Career Switch

Hi all, I am really p***ed off from my job and want to switch to a position which is more aligned to my skills and aspirations. Following are the details about my background. Academic: -B.Tech in Aerospace Engineering (June 2007) from one of the top Engineering Institutes in India. -CFA, Levl 1 - December 2007. -Appeared for Level 2 in June 2008. Professional -Business Analyst for a KPO based in India. Currently, I am involved in a project which requires supporting the technical ventures (Trading and Licensing Group, which focuses on Patent Acquisition and technology licensing) team of a major conglomerate firm in the US. However, the work involves research for technologies with negligible to nill focus on finance. It involves conducting research and preparing preliminary models for market forecast and licensing reevnue forecasts. Prior to this (may be last year) I was involved in three to four projects around insurance and islamic finance. -My performance here is good, I got a award for the first six months. The problem is that the work is more like a back office support and is very much dependent on the client and his requests, doen not involve much of my thoughts and thinking, also, it does not require much of the studies I did for CFA. Following the level 2 exam and after studying so much for it, I am not able to concentrate on my work and the feeling that my job is not doing a justification to my skills and knowledge (from CFA studies) is empowering my zeal towards work. However, I am a bit skeptical about applying now, as I want to wait for Level 2 results scheduled in August (long time) and also to wait for any recognition (in terms of salary or promotions) from the company (as currently evaluations are going on in my organization). The very reason I am posting my problem is that somehow my frustation has reached its limits, it has been enhanced by the fact (according to some of the posts in this regard) that its difficult to switch to a front office or a better job even after CFA. Please suggest some solutions to the problem. Also, please share your experiences in this regard. In addition to that please provide some insights about the requirements for a decent financial career (in terms of certifications, I was just researching about Finra exams and CAIA, however, I beleive its better to first concentrate on CFA, please let me know if its appropriate to take some short-term certifications, prior to level 2 results which can enhance my resume). Also, please share your e-mail address so that I can forward my resume for some feedback. May be am demanding a lot and may be this post will be just ignored. In hope of some good response. Thanks in advance.

gauravku, I can understand your frustration with your current job, but search for the career related posts in this forum. There are a lot of encouraging posts where people have got benefited after doing CFA. The struggles you have to do for getting a well paid finance job depend on your current skills and your persistence in acquiring the finance knowledge. There are some who were bored in their back office jobs and wanted to move to front office. There are others who are working in IT of Wall Street firms and want to move to more meaningful positions. Whatever their motivation, there is no one cure for all and you have to be patient and persistent to reach your goal. Hope this soothes you a little bit!

Thanks a lot cfa_newyorker, I understand that I have to have patience. However, there are times when one becomes helpless, however, your messages gave me some releif. The point is that one needs to have contacts in the industry for getting a break (and as of now the market itself is dull due to the credit crisis), and unfortunately I don’t have many as of now. Also, after going through Level 2 curriculum and the exam I beleive implementing the knowledge and skills learned must be of great satisfaction to a CFA charterholder or candidate, want to get that feeling of satisfaction, but I beleive will have to struggle a bit and try hard to reach there. I left engineering (when I had opportunities to go to a good university in the US, have two journal publications and best btech project award, but towards the end of my degree, I was unable to appreciate the research as I was unable to se its practical applications) because I was not able to see the direct practical application of the theories which I learned, as a result I moved into finance field because I believed and still believe that this field is a lot more dynamic, demanding and rewarding; also you can apply whatever you learn in your day to day life, as against the core engineering topics (stiff differential equations, CFD etc.). May be this is a bit emotional, but I am a bit down and irritated today :-(. Will continue my effort with patience. Thanks a lot again.