Pictured: Jeronimo Delgado

Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of articles about navigating the college-to-career process. The articles are written by Jeronimo Delgado. Delgado studied International Business and Finance at Universidad Pontificia de Comillas and Northeastern University. He has worked in investment banking the past four years and will begin working with a private equity firm in New York in September.  He has a good friend from Bronxville who recommended he share what he has learned with this community.

By Jeronimo Delgado

July 24, 2025: There’s a lot of pressure to figure out what you’re going to do with your life early on. People around you expect that by the time you’re done with high school – or at the very least, college – you should have a plan. But that’s rarely how it works in real life. Most of us don’t have it figured out that early, and that’s okay. I didn’t either.

Growing up, my family moved around a lot. My dad is a Colonel in the Spanish Special Forces, which meant we were constantly relocating, adapting to new cultures and new schools. One of those moves brought us to Tampa, Florida, for a year. With almost no English when I arrived, that year ended up shaping me deeply. During that year, I received the President’s Award for Excellence, which gave me a strong desire to give back to the U.S. one day. But after we moved back to Spain and I had to decide what to do with my future, I was completely lost.

I liked math, chemistry, and physics, so studying engineering seemed like the logical choice. But something inside told me it wasn’t for me. I wasn’t excited about the idea of being an engineer. I just thought it was the "smart" path. So, I did what felt right at the time: I chose a dual degree in International Business and Finance between ICADE in Madrid and Northeastern University in Boston. It gave me the flexibility to study in both Spain and the U.S. and keep my options open. I still didn’t know exactly what I wanted, but at least I was moving forward.

The main reason why I chose this undergrad program was not so that I could study an easy program and avoid taking the “tough engineering path” but rather to give myself the chance to have more time to focus on other activities to complement my studies. 

Learn By Doing

And that brings me to the first pillar when it comes to figuring out what you really want to do in life: the best way to know what you like and what you don’t like is to try things out. Learning by doing, it is that simple.

With that approach in mind, I figured I could start by trying something on my own. I launched an online business selling watches through drop-shipping with a high school friend of mine. It was just an experiment, but I learned a ton. Eventually, we sold the business, and I used the proceeds to start an online clothing brand with my cousin. In parallel, because the key in succeeding in online businesses is being phenomenal at digital marketing, I decided to go and work for a digital marketing agency called FiftyX. So, I spent my first summer in college working as a digital 1 marketing analyst in a startup environment. I didn’t know anything about marketing, but I wanted to learn.

When You Start Developing a Passion for Something, There are Signs

During my second year in college, I took a course on “Introduction to Corporate Finance” that really ignited my interest in finance. When COVID-19 hit, Spain went on a national lockdown with little ability to travel within the country. During the summer of 2020, I decided I wasn’t going to spend three months at home in Sevilla. I was yet to find out what really interested me in life and finance was starting to catch my attention.

Therefore, I moved to Madrid for the summer and worked at the first ever fund of search funds in Europe, Istria Capital. At the time, the team was comprised of only two partners and an associate, so the learning opportunity within the private equity space couldn’t get any better. “I like the way these people analyze situations and think about potential investments and value creation opportunities” – I thought at the time. I wanted to be able to develop that investor mindset that combined intellectual curiosity with rigorous analysis. The more I read and learned about finance, the more I started falling in love with it. It was like being attracted to a girl from the first day you meet her, and the more time you get to spend together and the more you get to learn about her, the more you find yourself subconsciously interested in her.

I found myself wanting to read about finance during my free time or watching Warren Buffet videos on YouTube talking about investing. I had no reason to do so: nobody asked me to do it, it wasn’t a requirement from school, and I could have certainly spent my free time doing something completely different. However, the same way love makes us behave in a passionate way, when you start developing a passion for something, there are signs.

The Path is Not Always Straightforward

You may think that from there, everything was straightforward, and I went straight into investment banking in Wall Street, and here we find ourselves today. Nothing further from the truth. When my first semester in Boston was postponed due to the pandemic, I was told we were going to be taking classes online for the full semester. An opportunity came to work for the third biggest DIY retailer in the world, ADEO, while connecting to my online courses at Northeastern University at night in Spain due to the time difference.

ADEO was developing a full marketplace business around their Leroy Merlin brand (like Amazon but specialized in furniture, gardening, interior design, and general home improvement products). The job required working in all departments possible, as it was a startup environment within a big organization. I learned a lot about problem-solving, execution, and dealing with people and incentives within an organization. Although there were some finance-related workstreams I was involved with, this had nothing to do with the passion I had started to develop. It felt like I was cheating on my true love.

When I got to Boston for my second semester at Northeastern, we had to decide what we wanted to do during our co-op – Northeastern requires you to get real-world experience in a field that you’re interested in for 6 months, with no courses during that time. This was the perfect chance to revisit my summer love for finance and test whether my interest in it was more than just a mere sparkle.

I had always heard that the best way to begin a career in finance was in investment banking, so I took the opportunity to move to New York and work at Scotiabank for their LatAm DCM team. 2021 was the year with the highest-ever bond issuances, so you can imagine I spent the full six months working very long hours. I developed a great eye for detail, work discipline, and my skills with Excel and PowerPoint improved significantly.

Even though I knew I was getting closer to the best path to develop my passion, I felt like I needed something even more challenging and intellectually stimulating.

Investment Banking is the Best Way to Begin a Career in Finance

I was recruited to begin working at Citi in New York for its Investment Banking Division once I graduated from college. After roughly a year at Citi working for the Media and Telecom group, and two years at Santander working for the US M&A team, I can tell you that banking is without a doubt the best way to begin a career in finance.

Looking back, it took me two businesses created from scratch, six organizations (from small startups to big corporations), three industries, and three different banks to consolidate the idea of what I truly want to do with my life.

Take Action

All of this helped me realize something important: you don’t need to wait until you’ve got it all figured out to take action. In fact, the only way to figure it out is by taking action in the first place. Every job, every project – even the ones that don’t work out – gives you insight into what you enjoy and what you don’t. That’s the real way to learn.

Put differently, the first step to take if you’re not sure what you want to do with your life can be summarized into this:

-Take on internships or summer jobs. It doesn’t have to be your dream job. Just getting real-world experience can tell you a lot.

-Start something small on your own. Whether it’s a business, a blog, or a creative project, doing something independently builds confidence and helps you discover your strengths.

-Keep track of what you’re learning. After each experience, ask yourself: What did I enjoy? What drained me? What skills did I pick up? Over time, patterns will start to emerge.

You don’t need all the answers right away. Just keep moving, keep trying, and stay curious. It’s a process. And that process is what leads you to something meaningful.