CFA or Ms/MSc. in Finance

[writankar]

hi all,
i am an EEE with 3+ years of software development experience in the banking & financial domain. i am very keen on a career shift to Finance. in this context, which would be a better option - a MS/MSc. in Finance or CFA? also, are the course contents similar? which would give me a better footing to embark on a Finance career given the fact that i do not have any prior finance experience? looking forward to hearing from you all. thanx in advance!!

cheers

 

[doug reich]

Those are somewhat different and not mutually exclusive options. The CFA is a certification. At least one MS Finance (at Boston College I think) bills their degree as "teaching you what you need to pass all 3 levels of the CFA". Certainly you will get the master's faster, and with that knowledge should be able to get the CFA simultaneously or immediately after, although full CFA designation requires several years of working in the industry.

So from that standpoint, the master's is the better choice. There are many facets of the finance world, though, so you may want to explore the different roles people play (trader vs researcher vs risk management; fundamental vs quant) before deciding on a program; your question implies that you have not done such research.

 

[alain]

What kind of finance do you want to do? Maybe an MBA in finance is just what you need.

 

[writankar]

thanx a lot, doug & alain! well, i am primarily interested in the quantitative aspect of finance. an MBA in finance i guess would be more of a generic degree, if i am not mistaken!
also, for an IT guy like me in india with no formal finance background, its very difficult to convince the bschool folks that i am genuinely interested in finance. given this which do you think would be better?
is there any company where i can leverage on my EEE background & math skills to get into quantitative finance before i go in for a formal finance training? let me know if possible.
thanx once again!!

cheers