I’m 25 and graduated a year ago from university. A few months back I joined a major financial firm on the retail side as a Relationship Banker (RB). I open accounts, process deposits and loans, help with credit cards and other products, and serve as the first point of contact—building trust, spotting needs, and referring clients to the right specialists like financial advisors or wealth managers for referrals.
I don’t want to stay in retail. I want to move to the corporate/institutional side—ideally into quant trading/developer or data analysis/science. I’m interested in cloud, full-stack, and machine learning, but the quant/data path is what I’m aiming for.
My plan: earn Microsoft’s PL-300 (Data Analyst), level up Excel, Tableau, SQL, Python, and C++; read up on data analysis, algorithms, and related topics; build 3–4 projects for a portfolio; then pick up small freelance gigs on Upwork/Fiverr or anywhere I can to start getting paid for the kind of work I want to do.
I want to leverage my economics degree, front-line RB experience, new certs, and freelance work to move internally into one of those roles (quant trader/developer or data analyst/scientist).
My concern is spending 12–18 months grinding and ending up nowhere—learning outdated material, not finding any paid work, or staying stuck on the retail side. I’m willing to put in the work; I just don’t want it to be wasted. For context, I have a bachelor’s in economics and a brief full-stack background with two MERN projects, but no paid dev experience yet.
Questions:
Can this plan actually work? What should I change to give myself a real shot—through both conventional and unconventional outreach?
Should I start the CFA program to boost credibility, or are there better certifications/certificates/or signs of readiness that show I’m serious?
With AI automating parts of analysis and everything in general, is a 12–18 month push still worth it?
I want to be a quant dev long-term. Is starting as a data analyst a smart way to earn side income and build skills, or should I go all-in on quant from day one? More than anything I want to make this one day be my name source of extra side income, so what can get me there fastest? Or do I need to focus on a specific niche within the space, in which case which one is the most marketable or most in demand, and will be for a while?
If I go the analyst route, which skills are most in demand and most likely to land paid work—financial modeling, dashboards, KPI interpretation, etc.?
Do I need to be a math wiz to learn how to effectively use AI tools in my workflow to be competitive in the field?
I don’t want to stay in retail. I want to move to the corporate/institutional side—ideally into quant trading/developer or data analysis/science. I’m interested in cloud, full-stack, and machine learning, but the quant/data path is what I’m aiming for.
My plan: earn Microsoft’s PL-300 (Data Analyst), level up Excel, Tableau, SQL, Python, and C++; read up on data analysis, algorithms, and related topics; build 3–4 projects for a portfolio; then pick up small freelance gigs on Upwork/Fiverr or anywhere I can to start getting paid for the kind of work I want to do.
I want to leverage my economics degree, front-line RB experience, new certs, and freelance work to move internally into one of those roles (quant trader/developer or data analyst/scientist).
My concern is spending 12–18 months grinding and ending up nowhere—learning outdated material, not finding any paid work, or staying stuck on the retail side. I’m willing to put in the work; I just don’t want it to be wasted. For context, I have a bachelor’s in economics and a brief full-stack background with two MERN projects, but no paid dev experience yet.
Questions:
Can this plan actually work? What should I change to give myself a real shot—through both conventional and unconventional outreach?
Should I start the CFA program to boost credibility, or are there better certifications/certificates/or signs of readiness that show I’m serious?
With AI automating parts of analysis and everything in general, is a 12–18 month push still worth it?
I want to be a quant dev long-term. Is starting as a data analyst a smart way to earn side income and build skills, or should I go all-in on quant from day one? More than anything I want to make this one day be my name source of extra side income, so what can get me there fastest? Or do I need to focus on a specific niche within the space, in which case which one is the most marketable or most in demand, and will be for a while?
If I go the analyst route, which skills are most in demand and most likely to land paid work—financial modeling, dashboards, KPI interpretation, etc.?
Do I need to be a math wiz to learn how to effectively use AI tools in my workflow to be competitive in the field?
