CRE Culture and Hours - do they get somewhat better?
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[{"id": "irgw0fc", "text": "It gets better as you move up if you want it to. But honestly, your job sounds pretty normal and as you said there are places where it is a LOT worse. \n\nI say this with no judgement - If you really want a strict 9-5, RE Private Equity is probably not the right industry for you.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "irgw7si", "text": "What market are you in and are you at a big shop? PE unfortunately is pretty unrelenting and hours will always be long but some people just get used to it and that's what you get paid for. That is actually lighter than most shops, especially at your age so if you can't hack those hours prob not the right fit. I'm at a VP level in Acq at a dev shop but have a bunch of friends in PE and they're always working even at svp and md levels.\n\nThe development side hours are definitely not as bad. You could transition to acquisitions somewhere but you're not going to make PE money.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "irgwbwu", "text": "I sympathize. Been in your shoes feeling burnt out and like you have no life outside work. I\u2019ll give you the following advice. \n\nYou\u2019re not working long hours currently. I know it feels like shit but my analysts would kill for 50-hour weeks. \n\nMaybe it gets better, but I\u2019m knocking on 40 and literally said this week to my partner \u201cI thought I was past the 80-hour week phase of my career.\u201d \n\nIt\u2019s a grind. Luckily we get paid pretty well in this industry. The more you make and the more quickly you can make/compound it, the sooner you can retire. So there\u2019s your silver lining I guess.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "irgy2r0", "text": "I\u2019ve work at a few firms ranging from large publicly traded REITs to large and small PE shops in a major US city. I can say that it definitely depends on the company as well as the role. If you\u2019re in acquisitions, the hours you describe are relatively consistent across the board. Some companies have more flexible work arrangements, but face time tends to be important. But, it typically gets better as you move up. If you\u2019re in an asset/portfolio management or FP&amp;A role, the hours get much better as you progress, but again, it depends on the company/culture. I\u2019ve been in AM/PM for ~10 years and when I first started I was doing the 8-6, heads down grind. But over the past 3-4 years, I can pretty much come and go as I please and probably do 9:30 to 4 most days and I\u2019m not killing myself during those hours. The company I\u2019m at now is extremely flexible. In contrast, I was at a competing firm several years ago at a similar level and it was a grind for everyone because the culture was so terrible.\n\nSo to summarize, it typically gets better as you progress, but largely depends on the role and the firm.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "irhdp0m", "text": "I\u2019m an analyst at a debt fund my guy, there are weeks where I start 9:30am leave office at 7~8pm get back to my place and continue working until 1~2am", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "irhpub3", "text": "Man you have it easy.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "irk644u", "text": "Man those sound like really good hours already. Haven\u2019t seen shops that do much less except for lifecos", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]