“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd”
Some of us may feel the next 10 years of our career is planned out.
“I’ll do 2 years in IB, then move into private equity”.
If I had a nickel every time I heard that around McIntire, I wouldn’t need to work in private equity.
No hate to those on that path – it's a solid (and lucrative) plan. I only bring it up to point out none of us are truly certain of what the next 1 or 10 years look like after college.
Interests shift. Markets move. Maybe you do the 2 years in IB and go to PE. But maybe you don’t. You might hate the job you thought you wanted and take an unexpected opportunity elsewhere.
When that happens, the most valuable thing you’ll have isn’t a rigid plan – it’s the people you’ve met along the way.
“Who you know.” “What you know.” To me, they’re one in the same.
Your idea of what’s possible is directly related to the stories of people you know (or read about).
So don’t settle for what you think you’ll be doing for the rest of your life. Stick around, and maybe you’ll find a path that makes you go “huh, I could do that.”
That’s the goal here, and I hope I can be apart of it. Because certainty is overrated. Curiosity isn’t.