Wall Street Oasis

Member @LevFinAlum gives us a 10-minute primer on mezzanine financing and shares his career path. Learn about why he got into investment banking in the first place, what's the hardest part about running his own shop as well as his one piece of advice to his younger self.

Member @mentorX shares his path going from one of the largest technology companies in the world and then using an MBA to pivot into the asset management industry at not one, but two top bulge bracket banks. Learn about the compensation structure and how convoluted it can be at these larger firms to why he jumped ship several times in his career as well as his one piece of key advice to young liste...

Member @grbarasia shares his unique path that landed him in equity research, M&A and now a family office running private deals and a global macro fund. Listen to find out why he graduated NYU at 19 years old only to go directly for his MBA at Cornell. How he ended up eventually breaking into M&A at Lazard in New York, but only after stints in equity research in Tampa. 

In this episode, Paul Millerd explains how he went from a non-target school to a research associate position at McKinsey. Listen how he managed to break in even after getting officially rejected and how he ended up at BCG after getting his MBA at MIT. We learn how he has now left the formal strategy consulting positions behind and started a new life where work isn't the number one priority.

Member @The Pharma Guy shares his path from a hard science biomedical degree all the way to pivoting to a Masters in Management and eventually breaking into a top healthcare strategy consulting firm. Learn how much he makes now and why he chose to work in strategy consulting over investment banking.

Member @FloridaMan shares his meteoric rise in his short career on Wall Street. Learn how he got over $150,000 in compensation as a first-year analyst and over $200,000 as a second year. In this episode, we follow his path a large state school in Florida to a bulge bracket investment bank, all the way to a family-owned private equity fund and finally to his most recent landing spot, a traditional...

Member @Odyssy2112 shares how he has survived a monstrous debt load, horrible timing and some unforgiving industries including investment banking at Jefferies and an internal corporate role at Barclays. One wise piece of advice on what you should optimize for and some humorous stories along the way.

Member @shaynepunim2 shares her path as a Big 4 tax consultant to leaving the work-force for an extended period of time to help raise her two kids. How she broke back in and advice she'd give to her younger self. 

Member @Mentor1119 shares her path from a non-target university to breaking into a bulge bracket investment bank. We cover why she decided to go into finance, how she leveraged certain programs to give her a leg up in recruiting as well as the group dynamics involved during her summer analyst stint. Why she eventually left to go to the buy-side, why she bombed a case interview and one tip on how t...

Member @john_quant shares his path coming from an engineering background to landing in the hedge fund industry. Learn how he's managed to pivot successfully three times as several risky senior quant positions at hedge funds didn't work out as hoped. Find out how he came out relatively unscathed and what he recommends to younger listeners trying to position themselves as traders.

Member @coder32 shares his path from a non-target background to a lower middle-market (LMM) private equity shop in the south. Learn how commercial lenders are getting very aggressive with pricing and covenants to win deals and when he knew it was time to make his jump to private equity. 

Member @REPE shares his incredible story from bouncing between continents for his education to landing at a bulge bracket investment bank on the equity derivatives sales desk in London. Learn how he survived massive cuts during 2008, even when his bosses were trying to make him look bad, to why he jumped to a smaller bank. Why he decided to go back to the US to get his MBA from Wharton and what hi...

Member @ParkAve shares his journey -- From working in sales, using an MBA to pivot into a Fortune 20 FLDP program and his latest move into M&A strategy at a top consulting firm. Learn how much he got paid at each level, as well as the various skills he developed in each stage of his career and how they influenced his path.

Member @BrownChad shares his long and arduous road in investment banking to make it to a reputable firm from two nightmare boutiques. We explore his journey straight from India to an MBA program, culture shock, the perils of working at very small investment banks with toxic culture as well as what he did when the people closest to him began to doubt his path.

Member @crePE shares his unlikely path. How he broke into Goldman's ECM group even with no IB summer internship to why he turned down the analyst to associate promotion offered to him two years later. Why he moved west to start working in Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Institutional Sales in Chicago and how he eventually was able to successfully make the jump to the buy-side at a real estate private...

Veteran member @Dedline shares his story from struggling with ADHD during high school, surviving college and finding his niche in healthcare enterprise architecture. How WSO gave him context on the level of competition for job interviews, his dramatic jump in pay at his latest role and some wise advice on career paths and specialization. 

Member @ConsultingDetroit shares his path from graduating into an engineering role right before the financial crisis in 2007, getting fired from his first job in under a year and taking on debt to pivot and get an MBA in the evening program. Learn some great unique tips for consulting case interviews, how he learned the best practices as a peer coach and what's in store for him next. Also, since t...

Member @bmeNerd shares his story about striking out the first time during case interviews at McKinsey to landing the offer the second time around. Find out what changed that made the difference, the challenges pivoting from academia to management consulting as well as advice he'd give to his younger self. 

Member @Layne Stayley, one of the most giving members in all of WSO's history, shares his inspiring path as an engineering student graduating during the Great Recession in 2008 all the way to a post-MBA associate seat in private equity and now VP at a Merchant Bank in the Northwest. He shares how he first broke into consulting out of undergrad during a very tough recruiting environment, his jump t...

Member @Phillysfinest shares his path from a liberal arts college to working in Nomura's structured products desk. How he got promoted to associate, how much he was paid and why he decided to leave all of that behind to start his own company.

Member @spydahmonkey shares his brave path which led him to move to Chile after graduating undergrad in the US with limited skills in Spanish, a limited network and no full-time experience. We explore how he eventually landed his first break, how he was able to eventually transition to investment banking and what's in store for him next. 

Member @mledyard shares her path from working in corporate development at International Paper and moving up the ranks to her transition to investment banking. In part 2 of this 2 part episode, Megan shares her experience as an Associate in investment banking. How she survived without prior banking experience and two key tips for having a successful career. 

Member @mledyard shares her path from working in corporate development at International Paper and moving up the ranks to her eventual transition to investment banking. In this first part of a 2 part episode, Megan gives us a detailed look at her thought process of why she started in corp dev at such a large firm and how she continually got promoted. We also explore how she had to hustle to land an...

In this episode, Adam shares how he broke into Big 4 Audit after working for a year at a non-profit after graduating his super non-target with a degree in accounting. We learn how he ended up at that non-target, how he made the jump into the Big 4 and then how his impressive performance opened doors internally to make his final transition into more interesting strategy work.   Learn why his bosses...

Member @CRE Entrepreneur shares his path from undergrad to working as a brokerage analyst. He covers his shift over to the portfolio management side of the business, why he enjoys real estate, how much his pay has gone up since he graduated 4 years ago and what's in store for him next. Also, listen to hear what he is investing in now and who he feels is a good fit for real estate finance careers....