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My company, Yotpo, is hiring Sales Engineers. I’ve been at the company for awhile and think we have top tier culture, work life balance, and comp. If you have any experience as an SE in SaaS and e-commerce, let’s chat! Even if you don’t, my DMs are open! https://www.yotpo.com/careers/gid-4104666/
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Fam - where the trap clubs at in Charlotte?
Time to get creative

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For anyone trying to follow the same path, I recommend getting a temp or admin job at a small company that uses in demand technology like salesforce, workday, servicenow etc and then meet with the IT or business directors that use that tech. Volunteer to do any type of work with the systems and learn as much as you can. Even if you don’t do much, if you can speak to how the system works, you can leverage that for an entry level analyst role at the big 4 / ACN or any professional services firm. That is exactly how I started as a temp making $15 an hour and after getting into a few consulting firms ending with D, I jumped to AMZN and am now making $350k at 32 as a principal product manager. All just because I volunteered to take on tasks so that I could learn the ERP software then leverage that rare experience over and over.
Amazing!
Congrats- I have a very similar story. I just graduated with my AS (first gen) and still working towards my Bachelor’s and making just under six figures. I am grateful every single day that I live comfortably and can support myself since I expect nothing from my family (not a dig at them, I just know it’s not their responsibility/they don’t have much). I started 5 years ago at BAH at 40k because I knew I just had to get my foot in the door and could go from there. Best decision I ever made and grateful I was taken a chance on. (To my small credit, I did persist for 8 months to be hired and wouldn’t let it go. To quote the character Jack Dawson from Titanic, “when you got nothin’ you got nothin’ to lose.” I had three interviews spaced months apart after email follow ups on my end, I sent handwritten thank you cards, consistently emailed the recruiter asking if there was anything further I could do to assist in the decision, etc. - This was all while I was working at a bank during the day and waiting tables at night.) The best advice moving forward is: pay it forward in anyway you can reasonably do. The best investments I’ve ever made to ensure my continued financial success were those that had nothing to do with money exclusively; were solely dependent on how I took care of myself by furthering education and “building my house” while looking for the ways I could subsequently help others.
Man I wish I saw more like this on here….
Ain’t no shame in ambition, but the tone deafness is brutal sometimes
Lmao. So true
Chief
Inspiring! More stories like this please. And less about worrying about making less than their two consulting MD parents 🤔
While I am happy for you I also feel ripped off. I don’t even make that and I was top of class, did literally everything perfectly, and have 15+ years in Consulting. Just goes to show you, life is anything but fair.
Hate the game, not the player. Well played.
Happy for you.
Rising Star
Amazon, thats exactly my point...
Similar background here! Was homeless as a kid and had a really messed up childhood. Got an almost perfect ACT score without studying/preparing, but didn’t care that much about college when I finally went, and was working 40+ hours a week so didn’t have time for “extracurriculars” that affluent kids who don’t have to work get to do. I started at the bottom, and made it to McKinsey all on my own. Nice to meet someone else in consulting with a background different than the generic “graduated top of my class, went to a top university, got perfect grades, came straight to consulting because that’s what I’ve always wanted to do”
Wow nice!
Pro
MBA, PMP, CPA with 15 years plus exp at $130k, so you rock! Screwed up in high school and college but got back on track in my junior year and at 27 with an MBA. Man, I am underpaid!
Get a job in tech!
My low point in my undergrad was a .881 GPA one quarter
It all worked out when I woke up and got my shit together.
We can all decide to get it together when we want to.
Love this post, kudos to you! We need more of this and less of the “2 YOE making $600K TC how am I doing?”
Hell yeah! Similar story here...not many family members went to college, divorced parents, bad grades in HS, community college. Worked hard and got some internships and worked hard and made connections. Leveraged those connections to later in life get into consulting. In less than 8 years I’ve gone from a $35k salary to >$150k.
This is something that resonates with me except I’m only at the very beginning. Just started in consulting less than a year ago and I never would’ve thought I would get this opportunity. Thanks for posting this.
Not to take away from OPs great accomplishment but I graduated college with a 2.4 and no job prospects, started as a temp making 15.25 an hour in the back office, and worked up to near OPs salary after spending the first 6 years in industry. Never doubt yourself.
OP - I’m a firm believer that your experience/struggle only makes you a more well-rounded and resilient person. You can also help someone else who’s been in your shoes. You are worthy of success and I’m glad you are finding it! ❤️
Have a messed up childhood and family. ESL. Spent all of high school watching anime. Spent all of uni partying. Started as a receptionist at a staffing /temping company making $11/hour with no benefits. read through hundreds of resumes ranging from entry level to executive and printed out their paychecks. Something clicked. Got 700 on GMAT and went for a 1 year masters degree to give campus recruiting another go. 3 yoe now making 130k. Still have no savings and can't move out because I had to pick up the mortgage on my childhood home. Life is hard
A4, you’re doing extremely well. It took me 6 years to get to 130k. You inspire me. Pat yourself on the back
OP. are you me? Literally the same thing over here with sub 2.0 hs gpa. NICE!
This girl in my broader project world shared that she had a 1.7 hs gpa, but hey she managed to get it together quickly enough to be a campus hire BTA!
Massive respect
9 in years in consulting - 69k - 200k... - also my 9 years in the US...
Love this.
Awesome job. As long as you have your health, you can fix any situation in life.
Respect
Dude, congrats OP! Similar story for me. At some point you can’t blame anyone else but yourself. Way to push through it.
I wish there were more posts like this rather than the constant complaining about how hard our staff have it because they only made a 32% bonus and 8% base increase. People like us who come from very little and somehow find a way to succeed are grateful for the high comp we have in consulting and don’t let the marginal dollar define our self worth.
Love your story, OP! Congratulations to you (and for others on this thread with similar stories).