Please suggest!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Friends, Can anybody (CFA holders or who are persuing CFA) suggest me whether CFA is best for me to study based on my below credentials. 1) Currently I am working as Software Engineer in US and working for one of the TOP-5 Financial Organizations from 3 years as a Consultant. 2) I had my graduation in Commerce and had masters in Computers 3) I have around 6+ years of IT experience. I would like to have change in career, interested in persuing career in Financial Market after CFA and settle in Financial Market job. I appreciate your response and thanks in advance. Regards, Somesh

If you “like to change your career” and are just “interested in finance”, rather than “really want to move on to finance”, you might want to consider doing MBA first. You will get exposure to other topics in business that way. CFA is all about finance.

Somesh - MBA program always has flexibility of accommodating people from range of fields and its the best career switcher in that sense, which is essentially is your case. But on the other hand if you feel getting into a good B-school is difficult, have age on your side (avg age for MBA 29-30 and you early), and have few years to go to school, CFA curriculum entices you and you sure you can move on to business after L1/L2 go for CFA. But be forewarned that such a switch might take you to entry level position and backwards from your current 6 yr position in terms of compensation, etc. So you can get perspective by relating all these points to your case and make some decision. Guess no one here give you opinion in terms of YES or NO. Good Luck !

Thanks a lot for you inputs. Regards, Somesh

Hi cfajerseycity, As you have mentioned in your message, it is not possible for me join B-School to complete the MBA with respect to my Job, age and personal responsibilities and hence, I thought of doing CFA. Yes, I thought that I may go backwards in terms of compensation and/or job position in inital period, but I guess, in long way I would be in a better position. Let me know your thoughts. Regards, Somesh

hi somesh, normally an MBA is seen as better path to switch careers. But CFA or post-grad finance degree can work also. One advantage of MBA is that it is very broad. Probably 75% of MBAs end up changing jobs/careers straight after, and often it’s not what they thought what they wanted to do when they started out . So make sure you really want to get into finance before doing CFA or finance degree. You can approach CFA as a relatively cheap low-risk way of finding out whether you like it or not - but Level 1 will probably put you off it for life! You really have to be committed with clear goals to get though. CFA is similar to post grad finance degree. CFA is cheaper than most finance degrees. The big plus for CFA is that it is a global standard. Every firm in the finance game in every country knows exactly what the CFA means and they know what you’ve learned. Finance degrees can be all over the place. I’ve hired finance grads that don’t even know how to do basic TVM. With CFA you get drilled in all the key areas till you can do it in your sleep. Since you’re already in a big bank or finance firm by the sound of it, talk to everybody you can to clarify the sorts of areas that interest you most. There are hundreds of different careers in the finance game - I’ve known several ex-IT guys who switch to become great quants. I’ve known others who have turned into great fundamental analysts, which is the complete opposite. You might drop salary for a couple of years, but that’s what you do when you do a full-time MBA. Don’t burn your bridges so you can come back if you change your mind. The main thing is - talk to as many people as possible… cheers!

Thanks a lot for you inputs. Regards, Somesh

Would it also be possible to talk to someone in your company’s human resources department about your finance interests, or do you know company colleagues in a finance role? They might be able to give you assistance or even let you job shadow or something to help.