I was just wondering if there’s even a possibility into breaking into the finance world with only a CFA (no buisness school etc…) I am currently in IT and love reading and learning everything about finance… I read at least 2 hour’s worth of news a day, books etc…
So basically, if I start and get my level 1 and start looking for entry positions, would this prove to them that I least know something and am serious about this? Or I basically have no chance in hell? Appreciate all the responses and am looking forward to hanging around this community!!
Hate to break it to you, but the industry is shrinking. Many people with much more experience and valid degrees still looking for work.
Your best option is picking up a phone and cold calling companies you would want to work for. You will probably get rejected a bunch of times, but all you need is 1 to convince them you are the best candidate out there. Don’t forget, 80% of the jobs are not posted on websites.
You can always enter the industry in a non-investment related job, then do your CFA. It might ot be a great job, but you will hve more chances of getting the job you want afterwards.
Save your $1600…most job postings say “CFA a plus” not “CFA a requirement”…you need work experience in the industry, the CFA will not help. Your better off learning C/C++ and getting in a hedge fund that way than going for your CFA. It has been said here a THOUSAND times…CFA will not get you a job if you are not already working in the industry with a Finance/Economics background.
Since the FRM requires only 2 years of work experience for the designation rather than the 4 years required by the CFA should that be the new slogan…“will a FRM get me a job in Finance?”…I realize some of these topics border on near ridiculousness. But I am sure there will be another similar post in the next month.
I never know what people mean when they ask about “breaking into” a field such as finance or whatever else it may be. Does it mean
getting your first job in a particular field?
feeling like you’ve proven yourself in that field?
making a good salary working in that field?
I think it’s like anything else. It takes lots of hard work, patience, and experience to build a career and market yourself competitively as part of the labor force. Now there’s nothing wrong with experience in IT, but anybody can read 2 hours a day of financial news a day—it’s incredibly superficial what passes for news these days. You have to look past the popular press if you’re serious about this. And there are lots of finance and investing books out there of the popular press’ “self-help” genre that aren’t worth much either. You can learn a lot in 2 hours of reading per day, but you really need some serious and worthwhile reading material in order to decide if this is something you want to get into.
As far as finance being a shrinking field, well it looks like a lot of fields are, or simply have shrunk and are not expanding as yet: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNU02300000
To most people, “breaking in” means you got a position in the Front Office: a revenue-generating client-facing role (So, back office would not count) Something like: Asset mgmt, equity research, investment banking, trading, etc
For people who get into a back office role, typically the term used is “foot in the door”. So, they got their foot into the door of finance, and hopefully can wedge their way into the “front office”