A Day in the Life of Mike S.

Mike S.

Mike first joined Avascent as a Summer Analyst before returning after graduating from Georgetown University with a BA in International Politics.

Mike’s work focuses mainly on business strategy for defense platforms and systems, and he has worked with clients across a range of advanced technologies including radars, missiles, developmental aircraft, and command and control systems.

9:00 AM

Arrive at the office. I always eat half of a granola bar from the snack wall for breakfast, so if you want the other half, it’s in the Café. I typically spend the first half-hour or so at work reading the news—I typically go to WSJ, skim through the Defense News Early Bird Briefing, and hop over to the Atlantic for a thinkpiece (today: “Instagram’s Wannabe-Stars Are Driving Luxury Hotels Crazy”).

10:00 AM

Call with another analyst in the London office to discuss a market model we are making for a M&A strategic diligence. We are sizing the market for aircraft engines, landing gear, actuators, pumps, accessories, avionics, and airframe component repair, replacement, and leasing for military, oil & gas, first responders, business, and commercial users of fixed-wing and rotary-wing platforms. So, you know, a typical Avascent segmentation. We decide on a path forward and agree to get back together once we have executed on our work.

10:15 AM

Desperately scour the internet for information on how often helicopters used in the oil & gas sector require maintenance. Post findings in the project Chatter stream on Salesforce and double-check that there aren’t any off-the-shelf resources we can use to answer the question.

11:30 AM

Re-convene with the international team to put final touches on the model and update on changes. Thank my international team member profusely for accommodating my lunch schedule.

12:00 PM

Buddy lunch! We enjoy a day of great weather and a chance to catch up on each other’s work. I resolve to order the healthy vegetables and hummus plate but bail last-minute for the jerk chicken sandwich. I do not regret the decision at any point during the rest of the day.

1:30 PM

My other project team and I depart for an in-person kick-off meeting with a client. In the car ride over, we review the deck we’ve prepared, do some last-minute research checks to see if there are any articles about the program we’re analyzing, and casually brush up on commercial jet engine design flaws from a Principal. He also corrects me when I call a barrel roll a “loopdy-loop,” so don’t make the same mistake I did.

2:00 PM

Our client meeting is overwhelmingly dominated by video teleconferencing technical difficulties, but we manage to glean a number of important program details, as well as client preferences for our deliverables, which I take note of for team reference for later. The client insists we share in their snacks and I sheepishly select a small bag of pretzels.

4:30 PM

Return to the Avascent DC office and roll up my sleeves to do some initial research! I usually start with simple, general Google searches and build up a picture of a program, including requirements, timeline, and history, taking notes in a Word doc or on Microsoft Teams to share with my colleagues. Particularly unique or urgent articles are typically posted on Salesforce Chatter, garnering a showering of likes from my grateful teammates.

5:15 PM

I walk to the kitchen to refill my water bottle and see there is one fudge brownie triangle left in the Café from an in-office working lunch another team had. I longingly stare as the bottle slowly fills.

6:00 PM

After a productive (and meeting-filled) day, I pack up my laptop, grab any paper notes I may want to work from, and head to the gym for a workout before dinner. I may casually do some extra research later in the evening before Jeopardy! comes on, and head to bed around midnight.

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