Here’s my story. I’m not in the finance industry. I’m also in my mid 30’s. Cut to the story, the MTA is having the Train Operator exam on June 6. The same day as the CFA exam. The CFA exam and the MTA won’t let me take the exam on another day. I also only briefly studied for level 3. However, with work being slow and time off, I might be able to pull off studying 300 hours and trying to take it. The MTA hires train operators by how well they do on the exam and it will likely be that even if I do well, I will be called in 3 years. I know 3 years is a long time and also they give this train operator exam every 5 years. The pay isn’t that bad and there’s a pension. There’s also mandatory OT and I think with OT I might be able to clear 70-85k a year. The exam is also easier and I would have my spring off. If you were in my shoes, what would you do?
I can’t stop laughing reading this (sorry and best of luck). Anyways, here’s a story of a guy who made a choice between finance and a train: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/06/adolf-merckle-german-bill_n_155586.html
I find it funny myself 
and sad too 
Yeah man, best of luck. Keep the spirits up, things will pick up eventually.
At least I’m not this guy. http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=12582289&ch=4226720&src=news
lol if i were the guy’s kids, I would be worried from the math lessons dad is given there.
I guess the biggest fall in recent memory is Saddam Hussein (maybe others but he comes to mind the most). The guy had the power of god effectively, but fell to a point where he was in an underground hole clutching Benjamins. Crazy to think about. Anyways, get back to CFAdummy’s post: CFAdummy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Here’s my story. I’m not in the finance industry. > I’m also in my mid 30’s. Cut to the story, the MTA > is having the Train Operator exam on June 6. The > same day as the CFA exam. The CFA exam and the MTA > won’t let me take the exam on another day. I also > only briefly studied for level 3. However, with > work being slow and time off, I might be able to > pull off studying 300 hours and trying to take it. > The MTA hires train operators by how well they do > on the exam and it will likely be that even if I > do well, I will be called in 3 years. I know 3 > years is a long time and also they give this train > operator exam every 5 years. The pay isn’t that > bad and there’s a pension. There’s also mandatory > OT and I think with OT I might be able to clear > 70-85k a year. The exam is also easier and I would > have my spring off. > > If you were in my shoes, what would you do?
if this is a serious story, then i would take the MTA exam and do the CFA III next year. there are not many front-office finance gigs to go around anyway right now.
Yeah, if you’re serious… changes of landing a finance job this year are minimal at best. So take the MTA (or rather: KILL IT) and then write CFA III next year.
i would just do both. and study for the CPA/CAIA/FRM/CFP/Series ##/Us Civil Service Exams/GMAT/LSAT/MCAT/SAT/PSAT also.
CFA will be there next year; obviously, MTA will not. By the way, a lot of people who would laugh at $70K saw half of their savings disapear last year. People don’t understand how valuable a pension is.
Hey…I know a lot of relatives who worked for the MTA, Sanitation, Police, etc, starting around age 20, by 40 they were done, with pension, medical, and last years salary for life. The last year you work as much as possible…some pass 100K…Now they play golf all the time, winter in FLA, or start another business…not a bad deal.
The pension is half of salary (assuming certain conditions are met). I would assume be about 25-30k a year.
My dad is a retired cop. He draws a big pension and full medical for the rest of his life. He’s better off than a lot people his age who made a lot more money during their career.
Plus you can move up in rank and salary if you have a good education level…CFAdummy might be able to work his way into a finance position that pays a nice salary, the majority of his competition probably only has HS diploma, less private sector experience…
I don’t think thats possible being a train operator. I think they hire other jobs through qualification tests. A higher position would be Train Service Supervisor and I think some sort of train dispatcher. There are obviously a lot of people taking these tests. I expect more than 20,000 people are going to take the train operator exam with this economy in NYC. It take 1 year for them to even score it They also hire people in the MTA that have passed the test first before taking other employees in. They only test reading comprehension and some basic math and some basic transportation information.
Yes, they do have finance jobs. I think some of them pay less than 50k, they aren’t investment related and they pay less than a train operator. Besides taking a test, some of these positions require experience, which I don’t have.
CFAdummy, I’m happy to let you know that you can take the MTA’s exam on 4/6 or 4/13 if you are on your first level. You’re set. http://www.mta.org/eweb/docs/pdfs/CMTProgramBrochure.pdf
Bro, I hope you are kidding. I’m talking about operating a train Nothing finance related I’m talking about this exam. http://www.mta.info/nyct/hr/pdf_exams/8098.pdf
edit: I was kidding - is this a serious post? how did you know the MTA train exam was June 6? . . . you are serious?