Is the CFA useful with no finance experience?

[magana1]

Hello,

[Optimist85]

didn’t read a word of your story, just answering the headline

CFA is worthless without finance experience IMO…

[S2000magician]

In fact, you cannot _ get _ your charter without (four years of) finance experience.

[Optimist85]

@magana1

Hello,

This is my first post on this forum that helped me a lot during the cfa exams.

I want to share my experience with the cfa and the professional certification in general.This post is for those who work in a field outside finance.

I m living in france, attended one of the best engineering school (equivalent to master degree in computer science).I choosed computer science because i hadn’t any idea what i wanted to do and job prospects in technology were the best at the time (graduated in 2010).

I started working for a consulting firm but i quickly realized that this kind of job was not for me.I heard from a friend about the cfa in 2012 and signed up for level 1 soon after, the idea was to complete the cfa to get a more interesting job with better pay.So i did level 1 in 2011,level 2 in 2012, frm part 1 and 2 in 2013 then at last cfa level 3 in 2014.

Great, now with all these fancy certifications, i told my self this is the time to go for a kill and get close to a job in portfolio management.The surprise was that passing the exams was actually the easiest part.

I started applying for different roles in pm, financial analysis, IB , asset management boutiques for entry level position .5 month in and still not a single interview (UK,switzerland,france).Exhausted i decided to cut my losses and started thinking about a backup plan.

So i started a consulting company with only me as a business analyst in PnL and risk management.With this new strategy i got several interviews, the beauty with the CFA and FRM is i had no difficulty answering some tough questions, i won a contract in an IB that will last for 2 years with a nice daily rate.I think even if i managed somehow to land a job as an analyst or associate, i wouldn’t get my actual income maybe even with some years under my belt.

This contract that i got will help me get enough cash flow to fund another compagny that i started with a friend that i hope will be lucratif.I regret all the time and effort i wasted in the cfa and frm, the opportunity cost was too high, i could have started all that a long time before.

My advice to all cfa wannabees, think carefully before jumping in the wagon, getting this exam (that i respect) is hard and costly (in time and social life).Maybe there is an alternative that suits you better.There is no need to herd with other people toward the same goal, look for any “underpriced” opportunities and go for it, the roi may be better than a cfa with no finance experience.

Though a total loss for me (because it didn’t help me achieve my goal in getting to pm), i get a real satisfaction when i go the get the business requirement from a trader or head of a trading desk or a risk manager and correct some mistakes that they make when describing a risk measurement process or a trading strategy or a pricing model.

Another thing to take into account is that banking business model is crunched and is not as profitable as before, so salaries and bonuses shrinked.The asset management world is not better either, more and more investment bankers move to AM after they realize that banking sucess story is a myth. This reduce the available roles for people with no finance experience like me or you if you are in the same situation.

I hope that my story will shed some light and help you take the right decision.

Zach

after reading your story, I totally agree with it as I had to face similar situation. Passed the exams but had no experience in finance world, I thought after passing level 3 that people in asset management would be standing at their doors to welcome me in but It didn’t turn out to be that way. After trying for 2 months, I got an interview call and later someone in HR told me that they hired someone with experience. They value experience far more than qualifications and getting an entry into buy side is not a walk in the park even for CFAs.

Plus I feel the same that I wasted my precious time studying hard for these exams, could have gained experience in a bank atleast and would be at a position higher than where I am right now. Will definitely post on this forum the day I got breakthrough because of CFA…Hope that day comes soon

[calvol]

Nice post Zach, thanks for the insight. Do you think a MFE would have been more useful than the CFA given your CS degree and FRM? And a move into quant trading?

[magana1]

I think that financial industry is in structural decline.No matter the letters that you add after your name,the situation is still the same.finance had a good prospect in the 2000s which is not true anymore ,i think even few decades forward.What is a good strategy to me is to work in a firm providing the new risk measurement (xva for example),the risk management is being redefined and i think there are nice opportunities to take.

[itera]

No employer hires some person with totally unrelated experience just because they passed a few CFA exams. Tons of ppl have passed CFA exams that will have some tangential experience

Need to combine CFA exams with something else, either a top MBA, or literally know someone that can slot you in

[IsThereAny]

Classic story/mistake. You actually thought the exams would catapult you to a PM position with no relevant experience? Wow…

[magana1]

i don’t understand your wow, i was looking for entry level job.any way i agree with the classic story /mistake

[MrSmart]

The CFA is really an advanced program.

It’s like writing a PhD disseration hoping it would help enroll you in a good Ms program.