users get misled. I know that BB Ops is not the best job, but if you are a hard worker and a good networker, it is VERY POSSIBLE to jump into FO or even move into management consulting. The BB brand name helps getting into industries outside of finance but your personal performance will help you get into FO (within the same BB).

I've seen people move to IB, S&T, ER, Credit Risk... etc. Another possible option is working for 3-5 years and getting your MBA. A lot of my connections moved on to M7 MBA programs (mostly Booth and some in MO at Wharton). It's not only about your job title but it's about leadership, work ethic, extracurricular activities, and telling your story! If you work hard, you will have plenty of opportunities to come up with "interesting" projects that can really make you attractive to bschools.

In conclusion:

Working in BB Ops isn't so bad unless you are deadset and gungho about going FO. Even then, you can definitely use this opportunity to lateral and network.

As for me, I got a job offer at a f500 large tech company, a boutique strategy consulting firm with managers from MBB, and a smaller tech company that just went public last year. I'll be joining the smaller tech company next week!

Hope this helps some future Ops monkeys as I know I was depressed as hell when it was the only offer I got from my crappy non-target. There will always be more opportunities so don't give up!

You can see my AMA post (currently ongoing) here.

I graduated in May of 2012, from a non-target school with a below average GPA in a major that's quantitative but enough for a direct opportunity.

I graduated with little to no networking, no jobs lined up, etc., but quickly got on to a PE firm being a summer analyst. This came about at small shop that the principals knew of my parents. It materialized literally overnight, and I actually realized I had just secured something huge. I took full advantage of it, however, it was just that---an internship. The internship came with no full time job opportunity, as that was established in the beginning of it.

It gave me a start, as as the principal/boss said, that's all people need. From there, I joined two majors in the O&G departments(one in the BO and one in the MO) for a combined 9 months before a utility leveraged a scheduler role to me.

Right then and there, I recognized I had an actual direction job wise. I knew my exit opp-trading in some years. While the utility was/is awesome to work at, I knew the pace is extremely slow. I started right before the polar vortex(people in NG know what that is), succeeded, and was quickly placed on the most difficult pipeline the utility faces. I did that this past fall,winter, spring, and into this summer with confidence, poise, etc. They had outlined a strategy for me to move up in the coming years, however, trading wasn't something to materialize for years if not a decade.

Let's be honest here-- the pool is DEEP in Houston. Too deep. Just in my office, I had 3 senior schedulers with 5 years exp +, more so 8 years average, that were in line for the next trading jobs that were currently occupied by 38-42 year olds who had been trading for 8-10 years with no sense of urgency to leave. Trading at this utility was really...buying and selling, no risk, no spec. Traders do not leave this shop, so I started to look elsewhere. I wasn't too interested in taking a lateral, and of those, I had about 2 firm offers, and then another location a senior role which would've been my backup.

A small shop on the East Coast wanted an experienced scheduler, and to pry them from the most liquid market they had to understand the difference in resources. And they sure did, the brass had a background in Houston & Calgary, so they knew the market, they knew people I worked with, etc., and ultimately within about 7 business days including a visit to their office I had a healthy offer with a nice relo, signing bonus, and benefits to join them as NG Trader/Scheduler. I'll buy swing gas on a daily basis, and at times balance of month basis, and schedule my own gas.

My logic, as one of my previous traders put it, is you really can't take a title from someone. Now that I'm a Trader, you can't take that from me. If I go back out in the market, sure there's more money elsewhere, the home(Houston) for me, but I'm now viewed as a trader. Not a scheduler wanting to trade. The credibility is higher, and while a few headhunters doubted me, I'd like to say I did it. And I did it under 3 months, though, there was no rush.

The journey is up next, as I start the last week of this month. And hope for nothing but the best.

I have an AMA in the Trader's Train forum (http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/ama-gas-sche...), if you'd like to participate.

As we know, analysts and associates work involves some trivial work, work that makes you worthless, makes you question why you should exist, why you are there, what is the point in all this. These work usually makes you feel like you don't matter at all. You don't have to be there for the team to function, but you just need to be there in case.

Today was one of those days for me. By accident, I also read an article on nfl.com while waiting for my sandwich, about Robert Griffin III, QB for Washington. The piece talked about the discrepancies between the way he saw himself in the mirror and the way every coach looked at him. Basically, the journalist argued that his career was over unless he could change his attitude quickly. I am not a Washington fan, I am a North-East person, so more strategy than power football, but the article really hit me hard.

The banking culture isn't really, oh you have feelings, let's talk. You just go for a coffee or something and deal with it.

These days when you feel completely worthless make me really depressed. No girl or love would save me from feeling this; I have liked some women really, but I was still feeling the sense of worthlessness from time to time.

I find those days unbearable and often take it out on the receptionist on my floor. I also take this out on cleaners, waitresses at company restaurants. Not in a bad way, I just tell them what I am feeling, I find it easier to talk to them than talking to my girlfriends or friends. I also talk to a woman at a Starbucks near my office and home (close enough, a few blocks).

I used to deal with these feelings by sleeping around, or momentarily find a a good time (drinking etc) with strangers (usually women) at a bar. I pretend to listen to them, they pretend to listen to me. These days, I try not to do that. Instead I run until things including myself don't matter at a gym.

I can't talk a walk because my office is really close, just a few blocks from my apartment. It would be nice to take a long walk (if it wasn't so humid outside).

One of those days. What can we do.

deleted-----

Mod note (Andy): ThrowbackThursday, this was originally posted on 5/18/12

A week or two ago there was an article written about how your weight might inversely effect you during the hiring process. During the conversation I dropped some personal information about me losing 130 (now 135 pounds). I was PM'd by somebody asking me to tell my story. Well I have some free time and this story actually ties in to finance. So here we go!

I have always been large. I am 6'3 and hovered around 300 pounds. I was very active in football and weightlifting but I'd love to eat. My entire family is large so healthy living was unknown to me it was living. I wasn't the best football player but I was getting attention from so mid-tier schools in Texas. I was popular and had no serious problems with my body image but no girlfriends.

Well one day in fall 2002 I went to a Best Buy to buy a new device called a DVD player. They were closing but let me in anyway. What happened after that changed my entire future.

When I left the store I was involved in an "incident". All of the soft tissue in my left knee was shredded and I was in the hospital for a week. I was out for the rest of the football season and unable to play ever again. I sank into a deep depression and just became just a big negative Nelly. Well I trained to become a Marine (even with one bad knee I could get approval). The Marines fell through also and I went into a deep dark hole and gained 150 lbs through college.

I cannot explain the self hatred I had for myself. It was a viscous cycle. I ate because I was depressed and was depressed because I lost control of my life and body. I would actually skip classes because I could not fit comfortable in the seats. Well this were finance helped changed my life back.

My finance professor called me to his desk and said he could tell I loved investments. After a little conversation about my goals he handed me a book called "The Intelligent Investor". When I read it I knew exactly what I wanted to do. My life had purpose a direction. I could see myself in a nice suit making big investment decisions in some corner office. I wanted to be a PM. That coupled with a crush I had on a very special smart/ smart-ass girl was all the motivation I needed.

I adopted a rule that I called the "Nutritious and Delicious Rule". I could eat anything I wanted if it was nutritious and delicious. I stuck to that rule no matter how much I craved Pizza (Delicious but not nutritious). I also watched my portions by using smaller plates. It was still a struggle but I wanted to be healthy and fit.

On the exercise front I researched High Intensity Interval Workouts (HIIW). So every morning I would do HIIW and a small circuit of free weights at my home gym. I could see myself getting fit as my intervals got longer and I could go harder. I felt great!!!

My overall goal was to get healthy to live a healthy life. When people asked me, "How is the diet?" I answered that it's not a diet just eating right. As a side effect of my healthy living I began to lose weight. It just melted off I couldn't buy clothes fast enough!!! Also, with the time a dedication EVERYTHING became easier. I didn't want unhealthy foods their smell would ruin my appetite. I needed to work out my body would demand it. It was just so damn easy after 4 months of hell.

Losing this weight has been the greatest thing ever and I am still not done. Still I feel absolutely amazing and wear great suits and casual clothes every day. Also the ladies began to flirt which was something I never really exp. When I was losing all the weight girls began noticing me and I became very popular and a ladies' man. However, one girl noticed me and took a strange interest in me. I had a crush on here since I met her. She was a PHD (PSY) student at Texas. We met through friends and after seeing me struggle not to eat a burger she used me in one of her research papers about obesity. We ended up dating and now we have been married for 3 months!

So choosing finance saved my life and gave me a life. I lost my old man to a heart attack and I don't want history to repeat itself. I won't stop till I'm 215. I plan on being Captain America for Halloween so that's my goal.
Peace out WSO and thanks

Hey everyone. First of all, it's pretty surreal that I'm writing this post on here on the "success stories" section. Maybe writing this is one piece of officially cementing my career journey from where I started to where I am now.

To put this in perspective, I think I discovered WSO sometime back in 2011 when I was GMAT-ing, looking at business schools, and figuring out what my path forward would be. Since 2012, I haven't been very active on WSO, but I hope this post is inspirational to other people here.

My story:
Native of the washington, DC area, class of '00 in high school (waaaay before any of this stuff existed).

Undergrad: went to a pretty good local high school but didn't get stellar grades, and had motivational issues. Spent 1 semester at community college, and then transferred to UMBC (near baltimore). Picked Geography as a major because I really liked playing SimCity and thought that urban planning / zoning would be an interesting career... Until I had to re-take Cartography, which was hours and hours of making maps on the computer which was intensely boring.

I transferred to Salisbury University to switch to exercise science, because I was pretty serious into soccer and wanted to play more and get into coaching. I was very driven and for the first time found something to really sink my teeth into. By the time I finished college, i had every coaching license available to coaches in the US except the very highest level ones.

Spent a year in florida having fun and coaching part-time, moved back to DC in fall 2006 and picked up a few teams for the fall season to train in the afternoons. Over the next 2 years, I had a series of jobs during the daytime, none of which lasted more than 3 months, including:

Personal trainer at Gold's gym
IT recruiter
Nightclub promoter
Real estate agent
Marketing assistant for a loan officer

Oddly enough, what would happen is after 3 months I would learn as much as I could about what I was doing and then realize that it was a dead end. However, I picked up a lot of things along the way, such as when I worked as a recruiter, I was able to really understand the hiring process from the inside, learn what makes a great resume, and understand nuances of interviewing.

In 2008, I tore my ACL in a soccer game and had to get surgery; during my recovery period I made a VOW to myself that I was going to get my career handled, NO MATTER WHAT. Although I really like coaching (and I still do it today), you need something to do during the daytime to really do OK financially and live a normal lifestyle around here... the DC area is somewhat expensive unless you live way outside the city in Maryland or Virginia.

I literally had no idea where to begin as far as career planning. Originally, because of my 3 months as an IT recruiter, I thought I had some inkling of a shot in anything related to technology. I although thought that I should naturally combine that with finance, because hey, finance is the place to be. Go big or go home.

Well living in DC isn't exactly the place for tech unless you're in military tech or anything related to government... so aerospace and defense industry it is, since all the major companies are headquartered here. So my new path became equity research focusing on the aerospace and defense industry. If I broke into the field and did well, maybe I would have a chance to work for the Carlyle Group.

Next step was set my sights on an MBA program. Since I had take ZERO math / finance / accounting / economics / business courses during undergrad, went to a slightly out-of-the-way school in Maryland in a non-business major and graduated with a 3.1 GPA, I realized I would have to do some work to get into a program, and I would probably have to do it part-time so I could work and live locally. DC is actually a pretty good place to be for career/education if you know how to navigate here.

So in fall 2009, I did an internship, leading to a 2-year stint as a part-time research assistant in which I worked mostly from home analyzing defense budgets of other countries. During that time, I took another full-time job that lasted a few months (while working the part-time research job remotely) and taking classes in the evenings and Saturdays. Yeah, don't ask me about how I managed that.

From January 2010 to August 2012, I took these classes which were really inexpensive at a place called Graduate School USA. It is also known as the Harvard Extension School of DC and is the cheapest/highest quality place you can take classes in the area without paying out the nose for graduate credit. Each class costs something like $300. (Maybe its slightly more expensive these days)

Accounting I, II, III
Auditing I, II
Business, Government, and Society
Precalculus, Calculus I, II (thought I was going to die but it turned out fine)
The congressional budget process
corporate finance
Economic indicators
Econometrics I,II
Financial accounting
Financial statement analysis
Government accounting I,II
Intermediate accounting I,II
Linear algebra (hated it)
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
Math for economists I, II (don't take this unless you like torture)
Statistics I,II
Natural resource economics

I may have missed a few but it was 30 classes in total. I ended up with a 3.5 average. About 2/3 of the way through these classes, I left my job and did nothing but studied for the GMAT for 2.5 months. Literally nothing else. Took it once, got a 530. Was traumatized by the result and completely burned out. Programs around the DC area really look for a 600 or higher. Immediately after went back to work for the same company I had done research for but as an analyst on their consulting team. Over 100 people applied, 2 were hired. I came in on a referral since I had already been working at the same company but in a different silo. The MD said they were too busy to look through all the resumes, so they just hired the 2 of us based on our interviews.

Despite being really frustrated with the GMAT, a friend of mine suggested I look at a certificate program offered by Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. If you look for the school on here, there are a lot of posts about people curious about the school since it's pretty new and not ranked yet. I applied to the certificate in investments program, got in because I had done well academically and had good work experience from my research jobs and good recommendation letters. YES. Got in.

Got decent grades and transferred into the part-time MBA the following year (early 2013). During that time left my analyst job after a year to start a crazy business idea with a good friend. Both of us thought we'd eventually go find jobs in government, and I was looking at positions at the Department of Defense.

It took me 3 years of going to JHU Carey part-time to finish. I actually am taking my final class now, and have 7 weeks left before I am done. Also, that crazy business Idea that we started has turned into something that has a lot of potential. Now I am in the process of getting ready to raise funds for a technology platform that we want to build. I am also beginning to teach entrepreneurship since I have gone through the process myself.

A few funny stories looking back:

I can't tell you how desperately I wanted to get into equity research for the defense industry. There are really only a few financial companies that have good analysts for that industry, and junior positions rarely open up. I sent a resume to the head analyst at a local firm and followed up with a call. Was nervous as hell. He said "you have a great resume"... "but we're going through some restructuring right now, but I can pass it onto HR". So yeah, never heard back.

I also called up the founder of an aero/defense boutique consulting company here. Did the same thing. Said he appreciated the fact that I called and would pass to HR. Nada.

Met a managing director from the Carlyle Group after he spoke at a conference in 2009 when I was interning and asked what type of people they look for. "Oh, usually we hire people off wall street".
At the time, I didn't know what that meant, and I thought you had to literally work on the physical street in New York for them to consider you, not realizing he meant the financial industry.

Very recently, I went to a conference where someone who is very, very successful that I happen to look up to as a role model was speaking. After he finished his talk, people basically swarmed him as he walked out of the conference room. He actually did talk to a few people before it really got ugly. Since I go for the gold, I approached him and he basically kept walking. As he was exiting, I approached him again and started to introduce myself, that I heard him speak several years ago and model my career after him (which I do) and tell him that I would like a short leadership mentoring session from him. He basically says "oh that's nice""very good""uh-huh, that's great" a couple of times while avoiding eye contact.

Let me tell you, when someone you have admired in business for years completely ignores you when you have a chance to talk to them, it actually makes you into more of a man when you realize that everyone is human and these super-successful people that we idolize are just like you and me and they don't have time for everybody in the world. Everyone should try doing this, and the more famous the person you choose, the better.

There is probably a better time and a place to interact with this person again, but I felt like I accomplished my goal from having a series of jobs that I would never touch again with a 10-foot pole to having about 1 minute one-way conversation with a prolific business leader that I (still) admire as a role model, minus the starry-eyed aspect of admiration.

So the story is that everything turned out great, I LOVE being an entrepreneur, our business has a lot of promise and potential, and I found out that being an equity research analyst and consulting wasn't my thing after all (although I'm still a defense industry junkie), and I realize that everyone is human regardless of how much money you have, where you went to school, what you do, where you work, or what your gmat score was, or how many beans you can fill a 747 with when the beans are different shapes and sizes.

And I feel at peace with myself and am happy with my choices. I now feel that I can leave the chaos of my "early" career behind and begin a new leaf for the beginning of my "mid-career" phase.

Hope this is helpful to everyone, happy to answer any questions or elaborate on any specifics. Writing this helped me get this out of my system. A bit of a rant but I hope someone finds this inspiring.

I'm living proof that you can do your best, ultimately find your place, and do what makes you happy.

But you HAVE to work your a** off for it.

And we are ALL monkeys.