I had previously completed Baruch's Advanced Calculus and Probability Theory Pre-MFE programs earlier this year (2023) with the intention of aligning my profile towards MFE programs in the US, especially Baruch. Then, when I came across the umpteen praises for the 'C++ for financial engineering' course offered by Prof. Daniel Duffy on Quantnet as well as on Baruch MFE forum, and found out that my Pre-MFE peers had taken up the course, and that it is immensely essential for success in any MFE program, I decided to enrol in this course.
I initially had my doubts regarding the self-paced nature of the course. Prof. DD's teaching style and TA Avi sir's active guidance and involvement proved me wrong. The course is far from easy and comes with a steep learning curve, but its structure, the assignments and the quizzes complemented with TA guidance sure take you from a zero to hero in C++ programming.
3 months ago, I only knew about the theoretical underpinnings of quant finance, (say, stochastic calculus, Black-Scholes pricing models etc.). I am still working on believing I have picked up so much on the applied side of finance, especially Monte Carlo simulation and FDM through C++, in a span of just 3 months.