Career path - seeking opinion

I am currently working in back-end operations in Derivatives valuations as a lead in a custodian bank, had joined as a fresher and have been part of it for over five years now and the upside potential has been fair throughout. I believe I have gained product knowledge to its Max in these years and feel saturated.There are many opportunities available from competitors how ever I would again end up with no much product exposure and no improvement in skill sets and would stay unhappy which is the reason never looked to hop making quick decisions.Would be writing level II in 2017 and looking forward to move to investment performance preferably in Eq /FI/PM research where my interest lies.It seems to be quite challenging to get out of operations and get placed in a relevant role most likely with no cut.Appreciate your opinions .Thanks!

in short, you will indeed have a difficult time moving into front office, and your only real chance is likely through networking and a ton of luck.

you worked 5 years in back office which is 2 strikes against you. on top of that, you were at a custodian, not even at an investment bank.

passing level 2 won’t suddenly open any chances. and most likely you have no chance at moving into equities

Best chance is moving to some sort of valuation role within an asset manager or Big Four then try to move to front office from there but will be close to impossible to move to front office as you already have five years of back office experience. But those valuation roles pays typically quite well

Like the other guys said, too many years in BO, though Klaud is right, the valuation roles can be quite decent.Work on your writing skills, reading that made my head hurt.

Also don’t say “fresher”.

what does this word mean anyway - a newbie?

It’s possible. Don’t let itera dissuade you.

Pass those exams ASAP. Take online company modeling course & model out some public companies. Build a portfolio and track it/trade it with a blog. Show genuine interest & have a damn good explanation as to why you’ve been in BO for 5 years and done nothing about it!

You can move to audit within Big 4, some have trustee services. Then, depending on a product reference there, you could maybe move to the client side. I know a person who did that in credit products. But the times were different, the products were pretty special and people with any related experience were needed.

The easiest way is to go back to school for FT MBA. Study your ass off for the GMAT, score well, and try to get into a top 20 school.

^ Is that ever worth it? Giving up two years of earnings (and work experience), incurring $100k+ in debt, just to switch to something he THINKS he’s interested in? Getting the charter wouldn’t be a direct game changer either, besides learning a thing or two which you could translate into something valuable and marketable on your CV. Your best move might be to leverage your current experience and build on what you’ve done in those five years. Get to a managerial position. Travel the world. Build a family. There has to be an end to schooling/switching around at some point.

The guy has been in back office for a long time, and he’s at a custodian. if he wants a real shot at front office as he says he wants, he must make drastic changes to break out.

there’s nothing wrong with saying “job is a job, whatever, I’ll just stay a family” but he asked for advice breaking out, and this is what it’s going to take. even if he got the CFA, it’s very unlikely it’ll do much

Absolutely correct. Itera’s post is discouraging. Be optimistic!

You still have to be realistic. People always want a jump to a different (better) career and are convinced by Disney and Kung Fu Panda that willpower alone is enough. However, if you haven’t distinguished yourself yet, something dramatic needs to change for your circumstances to improve. This could mean a high level of monetary commitment upfront, perhaps through business school, as well as the risk that your plan will fail. You cannot get something positive for no sacrifice and commitment.