Engineer's for CFA-- Please stand up!!

>I think clearly Sam24 is fishing for validation, hears what he wants to hear, likely has a >pipe-dream of hitting it big on the street and is looking for anything to justify a career >switch. Answer this…
>If you have never worked in finance, how do you know you’ll even like it. You thought >you would like being an engineer too before you became one, right— so what makes >you so sure about finance this time? What are your real motivations for wanting >to “look at the stock market all day”– money maybe, prestige? Why not just study the >stock market on your free time if you love it so much?
Let me try and answer you. You see when I chose to study engineering I did it because of financial reason’s- I was offered a bursary to study engineering-. At the time I was 17 and did not know what was out there, but I knew that I liked to study and learn more and would only get a chance to do this through engineering. So I said why not.
My varsity experience was not bad as I liked the mathematical problems I was faced with in engineering. But I did not like the design work. So I thought I could live with it and learn to love it. When I arrived at work I was faced with only design work and was told to forget about the Math and the calculations and just do what is there.
How do I know that I will like the finance world? I have been reading up and feel that I am better equipped to make a decision now than when I was 17. I have seen what my friends in finance do and I even took some extra finance courses in university just to see what was out there.
So what do you think now?
 
When I say quit, I mean that if you are serious, you should try to make the move to finance as soon as you can. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to make the transition. That doesn’t necessarily mean quit your job and go back to school. I guess starting the CFA program while working as an engineer isn’t a bad way to start since if you find out you don’t really like finance, you haven’t lost anything other than time studying. A job with an I-bank would be good if you can land one and you are willing to wait until the beginning of the year. Passing L1 wouldn’t look bad on the resume either. I don’t know where you are, but in the US, the finance job market is not looking good. When people with lots of experience are losing their jobs, the people with no experience have their work cut out for them. If I were in your position and I could get a job at an I-bank, I would probably do that.
I will say that without a background in finance, L1 will be difficult unless you really put a ton of time into it.
Finally, don’t take what I say as the absolute truth. I can only tell you what I did and how it worked for me. The same thing may not work for you.
 
Hope everything works out for you man…career changes are tough especially in this economy. In my experience luck and good timing are big factors in a successful shift.
I completed the engineering to finance shift about 14 months ago.Luckily I had a family friend that runs a small financial consultancy and he gave me a shot as an entry-level analyst. I learned a lot from everyone around me and spent almost all my free time expanding my knowledge.
There’s only so much you can learn from books in the end and theres no substitute for 12 hour days poring through financial statements, modeling and presenting your work. That was the main reason I landed a gig at a larger firm 8 months later, where I’m working as a Business Analyst.
My advice would be to try to get into the industry as soon as possible even if its an entry-level job at a startup. Working in finance at the same time as working towards your CFA adds a lot more value in my opinion.
You have the added advantage of a PE to fall back on, so theres no reason to be risk-averse at this point.
 
Many people ask me, “Dalit, what is the best way for me to get to finance?” Of course, with CFA I am well equipped to answer. My friends, you should study to be doctor, engineering, or best of all IT (the spice of life). Oh and yes lest I forget….general pedantry
 
ancientmtk Wrote:
——————————————————-
> I”m one of them. I didn’t enjoy the 4 years of
> engineering : (
>
> I just passed Level 1 and so far I’m getting no
> calls for any entry level jobs. Seems like 3.1
> GPA in engineering isn’t good enough : (
>
> Its ok, i have high hopes and passion like that of
> kevin garnett.
I am loving this thread. I am in a similar situation, but I’m thinking of giving this engineering thing a try so that I haven’t wasted 4 years of my life.
I am curious Ancientmtk, when you say getting no entry level jobs, I am assuming you mean finance jobs? Are you currently working as an eng. ancientmtk?
 
“BUT– I hate it. I much rather look at the stock markets all day and study them. I get more happiness from that.”
Sam24, why don’t you tough it out for a year in Engineering and build up some seed capital and then start trading equities yourself?
Willy
 
i’m referring to finance entry level jobs.
I’m currently working in IT, so its even a more dired situation for me. I AM NOT USING MY KNOWLEDGE. I regret “settling down” for a crappy job, instead of looking harder for a much more useful job.
 
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