One of my friends is a software engineer and wants to work in the finance domain writing codes…for example, he could be a programmer for Bloomberg. He wants to gain some basic understanding of financial concepts and asked me if he should take the CFA Level 1 to gain this knowledge. I think CFA (even Level 1) is a bit too advanced for this purpose. Some undergraduate finance college courses might be better. Anyone have any ideas as to other alternatives? Thanks.
The Canadian Securities Course. Willy
too advanced? Most of the people i work for has MBAs/Ph.Ds from top schools
comp_sci_kid Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > too advanced? Most of the people i work for has > MBAs/Ph.Ds from top schools He doesnt have any educational background in finance. The CFA level 1 requires you to have atleast some basic understanding of concepts…Anyways, if you have a different opinion or suggestion, please do share.
chintz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > comp_sci_kid Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > too advanced? Most of the people i work for has > > MBAs/Ph.Ds from top schools > > > He doesnt have any educational background in > finance. The CFA level 1 requires you to have > atleast some basic understanding of > concepts…Anyways, if you have a different > opinion or suggestion, please do share. I disagree. I had no finance degree, nada. When i took Level 1, i had some basic knowledge - the one you pick up from newspapers and by taking basic eco/econometrics in unv.
CSK, I gather you have already finished couple of levels. How helpful has it been in your job in IT?
chintz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > CSK, I gather you have already finished couple of > levels. How helpful has it been in your job in IT? i just took L3. It has been helpful in terms that i understand the bigger picture, but derivative knowledge (the knowledge i can really use at work) is really lacking in CFAI cirriculum
I see. So would you recommend cfa L1 or college courses in finance/eco for this dude? I dont have much familiarity with programming and related stuff…how much in-depth finance knowledge would be needed? btw, good luck with L3 results. I took it last week too 
chintz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > comp_sci_kid Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > too advanced? Most of the people i work for has > > MBAs/Ph.Ds from top schools > > > He doesnt have any educational background in > finance. The CFA level 1 requires you to have > atleast some basic understanding of > concepts…Anyways, if you have a different > opinion or suggestion, please do share. I have to disagree too- I graduated for a liberal arts school w/ a polisci degree and w/ some effort I was able to pass level 1 on the first try. If the issue is that he will never NEED the knowledge, thats a diff story, but don’t underestimate the possibility. If he is reasonable intelligent and has a work ethic- taking something else to “prep” fro CFA would be a waste of time IMO.
akanska Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If the issue is that he will never NEED the > knowledge, thats a diff story, but don’t > underestimate the possibility. If he is > reasonable intelligent and has a work ethic- > taking something else to “prep” fro CFA would be a > waste of time IMO. Exactly. I wonder if CFA would be overkill…he may not need that much detailed knowledge.
L1 is pretty fundamental and basic stuff. Totally depends on what type of code he is interested writting and for what purpose. Maybe buy the L1 books used and study them, but why take the test?
I think you’re highly overestimating the profile of the typical level I candidate. The CFA program is much cheaper than college courses anyway, and your friend would look silly going back to undergrad courses. This is not rocket science.
Just lend your buddy your level 1 books - can learn at his own pace.
FlamesFan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just lend your buddy your level 1 books - can > learn at his own pace. Good advice. If he doesn’t really need the charter, he can still acquire useful basic knowledge in a structured fashion just by reading the Level I books. (No need to spend time on the ethics section in Book 1, since only potential charterholders need to worry about being ethical.)
Doing the CFA program is a good way to ensure a kick in the butt to get on and read 4000 pages of material (or however much it is now). With a bunch of thick books like that, it can be difficult to figure out where to get started without the structure of the program.
I disagree that enrolling in the program gives you any more structure than the actual texts. All it does is motivate you to read it. And then read it again. And again. And then worry that the exam is going to be as hard as some of those ridiculous Book7 questions so you read it again. Then you’ll start to worry that you’re calculator or pencil will miraculously fail on you right when you need to solve for the IRR of a 10 period corp fi question or when you’re trying to find the weight of a stock in a 3-stock portfolio so you go and buy 2 calculators and 18 pencils for exam day. And then, as exam day comes, you’ll start worrying that you’re still not prepared because you’ve all of a suddent forgotten how to tie your shoe laces so you switch to velcro… So unless your friend is a sadist, like the rest of us, just give him the books.
I must be a sadist then My background is in Computing Science, and I took L1 to get a basic foundation in finance. I think that the hardest part about L1 is the sheer amount of information to take in. 4000 pages of anything you have not studied before and kept in your long term memory is going to be a challenge. When I was really focussed I didn’t feel that any material was I’d expect from a foundation class at their respective subject. The problem is, rather than doing at Economics or Finance or Accounting, in the space of 3 months you are basically doing all of those and some in 3 months or so. However there is reading and reading. I am not sure about you all, but I had to remain very very focussed when doing derivatives just to avoid getting confused with the concepts. There had to put away a lot of ‘why’ types of question when doing FSA, and just focus on the ‘how’. It may not be the best of things to do, but some things takes a while to make sense, and I didn’t have the luxury of going at my own pace. But I have learned so much in the space of 3 months that I am glad I took this exam (even though waiting for the results is nerve wrecking and I can’t say I am all that confident), and I don’t think it would have been possible if I was not studying against that deadline. I think it comes down to how organised is your friend is (I would not have been as focussed nor would I have given up as much free time as I did if I did not have that aim to shoot for - and as a result wouldn’t have learned nearly as much). Having said that, I would like to shift my focus away from my Computing and get into Finance, so my aims are a little different. It’s in my best interest take those exams and earn the CFA designation at some point (long road ahead) so that I can make up for the lack of other qualifications in this area.
thanks to everyone who responded. I 'll have my friend go over the textbooks and he can decide if wants to go with it.