How did you approach L3 without any experience in finance? For instance how did you attack the portfolio management and risk managememt?
NewbieNovice, I’m also a CFA candidate with no actual experience in finance. I just passed the Level I exam and am registered for the brutal Level II exam. My background is electrical engineering, but I have been reading extensively about investing for a number of years. I’m also a Berkshire Hathaway and Wesco Financial shareholder.
cfahead Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > How did you approach L3 without any experience in > finance? For instance how did you attack the > portfolio management and risk managememt? I didn’t attack anything! 
I studied the same way I did for levels 1 and 2: 100% CFA institute textbooks; no third party material at all. Try to understand the material and be critical of it where you don’t agree with prevailing practices or theory. Don’t be in a hurry to complete it without understanding it. Question the theories, ideas and practices (this is where the real money is). While I have no work experience or exposure to the real world (in terms of job etc.), I’ve always been interested in Economics and Finance and I can’t help being curious or figure out stuff for myself. When you approach it this way, it is definitely more fulfilling than studying for an exam. This may not work for everyone but for me knowledge is its own reward. As for a building a career, I think anything is possible. I mean, there is no formula or anything. I just have to make myself so good that I can’t be refused. But I do need to get my foot in the door though. And I will.
DiehardValueInvestor Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > NewbieNovice, I’m also a CFA candidate with no > actual experience in finance. I just passed the > Level I exam and am registered for the brutal > Level II exam. My background is electrical > engineering, but I have been reading extensively > about investing for a number of years. I’m also a > Berkshire Hathaway and Wesco Financial > shareholder. Diehard, way to go. Good luck! As Walrus said, I am not the only one.
P.S. thanks everyone!
i’ve been working in financial services for 4 years, but i doubt any of my experience will get approved.
I’m in a worse situation than you. I passed FRM in 2006 and passed Level 3 this year. Unfortunately, I’m 39 yrs old and have only eight month experience in finance field(equity analyst in local investment advisory company). Even worse, given my age, I don’t even think such thing as MFE or MBA.
Start your own hedge fund.
charu_mulye Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > “Business Analyst” in financial software is the > only job that immediately comes to my mind, but > CFA is over qualification for that profile. > > You could network a lot and transition to business > side eventually. > > I have not done it, but this could be done. Even > I have 6 years of experience in Financial software > and passed CFA level 2 in June’ 09. > > Any other ideas for CFA + IT? +1 What about hitting one year MF or MBA from any Top-5 I have zeroed down on MF from London Business School / MBA from INSEAD will that help ?? any comments will be highly welcome Whats the job range post MF@LBS also…where are the similar programs (MF/MFE) in USA ?
NewbieNovice Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am 35 years young with a Baccalaureate in > mechanical engineering from a supposedly > prestegious university. GPA sucks and is > completely irrelevant. I’ve been working as a > programmer for the last 12 years. No visible > career progression but job more than pays the > bills. I’ve wasted enough time doing things that > don’t motivate me at all… > > Now, rather than explain this in a resume (I don’t > know how anyone can), I feel networking and word > of mouth marketing are the only options to build > my career anew. story of my career is exactly the same. I am in IT, dont like my work. I am also a mech engineer from best engineering collage in india with a GPA that sucks to say the least. passed level 1 and level 2 without much fuss and lot less than 250 hours of study and no finance experience (some of you are going to hate me for this).
What city are you in today rahulv?
cfafrank Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Start your own hedge fund. Or an unhedged one!
NewbieNovice Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What city are you in today rahulv? Singapore. lets get in touch.
NewbieNovice Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > cfafrank Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Start your own hedge fund. > > > Or an unhedged one! yeah. they always swim naked under the name hedge fund
Banks, PE, IB, and asset management are not the only areas that can use the CFA program knowledge. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. L1, L2 and L3 knowledge can very well be used in many areas with a decent salary range and lot of challenges and fun.
rahulv Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > NewbieNovice Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > What city are you in today rahulv? > > > Singapore. lets get in touch. Sorry, I don’t live there. Good luck.
I too am one of those IT guys who passed L3 without any experience. I have since gotten a job and now have 1.5 years of experience, but need another 2.5 years. 7.5% (or 8,000) of the people who pass the level 3 exam, still need to accrue experience or meet another requirement, so we’re not alone in the “charter pending” category. Good luck getting a foot in the door.
JonnyDee Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I too am one of those IT guys who passed L3 > without any experience. I have since gotten a job > and now have 1.5 years of experience, but need > another 2.5 years. 7.5% (or 8,000) of the people > who pass the level 3 exam, still need to accrue > experience or meet another requirement, so we’re > not alone in the “charter pending” category. Good > luck getting a foot in the door. Great to hear from someone like you. Many here will benefit if you can share your experience in finding your first non IT job. Did you take a paycut? Did you volunteer or intern initially? Did you apply to jobs directly or use references/ personal contacts/ agents? How many no responses? What kind of positions did you apply for? Was the CFA Institute jobline subscription usefull? Are you happy doing what you are? Oh and many more questions …, ah! one more: what was your background/age when you swiched. Hope you don’t mind sharing:-)
JonnyDee. be our Moses… Lead us out of this stale career of IT… Where do you live… If NYC let me know…I am looking for a mentor… Level 3 is not helping me . I dont know how to use my CFA.
charu_mulye Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > “Business Analyst” in financial software is the > only job that immediately comes to my mind, but > CFA is over qualification for that profile. > > You could network a lot and transition to business > side eventually. > > I have not done it, but this could be done. Even > I have 6 years of experience in Financial software > and passed CFA level 2 in June’ 09. > > Any other ideas for CFA + IT? Hello Swap, Newbie, Prashant and others who are in IT and willing to make a move to finance. I am also on the same boat. I passed Level 2, have 2+ experience in IT, which has 6 months on .NET technologies and 1.5+ years as a functional consultant for an ERP Product, with a competence in financial management modules. My role primely involves interacting with the business users of corporate finance division of our prospects and clients, understand their needs and configure\Customize our ERP product accordingly. I had to understand the accounting stuff, treasury management, Processes related to payables, receivables and MIS reports. I started sending out my resumes to all my friends in my network, job-sites and company specific careers portals the moment after i passed my Level 2. I applied to only those which are recruiting, but there was not a single call till now and i got 2 rejects too citing tech background as the reason. This happened inspite of drafting my resume in such a way that it did not sound technical. Its so true, that CFA wont open the doors, unless you are lucky. It just acts as a differentiating factor as some people said. Yesterday, i met a person from my company, he is the VP of capital markets division and is responsible for the project delivery to few important accounts. I approached him asking for the role of Business Analyst for that Vertical.After a long discussion, He just asked me one question. 1) Do i want to shift my career to some role in financial markets. I said Yes, then he replied saying that this is not the right place for me. He cited that we are the technology solution providers for the players in financial markets say front office/Middle Office/Back Office operations and the BA role here is techno functional in nature, and people in that role have 2-3 years experience in technology followed by tier 2 MBA degree. They should have equal levels of expertise in understanding the business and Technology too. Actually in the real time, as what he said, there is a lot of gap between what BA’s possess and what clients expect BA’s to possess. If we bridge the gap with acquiring the skillset, you will have a unique identity. This is what the GTO (Group Technology & Operations division) of a renowned bank was doing. These are few of my opinions 1) With the tech experience you have,(6+ or whatever) i believe you might be earning pretty well. I don’t know if companies will be willing to pay you that much if you move to an entry level research analyst post. 2) If you love technology, you could even rather move to the role i had explained above. Down the line in few years, you will develop a unique blend of skill set and grow in the technology consulting for IB’s. It would pay you well and has lot of potential for growth 3) If you love to exclusively work in finance, go and get an MBA\MFE. Just my 2 cents… Here is my ID. shravanjilla@gmail.com. The tech fraternity here…you can shoot a mail…we can discuss any possibilities available.