Help me decide: Commercial Banking vs Development Analyst
Hello all - I'm currently trying to decide between two entry-level job offers and was hoping you guys could weigh in on which would be better given my long-term goals. The two offers are:

Analyst for a small local developer (~$1B in projects over the past 15 years or so). They act as a sponsor: strategy is generally land banking, rezoning, then bringing in equity partners to develop a project. I would purely be running financial models, but would get at least some exposure to other aspects of a project and would get the chance to work pretty closely with partner-level employees. I would also get a chance to get some experience with Argus, although it seems like they only use it for asset management.

Credit Analyst for a large commercial bank (~10-20B in assets) working in their CRE department, assessing the quality of middle market (~10MM+) real estate and construction loans. It seems like a role that's more geared towards BS/IS analysis than asset-level. Would be a more structured environment, albeit with no formal training process. Would get some chances to interface with borrowers.

Comp is practically identical between the two. In the long-term, I would like to be working with larger CBD assets, be it in acquisitions or development, likely with a larger institutional player. I've realized I'll probably have to get an MBA/MSRED to make that happen. Am I overthinking this by even considering starting on the debt side? Option A would almost certainly be the more relevant experience, but I'm hesitant because option B is a much stronger brand name and may be better for moving to a bigger shop in a few years/grad school apps.
[{"id": "d2q5i8b", "text": "You haven't shared your long term goals. What are they? If you want to do IB or heavy analysis then go into an associate type role at a fund or REIT, the choice seems clear. On the other hand if you don't want to do spreadsheets all day and like development and other aspects of RE, that choice seems clear, especially if you want to eventually be an entrepreneur (doing your own developments).\n\nDevelopers don't do that much complicated modeling. Mostly it's budgets / proformas, but others will know better than me. \n\nIf you like the technical side take the IB job. It's a good place to start. Small local developer can disappear in an instant, especially in a downturn. Developers really can't pay you great comp, you're just an expense. \n\nSounds like you want the bigger deals and more complex stuff. Sounds like option B to me. You can more easily go from B to A in the future than A to B. And no you don't need an MBA or MSRED once you have experience, don't waste your time with that nonsense. MBA is useless for real estate. ", "replies": [{"id": "d2rfhi0", "text": "OP said the credit analysis job at a commercial bank (not an investment bank).  ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d2qepw7", "text": "I think you would learn more real estate working for the developer. I do analysis for a developer and I've learned a ton. And I would have to disagree with joonix about the complexity of models.  You can't just say all development is simple modeling. At my company we use pretty sophisticated models for all sorts of stuff. And we are analyzing things all through the entire deal cycle from land acquisition to disposition of a leased asset. I'm obviously biased since I work for a developer, but I think that is the better route for you. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d2qxrx5", "text": "I would recommend Option B since you will mostly likely get way more exposure to different asset types and projects. You will also have a better opportunity to build your network with a larger company (extremely important starting out!). Not only that - but as a young person starting in the industry, you want a large brand name on your resume (this has helped me as I am currently moving to a bigger city/market - which would be nearly impossible if I had a local boutique firm on my resume).", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d2s4fkc", "text": "Option A for sure.  I started my career in debt similar to what you describe in Option B, and there's only so much you can learn on the RE Fin side. And you're right, BS/IS analysis doesn't give you much insight into a RE deal.  All your loans will probably be low LTV, strong borrower, and you're be focused on DSCR not IRRs and scenario analysis.  Smaller company would probably expose you to more as well.  ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d2su4yd", "text": "Development jobs can be hard to come by, since most shops are small. If you will get a lot of exposure to deals, especially for more than just one product type, I would go that route. If you decide you want to do banking, you could always pursue that after an MBA. Commercial banking jobs are not tough to come by - you could get in as an underwriting with your development experience, and lateral into lending eventually if you build good relationships.\n\nI have worked as an analyst at a bank, and a project manager at a developer, and much prefer the development side. You are out looking at projects, sites and actually solving the problem, whereas most banks will have you seeing if the project meets underwriting criteria all day.", "replies": [{"id": "d2t4ps3", "text": "Interesting background. What are you doing these days? ", "replies": [{"id": "d2tunlp", "text": "I work for a really small mission-oriented (urban redevelopment for CRA purposes) fund doing equity and mezz debt that also provides a lot of development/bookrunning/structuring services on a fee-for-service basis. Sort of quasi-lending/development. \n\nPay is decent (not great) for my market, but it is a lot of fun and I have the leeway to pursue my own deals on the side. It is also only about 50-55 hours most weeks, which is about 20-25 less than when I was working in development.", "replies": [{"id": "d2u3h6w", "text": "Nice. That's awesome man. I started in community development, also for CRA.  Lotta cool projects, lotta fun tax credit deals. ", "replies": [{"id": "d2v5j8r", "text": "How'd you exit the field? While I like my job and the flexibility, I also like more money.", "replies": [{"id": "d2v9pw6", "text": "Commercial Brokerage. I know, I know. Hear me out.\n\nI'm doing it for the money and the path to being a principal.\n\n", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]