u/Ok-Philosophy55

Currently Financial Analyst at a store-based retailer for almost a year, and somehow I’ve gotten interest for a Senior FP&A Analyst role at a recreational/outdoor products company (think Stanley, RTIC, Hydro Flask). The recruiter screen is tomorrow.

A little info on the role:

• Finance partner for an e-commerce/marketplace sales channel
• Forecasting and planning for the channel (sales, margin, expenses), plus tracking performance against targets
• Supporting promo, pricing, and inventory decisions with analysis
• Month-end close support and reporting to leadership
• Asks for 5+ years in FP&A or commercial finance

My biggest concern going into this process (and future interviews) is my background. Even though my title is FA, about 90% of my job is reporting and routine month-end close work. My biggest responsibility is getting forecast inputs from our merchandising team and running them through a legacy model to set next month’s sales. So I’m not really doing hands-on modeling, forecasting, or planning, and I’m worried I’m underqualified. They still seem interested, though.

For extra context, my company was recently acquired and the finance team has had a lot of turnover. I’m now the only one left covering revenue/margin, reporting to interim leadership, so things are pretty chaotic.

I lurked here before my current job, and the advice I got helped me land it, so I’m back! For anyone who’s made a similar jump:

• What did the recruiter screen focus on? Did they ask anything technical, or was it mostly fit and logistics?
• What came after: hiring manager, Excel test, case study?
• How did you frame reporting-heavy experience without overselling it?
• Anything specific to e-comm/marketplace finance worth brushing up on (inventory, promo analysis, channel margins)?

On a more general note: whether or not this one works out, I want to become more well-rounded for true FP&A roles, both lateral moves and Sr Analyst roles. What would you recommend I do, at work or outside of it, to build real planning and forecasting skills? I’d rather actually be prepared for these interviews than stumble through them trying to fit what they’re looking for.

Any feedback or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

TL;DR: Retail FA whose job is mostly reporting, with a Sr FP&A recruiter screen tomorrow for an e-comm/marketplace channel role. Looking for what to expect in the screen and later rounds, and how to build real planning/forecasting skills for future FP&A moves.

I recently started a FA role on the revenue/margin side of FP&A in the retail industry (got it thanks to this sub!) and was wondering if you guys had any recommendations to sharpen/master the modeling side of FP&A, specifically when it comes to outputs like 3 Statement Modeling, Budgeting, Revenue Forecasting, etc.

I tried resources like Wall Street Prep and A Simple Model but those seem pretty IB focus if I recall correctly so wasn’t sure if there was one focused solely on corporate finance and/or FP&A modeling and forecasting.

If anyone has recommendations on online courses, YouTube channels, books, etc. on getting more comfortable on the modeling and ad-hoc forecasting side of the role, that would be greatly appreciated.

If there are industry specific ones too (e.g., Retail, A&D, Tech, etc.) that would be even better but my understanding is these skills should be agnostic of industry which would be ideal especially if switching industries.

This is mainly a question regarding the 3rd round RBs in a 0.5 PPR league.

Most of us could argue that this round has some good RB’s with potential to finish in the top 12.

Say if you went RB in the first round who would you absolutely want as your RB2 out of these three (tied to high scoring elite offenses):

Josh Jacobs (Green Bay Packers 🧀 )

Javonte Williams (Dallas Cowboys 🤠 )

Kyren Williams (Los Angeles Rams 🐏)

All these guys look to have the bellcow potential and are tied to great offenses and coaching. Can argue knocks on each one like for Josh Jacobs decline or O-line woes, for Javonte the emergence of Jaydon Blue and lack of pass catching, and Kyren Williams really the share with Blake Corum.

Who would you absolutely take without hesitation as your RB2 given their situation, upside, etc. Would love to hear tour thoughts!

This is mainly a question regarding the 3rd round RBs. Most of us could argue that this round has some good RB’s with potential to finish in the top 12.

Say if you went RB in the first round who would you absolutely want as your RB2 out of these three (tied to high scoring elite offenses):

Josh Jacobs (Green Bay Packers 🧀 )

Javonte Williams (Dallas Cowboys 🤠 )

Kyren Williams (Los Angeles Rams 🐏)

All these guys look to have the bellcow potential and are tied to great offenses and coaching. Can argue knocks on each one like for Josh Jacobs decline or O-line woes, for Javonte the emergence of Jaydon Blue and lack of pass catching, and Kyren Williams really the share with Blake Corum.

Who would you absolutely take without hesitation as your RB2 given their situation, upside, etc. Would love to hear tour thoughts!

33M, no family history of prostate issues that I'm aware of. Imaging has been unremarkable — a CT showed a normal-sized prostate (incidental finding), and an abdominal ultrasound this past July was normal aside from gallstones. One major physical development is that I lost considerable weight from last November to now going from 175 to 135 today so not sure if this contributes to any pelvic dysfunction.

Timeline:

- Late May: First noticed an on-and-off suprapubic discomfort. Had several urinalyses and a few cultures — all negative or showing <10k CFU of some gram-negative bacteria. One UA came back nitrite-positive, so my PCP put me on a 10-day course of Cipro, which did help.
- June–August: Mostly fine. Occasional suprapubic discomfort that resolved the same day.
- Yesterday: While masturbating, I felt a twisty, nerve-like sensation as I was ejaculating. It subsided within a couple of hours and I was fine overnight.
- Today afternoon: Urinated, and minutes later the same sensation came back. It's stuck around for about 6 hours now.

Went to urgent care and did another urinalysis — negative on all counts again with 0.2 urobilinogen and 6.5 ph.

Current symptoms: No pain during urination, but it hurts at the very end when getting the last bit out. The discomfort lingers afterward. Anything involving straining — even passing gas — triggers it. Right now still feeling the discomfort as I lay down. I have a urologist appointment this Friday to see what is the treatment but was curious if this was typical of CPPS in your experience

Prostatitis and CPPS are both new to me. Does this sound like CPPS or some form of prostatitis? Has anyone had a similar pattern, especially the post-ejaculation flare with clean cultures? Any guidance is appreciated.

TL;DR: 33M, on/off suprapubic discomfort since late May. One nitrite-positive UA treated with 10 days of Cipro (helped), but every culture since has been negative or <10k CFU. CT and ultrasound normal. Symptoms flared again two days ago during ejaculation and have been constant for ~6 hours since urinating yesterday. Pain only at the end of urination, and straining (even passing gas) triggers it. Sounds like CPPS or prostatitis?

Did a complete abdominal ultrasound a couple days ago due to some ruq discomfort for the past few month. I did one last winter and it was clear no stones fluid inflammation etc) but did it again at rhe advice of my GI PaA. The techs this second time around were well aware of the symptoms I had since they asked me my symptoms. I know next step is HIDA but wanted to get y’alls thoughts.

Kind of confused by the results it said (verbatim) “no wall thickening, shadowing mobile gallstones. Bile duct normal. No positive murphy sign. Liver normal” etc then it said at the end “impression: unremarkable abdominal ultrasound.” Confused ar the impression part as well since it didn’t say gallstones or not. My last ultrasound said no gallstones in impression section.

Is it possible to have gallstones and have the radiologist note unremarkable because the dictation is tripping me up and use of commas in their reporr. My GI PA mentioned that it was a normal reading as in nothing was wrong but the language seems so confusing.

Does this indicate gallstones or not? Noticing how stylistically different some radiologist dictations are. If they are aware of the pain and if stones were found then wouldn’t the impression clarify or flag it? All it said was abdominal ultrasound unremarkable in the impressions section.

Any feedback would be super helpful!

Anyone else hit with random headache/migraine this past week? Was reading about how Saharan dust hitting Texas, pollen levels pretty low this time of year but had runny nose and then started having a headache on and off these past few days no fever or anything. Wondering if anyone has been experiecing weird allergy/cold symptoms in the smack dab of the summer?

EDIT: Wanted to elaborate on the headache I have been having, very concentrated right on the top of my head on the back side of the top if that makes sense, really odd. Feel really lethargic too lol

Thank you for taking the time to read and any feedback guidance appreciated!

Overall TL;DR: Had an endoscopy Friday (with biopsies), everything came back clean. Never had acid or reflux symptoms in my life before this. Now I have a deep internal soreness every time I eat, a constant sickly taste sitting in the back of my throat, and chest burn. Is it normal for an endoscopy with biopsies to cause pain and trigger reflux-like symptoms afterward? And could eating something acidic/heavy too soon after have made it worse?

Little background on my symptoms:

For about 5 months I've had on-and-off burning and discomfort in my upper abdomen with no obvious triggers, and crucially no acid or reflux sensation whatsoever. Over that period my doctors tried two PPI courses, first pantoprazole 40mg, then omeprazole 20mg, to see if they'd help. I took my last omeprazole 20mg pill the Friday before the procedure as part of a taper and stopped cold from there, so I'd been off it for a full week going into the endoscopy. Couldn't really tell if either course made a meaningful difference.

In the week or so leading up to the endoscopy I did notice two new things: my burps had developed a spicy/acidic aftertaste, and the area just below my sternal notch felt persistently irritated. Didn't think too much of it at the time but mentioning it for context.

My GI decided the next step was an endoscopy this past Friday. Everything came back clean, normal mucosa in stomach, normal esophagus, normal duodenum, with a couple of biopsies taken for good measure including one for H. pylori (my breath test back in January was negative but he wanted to be thorough).

The care team said I could resume eating normally afterward, which I appreciated and don't say as any criticism, totally standard I'm sure.

What happened after:

First 24 hours I kept it bland anyway. But I noticed something: every time I ate, I felt a deep internal soreness right underneath both sides of my rib cage, kind of like a cramp but not really, not surface pain, more like something sore from the inside, only triggered by eating. Chalked it up to the biopsy sites since the scope literally scraped my insides, so figured it was normal. Didn't have a sore throat though which was a win.

~29 hours post-procedure I went out for lunch with some friends and had (perhaps mistakenly) truffle and pork soup dumplings, hot and sour soup, and scallion noodles. Probably not the smartest choice in hindsight, even with the green light. By that evening I had a persistent sickly/sweet taste just sitting in the back of my throat with nothing actively coming up, just camped out there and wasn't really burning, a mild constant burning around my lower sternum and xiphoid area, a full or pressured feeling in my sternum like full of liquid, and the eating-triggered internal soreness still going strong.

Popped two Tums which didn't help much. Slept it off, ate bland this morning (plain oatmeal and scrambled eggs) and the symptoms are still there.

Wanted to stress: none of this existed before the procedure. Five months of GI issues and not once did I have anything resembling acid, reflux, or anything in my throat. This is completely new. I do wonder if stopping the PPIs a week before plays into this at all, but the timing with the procedure feels too coincidental to ignore.

One thing I keep coming back to: in the week before the procedure I had that spicy burp aftertaste and irritation just below my sternal notch. Now post-procedure that same area seems to have progressed into a full sickly taste sitting in the back of my throat. Could LPR have already been brewing before the scope, and the procedure or the meal after just pushed it further up and made it more noticeable?

Honestly relieved the images came back clean, but there's a certain irony here. I went in with zero acid or reflux symptoms and got a completely normal result, which should be reassuring. But now I'm left wondering whether that clean image is already out of date, and whether whatever is causing these new symptoms could be doing damage that wasn't there when the scope went in. It almost feels like the endoscopy was a snapshot taken one day too early.

Questions:

1. Can an endoscopy with biopsies cause this kind of internal soreness when eating?
2. Can it trigger reflux or LPR symptoms in someone who never had them before?
3. Could LPR have already been quietly developing before the procedure, and the scope or the meal after accelerated it?
4. Did the acidic meal at 29 hours post-EGD make things worse even with the green light to eat normally?
5. Could stopping omeprazole 20mg a week before the procedure be a contributing factor here?
6. Does this resolve on its own or should I be calling my GI?

Has anyone experienced new symptoms after an EGD that weren't there before? How long did it take to settle?

Thank you for taking the time to read and any feedback guidance appreciated!

Overall TL;DR: Had an endoscopy Friday (with biopsies), everything came back clean. Never had acid or reflux symptoms in my life before this. Now I have a deep internal soreness every time I eat, a constant sickly taste sitting in the back of my throat, and chest burn. Is it normal for an endoscopy with biopsies to cause pain and trigger reflux-like symptoms afterward? And could eating something acidic/heavy too soon after have made it worse?

Little background on my symptoms:

For about 5 months I've had on-and-off burning and discomfort in my upper abdomen with no obvious triggers, and crucially no acid or reflux sensation whatsoever. Over that period my doctors tried two PPI courses, first pantoprazole 40mg, then omeprazole 20mg, to see if they'd help. I took my last omeprazole 20mg pill the Friday before the procedure as part of a taper and stopped cold from there, so I'd been off it for a full week going into the endoscopy. Couldn't really tell if either course made a meaningful difference.

In the week or so leading up to the endoscopy I did notice two new things: my burps had developed a spicy/acidic aftertaste, and the area just below my sternal notch felt persistently irritated. Didn't think too much of it at the time but mentioning it for context.

My GI decided the next step was an endoscopy this past Friday. Everything came back clean, normal mucosa in stomach, normal esophagus, normal duodenum, with a couple of biopsies taken for good measure including one for H. pylori (my breath test back in January was negative but he wanted to be thorough).

The care team said I could resume eating normally afterward, which I appreciated and don't say as any criticism, totally standard I'm sure.

What happened after:

First 24 hours I kept it bland anyway. But I noticed something: every time I ate, I felt a deep internal soreness right underneath both sides of my rib cage, kind of like a cramp but not really, not surface pain, more like something sore from the inside, only triggered by eating. Chalked it up to the biopsy sites since the scope literally scraped my insides, so figured it was normal. Didn't have a sore throat though which was a win.

~29 hours post-procedure I went out for lunch with some friends and had (perhaps mistakenly) truffle and pork soup dumplings, hot and sour soup, and scallion noodles. Probably not the smartest choice in hindsight, even with the green light. By that evening I had a persistent sickly/sweet taste just sitting in the back of my throat with nothing actively coming up, just camped out there and wasn't really burning, a mild constant burning around my lower sternum and xiphoid area, a full or pressured feeling in my sternum like full of liquid, and the eating-triggered internal soreness still going strong.

Popped two Tums which didn't help much. Slept it off, ate bland this morning (plain oatmeal and scrambled eggs) and the symptoms are still there.

Wanted to stress: none of this existed before the procedure. Five months of GI issues and not once did I have anything resembling acid, reflux, or anything in my throat. This is completely new. I do wonder if stopping the PPIs a week before plays into this at all, but the timing with the procedure feels too coincidental to ignore.

One thing I keep coming back to: in the week before the procedure I had that spicy burp aftertaste and irritation just below my sternal notch. Now post-procedure that same area seems to have progressed into a full sickly taste sitting in the back of my throat. Could LPR have already been brewing before the scope, and the procedure or the meal after just pushed it further up and made it more noticeable?

Honestly relieved the images came back clean, but there's a certain irony here. I went in with zero acid or reflux symptoms and got a completely normal result, which should be reassuring. But now I'm left wondering whether that clean image is already out of date, and whether whatever is causing these new symptoms could be doing damage that wasn't there when the scope went in. It almost feels like the endoscopy was a snapshot taken one day too early.

Questions:

1. Can an endoscopy with biopsies cause this kind of internal soreness when eating?
2. Can it trigger reflux or LPR symptoms in someone who never had them before?
3. Could LPR have already been quietly developing before the procedure, and the scope or the meal after accelerated it?
4. Did the acidic meal at 29 hours post-EGD make things worse even with the green light to eat normally?
5. Could stopping omeprazole 20mg a week before the procedure be a contributing factor here?
6. Does this resolve on its own or should I be calling my GI?

Has anyone experienced new symptoms after an EGD that weren't there before? How long did it take to settle?

Hey Guys,

Today around noon I went to the dentist because was having pain after flossing and brushing (my floss snaps into my lower right teeth, particularly the back three teeth).

My dentist decides to do some probing on those teeth and in probing he said my very back tooth has 6mm pocket and unfortunately this was a tooth that was impacted from a wisdom tooth around 8-10 years ago that was removed. I didn't know my pocket was that deep but he did the probing, took a look, and said there was no active infection or anything of the sort and that it was pretty clean overall with no trapped food or objects. He then put some cholrohexdrine (?) localize in a syringe in case for some reason. After felt some soreness but it went away.

Now a few hours later that area feels fairly painful as if I can feel the probe digging deep in that area again it's almost throbbing like and I am really concerned because I never had that pain and now i'm feeling it only after the probing. Is there a chance this turns into an infection from the probing and that it will need antibiotic treatment? I really can't stomach oral antibiotics and am really nervous that it's going to get worse.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated on whether this is normal.

Hey Guys,

Today went to the dentist because was having pain after flossing and brushing (my floss snaps into my lower right teeth, particularly the back three teeth).

My dentist decides to do some probing and he said my very back teeth has 6mm pocket and unfortunately this was a tooth that was impacted from a wisdom tooth around 8-10 years ago that was removed. I didn't know my pocket was that deep but he did the probing, took a look, and said there was no active infection or anything of the sort and that it was pretty clean overall with no trapped food or objects.

Now that area feels fairly painful as if I can feel the probe digging deep in that area again it's almost throbbing like and I am really concerned because I never had that pain and now i'm feeling it only after the probing. Is there a chance this turns into an infection from the probing and tha? I really can't stomach oral antibiotics and am really nervous that it's going to get worse.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated on whether this is normal.

33M here. Curious if anyone has had the reverse situation where they thought it was gallbladder issues, but it ended up being gastritis/GERD instead.

For the past ~2 years I’ve had occasional RUQ cramps/contractions that lasted a few minutes at a time, but I could never identify a trigger. Last November during a stressful period (sibling in and out of the hospital), I had an episode with pain into my back/traps that made me think gallbladder.

PCP ordered an ultrasound, completely clear, no stones/sludge. Then in January I went to the ER convinced I had appendicitis because of abdominal pain, CT was negative except incidental thickening of the esophagus/antrum suggesting possible gastritis. PCP put me on 40mg Protonix + Famotidine for 30 days. Honestly didn’t feel many symptoms during the course.

Since November I also lost a lot of weight (175 -> 145 lbs), likely from a combination of stress and being much more careful about what I was eating.

Around March I started getting more frequent abdominal discomfort: burning, gnawing, dull aches that move around between LUQ, RUQ, LLQ, sometimes RLQ. Saw GI in April, he wasn’t very concerned, suggested 20mg omeprazole and tracking triggers. Endoscopy is scheduled for June.

Now I’m getting discomfort near the xiphoid/sternum area too. What’s confusing is fatty foods don’t consistently trigger anything. Sometimes I eat “clean” and feel awful/burpy, other times greasy food is fine.

Main symptoms right now are frequent loud/long belching, abdominal discomfort/pain that seems to move around, occasional burning/gnawing sensations, and pressure/discomfort near the xiphoid/sternum area. The symptoms feel inconsistent which is what makes this so confusing.

My ultimate question is can gastritis/GERD realistically mimic gallbladder symptoms this much even with normal imaging? Or is it possible rapid weight loss + PPI use could’ve contributed to gallbladder dysfunction developing later?

I'm also particularly curious about others’ experiences with PPIs. I was put on fairly aggressive acid suppression somewhat early on (40mg Protonix + Famotidine), and I’m wondering if anyone noticed worsening GI symptoms, increased belching, digestion changes, or gallbladder-type symptoms after starting/stopping them. Not trying to demonize PPIs, just wondering if they can complicate the picture in some people.

Also curious if anyone’s symptoms escalated pretty quickly over a few months despite initially normal scans. Debating whether to just wait for the endoscopy or push for repeat imaging/HIDA scan.

Much appreciated and lots of love for everyone going through this!

*TL;DR*: 33M with intermittent RUQ pain for ~2 years, normal gallbladder ultrasound, later CT showed possible gastritis/esophageal thickening. Was put on 40mg Protonix + Famotidine, then later developed worsening abdominal discomfort, loud belching, burning/gnawing pain, and xiphoid/sternum discomfort after significant stress-related + diet-related weight loss (175 -> 145). Symptoms don’t consistently correlate with fatty foods which makes it confusing. GI isn’t overly concerned and endoscopy is scheduled for June. Wondering if gastritis/GERD can realistically mimic gallbladder symptoms this much despite normal imaging, or if rapid weight loss/PPI use could’ve contributed to gallbladder dysfunction developing later.