software engineer vs CFA holder

[avinash jain]

dear all

i am (B.E. in computer science) currently working as a s/w trainee in a company which makes the applications related to share markets.
SURPRISINGLY i have generated interest in the financial world and tell me out that person like me having nobackground in this area can go for CFA.

 

[Danny Boy]

Good story.

Did you have a question?

 

[bchadwick]

I think the question was "Is this true?" (that someone with no background in fnance can go for CFA).

If that was the question, the answer is yes, you can do CFA exams without any background, though you can't actually get the Charter at the end without enough finance related work experience.

For someone in your situation, the prime value of the CFA is for the kinds of questions that go "I see you are a great computer guy, so what do you know about finance?" The CFA exams tell your interviewers that you know at least the CFA material required to pass the exams (or did at exam time, I shudder to think of the stuff I've already forgotten).

For someone with your background, there are firms that figure they can teach you the finance stuff you need anyway. CFA covers a lot of different aspects of finance. A regular job will usually only focus in on one or two of the areas that CFA materials cover, so often times managements of firms - especially hedge funds - may figure that they can teach you the finance you'll need to do the specific kind of work that they want you to do, as long as you're generally smart. This is what I've been told. I'm not selling computer skills myself, but I keep hearing that "if you were trying to sell computer skills, you wouldn't necessarily have to worry about how much finance you know."

Hope this helps.

 

[exemplaria]

Actually, this is not SURPRISING at all.

All the information you heart could desire can be found at www.cfainstitute.org

 

[JoeyDVivre]

Generally, I would bet on the CFA holder to win the arm wrestling contest and the software engineer to win the chess game.

 

[funnymoney]

Yes, you can take the CFA exams. However, without any relevant financial/investment experience, you will not be able to earn the full charter (which then allows you the designation as a CFA charterholder).

However, just taking and passing the exams will not guarantee you a career in finance or immediate access to a finance job. There is an oversupply of individuals such as yourself who are in the IT industry trying to break into finance. The task of making yourself stand out above the rest and getting your foot in the door is on you. Passing the CFA exams can help with this, but do not rely on it solely as your golden ticket. The CFA designation alone is not enough.

 

[CFAAtlanta]

I am seeing several posts from India asking if they can "do" a CFA or close variants of it. May be it is transliteration problem but I just want to make it clear (and I apologize if I am being condescending) that CFA is a designation. It is not a degree and it is not a career. The career is investment management. I think given enough diligence and average intelligence most can pass CFA exams in due course. So don't confuse passing exams with getting the charter. The latter requires 4 year experience as defined on the CFAI website. And don't confuse getting the charter with being an investment management professional automatically and, more importantly, being successful in it.

Also, everyone likes buying stocks and dreaming about them going up. The same is true for any other asset - buy low, sell high. Sounds easy and tempting, doesn't it? Everybody thinks that they are or are going to be better than the average in doing so. So what you are experiencing is not at all that SURPRISING. It happens to all of us all the time. However, realities of investment management are sadly different. So before you think about going for the CFA charter, ask yourself if you want to be in investment management and why. Do you think you can handle millions of $ or Rupees for someone else and not lose any, much less make them grow? Why? Do you have the EQ (I am sure IQ is not a problem) for the profession where performance is increasingly looked upon as being dependent on investor's behavior/psychology? Investment is far from being a science - there are no predefined recipes in the CFA curriculum or elsewhere that would guarantee a good investment return.

Do some due diligence involving introspection in addition to asking questions of others. Read what having the CFA charter means and what it does not mean before you ask questions here. This is especially true if you you are thinking of switching your career. Just because your friend thinks it is a great idea is not a good reason.

 

[takumi]

maybe the question is rather, does the work experience of what he's doing now counts?

if that's the case, then...no...I highly doubt it.

application relate to share market is very different to working in share market.


just like making golf club is very different to playing it.