Chartered Accountant/MBA wanting to shift to a career in Financial Engineering

[funda]

Hi,

I am a Chartered Accountant (Indian equivalent of Certified Public Accountant), and MBA Finance by qualfication with 7 years of work experience, most of it in banking/financial services operations. I have been working in the domain of derivative settlements & valuations for the last one and a half years. I was looking at moving into a quant career. I was wondering whether pursuing a MFE would be helpful to make the shift? I was seeing some of the universities offer part time MFEs. Are they at par with the full time courses? Since I am not from an engineering background and have no hard core programming experience, do you think pursuing a MFE might be challenging?

Thanks

 

[bigbadwolf]

Since I am not from an engineering background and have no hard core programming experience, do you think pursuing a MFE might be challenging?

Since no-one else has condescended to reply: you are probably wasting your time. As an accountant, your brain has been "hard-wired" a certain way. It will be very difficult to re-wire it along quant lines. Maybe twelve or fifteen years ago it would have been possible for you; it's very unlikely today.

 

[doug reich]

There's probably a dozen posts from people with similar backgrounds on this forum. Do a search, or just open up the "Careers" forum and spend the next hour or two reading posts there. You should get a pretty good idea from it.

 

[Christophe]

Hi there,

Switching to quant might be very challenging because you don't have an engineering background. Without the undergrad background necessary to enter a MFE program, I hardly imagine any program accepting your application. You can probably try programs that require some students to go through a refresher course. After taking that course I think you will pretty much know where you stand and either if that path is right for you. I know that Chicago university offers such program, but keep in mind that completion of the refresher does not grant admission to the Msc.

Personnally I am from an engineering background with a Bs in applied math and computer science. I have been away from math for 10 years and been programming for the same amount of time. I can tell you that going back to what was piece of cake 10 years ago is really a pain in the a... I am no trying to scare you, but you should be aware of what you'll probably have to go through.

MFE programs are different from MBA in the sense that they requirre a lot of intense training in hardcore subject such as probability, statistics and functional analysis. You should know that a MFE program is basically a specialization year and that requirres a minimum of knowledge of topics studied in undergrad programs.

As I said, I would advise to take a refresher course like the one offered by Chicago University and decide from there to move forward or not.

Keep in mind that is is just my opinion and I am not trying to express any judgement.

 

[EricFleming]

MFE transition

If you do make the career switch, understand that you face natural challenges.

If your previous career is not germane, it can be viewed as baggage more than an asset.

Firms may gravitate toward some one fresh out of school rather than some one who is making a career switch. Realize that it may take longer to find a job because of these issues.