Would you recommend someone with an engineering degree to pursue CFA over an online Masters in Computer Science(from a Top 30 ranked US university) ?
I feel CFA is too wide to be relevant for any particular finance job except equity research. CFA is prestigious and acts as a filter. However in terms of actual hard skills to do the job, I am not sure if its the best use of the time.
A Masters in CS would incredibly help in developing analytical skills which can be used for a wider variety of jobs. Moreover, tech/analytics is likely to remain up in the medium term which can not be said about finance.
Another factor is I would like to work from a tier 2 city and not the crowded finance hubs. CFA jobs are mostly in crowded/expensive cities.
They are not. However, it would be difficult to do both simultaneously, in terms of time commitment and mindset. A Masters in CS would require a different approach to self-study than what is required by CFA. A Masters in CS and a CFA can be done sequentially.
if you can get into top30 MS in Comp Sci program then you can get into to top20 MBA in the US. Do the top20 MBA and forget CFA and MS in Comp Sci. While doing your mba you can take comp sci classes as non matriculating student.
BUT the real question here is…I am assuming you already have significant coding experience and/or undergrad in comp sci otherwise you’d have to jump through fire ring of hoops backwards to even be qualified to apply for MS in Comp Sci program. If you do know how to code already there is no need for masters in comp sci.