Career in Poland - working in finance / investment banking / venture capital / private equity

would it be viable/possible to seek a career working in finance in Poland and making around 15,000 pln a month?
i speak polish (polish citizen that has lived for most part abroad), english and learning french and german. where would be better, Krakow or Warsaw?

If you need to ask the question, the answer is no.

Quite. Plenty of talented locals (with good connections) all competing for work in that field. And usually for less money.

I work in finance in the UK. I am shocked by the nepotism that goes on.

That is the salary for a qualified person with 5-6 years of Big 4 experience. What is your background ? And what is your level of French ?because French speaking finance jobs are well paid here.

In Private Equity then no chance without prior experience. Banking is possible but a major shake up in the industry at the moment means there are lots of people on the market.

Accounting or IT project work is possible but you will be looking at 10k not 15k. You might be best off to find some such job and then make yourself indispensable before asking for a raise

I am currently a teenager living in the UK thinking of either starting a career in finance in Frankfurt or London (or another financial centre) and then eventually move back to Poland after a few years

@polska1234

If you're a teenager, then don't study generic finance, but rather a major that is heavy in applied math, like financial engineering, financial mathematics, econometrics or actuarial science. Math-intensive degrees will greatly increase your chances of finding a great job, and also substantially increase your lifetime earning potential. You'll also have a lot less competition. Study at a top-notch university like Imperial College or London School of Economics.

Well first go to college and then see how you feel about your career options. While at college you could try and sort out some internships in Warsaw with various financial companies and that would give you some connections and let you see what the business is like. It is a very good idea to have another language - French is good as there are not many French speaking finance people in Poland. If you take a year out then maybe do something that would build up your language skills - doesn't matter if you are selling ice cream on the beach :)

To get into PE or Investment Banking then what first degree you have is not a big deal but you will need at some point to get either an MBA or some consulting experience or both.

But for gods sake remember to have fun at college when you are young and not obsess about being an investment banker.

Good luck !

Would it be possible to become a lawyer in Germany and make a career there, and then move to Poland as an european lawyer and then take the title 'Radca prawny?' Would i still be able to earn a similar amount (15k)?

@Polska1234

It's incredibly difficult to break into the law field in Poland unless you have very strong connections, preferably strong family connections, the more generations the better. Unless you are a top student at a top school and have very strong connections, studying law is an extremely poor choice. Most people who graduate from law school never work a single day as a lawyer.

Well my father is a patent attorney that has worked in both U.K and Poland and has got contacts in Poland, but I don't mean studying law in Poland but in Germany and eventually if i have a good career then move to Poland after getting a job

dude, you havent even started college and youre trying plan where you can work after you graduate and start a successful career. one decade at a time. start by choosing where you want to study, begin that experience and eventually start thinking about the next. i guarantee you will change your mind a hundred more Times.

Yes you are taking life far too seriously ! Work hard at school and that will keep your options open for the future, but also remember you are only young once

I dont know why this 15k figure is stuck in your head but you will not earn thar in any profession in Poland until you are in your 30s.

Regarding the legal profession then family connection matter only if you want to be a notary. The judiciary to a certain extent relies on family connections, but more on politics, in private practice however then that is not the case - this is 2017 and if i pay a lot for a lawyer then i want a clever one who is there on merit, not because of family connections. I spend a lot of time with lawyers in meetings ans i dont get the feeling they are only there due to their parents. They are typically smart but dull people who have moved to Warsaw or similar for university from Polska B.

Roughly 50 percent of the top firms are foreign and the rest are Polish but in each case Then if you are seriously interested in that the best way forward is to get an internship and see if you like it.

I would like to change my company address, it was registered in Warsaw, any idea how to go about it?

It will be nearly impossible for you to break into private equity without previous experience at a reputable firm.

If you want to work in finance go to Switzerland. Average salaries for an mba are 140k usd and that's just the average for finance itd be way more.

Dirk once you have your MBA then go to Zurich, have a coffee at the airport, buy a sandwich and get a taxi into town. Once you have done those 3 things you will get a fair idea of what your 140k usd will do there.

Best market for MBAs is still probably the US.

@cms

Oh believe me I know I've travelled around Europe including Switzerland specifically Zurich but nothing else really : / its very expensive too in London Paris Moscow Chicago NYC tokyo..

The average pay for a top 10% mba in us is typically the same roughly 140k plus starting salary but there are many people who earn 200k even 300k plus finance, consulting, the highest earners tend to be Stanford grads

[moved from]


Tad da, rocket scientists don't earn that money, you are right, as long as you work smart that's the key, being educated and qualified just puts you on the first rung of a ladder along with thousands of others with the same qualifications, finding a niche is the key to success (financially)

Absolutely. That's why I chose a very specific career path. When I was in college I was looking at various jobs that people with various business bachelor's majors get - like whether its accounting, finance, pr, marketing, hr, etc. I saw that jobs like PR, HR, communications, marketing, etc. tend to be pretty low paid, as little as 30k a year, more commonly low 40's, maybe up to 50k if your lucky. The finance and accounting majors were a bit higher with high 40's, low 50's, even some up to 60 if they got into a good company and live in a city with a high cost of living hence generally higher salaries. The management, economics, international biz lied somewhere in the middle with most making 40-50k upon graduation. I chose to do b2b sales (and further found my niche in tech sales and sales consulting for firms selling b2b products) because it offered me the same salary of 40-50k BUT I would get commission on top of that making it far exceed any other job I could potentially obtain with just a bachelor's. The people who tend to get the really high salaries right out of college often chose a science like engineering, chemistry, biology, physics, etc and can easily find a job making $50k to even as high as $70-$80k right out of school esp for chem majors which are in huge demand.

The thing is though while the money for those blue collar type jobs can be excellent if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, they are nonetheless hard and dirty jobs. I've been helping out with my dad's company ever since I was a preteen. All the time you have to watch out so you don't get a nail through your foot, fall off a roof (which one of my dads subcontractors just did like a month or two ago and broke a bunch of ribs), cut your finger with a saw when cutting really small pieces of wood or tile, not to mention the chemicals, lead, asbestos, and all sorts of other stuff. Almost every single product used for construction from like spray foam to regular pink insulation to

There's a few ways I think the average person can become financially successful. The first is as we discussed - find your niche, start a small business, work 50-60 hour weeks, make it successful, etc. The second is to invest your money. Even if you're a mid/high level corporate worker making say $120, $140k a year 40% is taken out. Hence, leaving you with say $60k cash out of a $100k salary, $72k cash out of $120k salary (48k taken out in taxes), etc. That's really not all that much money - if you're single its not bad and you can afford certain luxuries - but its certainly not 'phuck you money' as I like to call it. Meaning 'phuck you boss' 'phuck you car payment' 'phuck you kids' college tuition' - you don't have to worry about any of those because you have more than enough to cover them all. BUT, if you invest a good portion of that $50 $60 $70k salary - say $10-$15-$20k a year, every year - you can certainly pile up your money till you have enough to have 'phuck you' money. It doesn't even have to be all that much but putting money aside regularly - its more about investing it wise. I bought $10k worth of bitcoin a few months back like around July. It was $2,300 when I bought meaning I had like 4 bitcoins. I sold them on Monday for $5,200 a piece making almost $12k return within 3 months. I basically more than doubled my money. Of course most trades aren't that spectacular you can still make significant money investing in real estate, stocks, commodities, etc IF you know what you're doing. Also, the tax for capital gains for long term investments is FAR FAR LOWER than income taxes for a high salary.

The third way, which I think is the hardest, is to get an education all the way to graduate level, make tons of contacts, perform wonderfully at a company, gradually climb the ladder, and IF you're really good you may become a vice president, c level exec, director, etc making $200, $300k or more. Generally, the CEO positions making millions of dollars a year are going to be extremely difficult for even an excellent, very highly educated employee. However, reaching a position of say Vice President, the position of the boss I reported to my last job, is entirely realistic. He earns like $250-$300k. Nonetheless, that still isn't really 'phuck you money' since it wouldn't be enough to retire, pay off the mortgage, and live off of. Nonetheless, it definitely gives you more capital to invest with or start a small business with.