Confusion regarding MBA or QFE!

[mohitthapar]

hello everyone,
I am from India,New Delhi and I am working as a consultant since 6yrs and as a technical analyst with two big companies in India, one of them is India News | Indian Business, Finance News | Sports: Cricket India | Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu Movies | Astrology, Indian Recipes and the other is Reliance Money.
I advice their clients which stocks/futures/commodities to buy/sell, using my technical analysis knowledge or you can say my chart reading abilities and interpretation skills.
I am doing good, but now want to work with bank in Forex/commodities/stocks division and do research analysis, the bottomline is that i want to work as a fund manager or be in a position which will influence buy/sell decisions of traders.
Will QFE/MFE help me in this regard? I have read many articles in this forum, and interestingly i came to webpage in which it was mentioned that Technical analysis is the statistical field of Quantitative analysis, which means Technical analysis is linked indirectly to Quant analysis?

Or should i go the normal way of MBA in finance or CFA? I have also gone through the CMT, which is a certification course to become a chartered market technician/technical analyst, but that doesnt seem to be in demand, also when i search for jobs for technical analyst, what i see mostly in Monster jobs and other job websites, is mostly the job is related or described according to a Quant. analyst.

Please guide with examples.

regards

mohit thapar

 

[Uncle Max]

If you are trying to choose among MFE, MBA, and CFA it shows that you didn't perform enough of research. Even on this forum there are many threads on this topic.

There are two main techniques in security analysis: Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis. I never heard that someone was hired to do Technical or Fundamental Analysis only as the main job. You can learn this technique without going to any school. In fact, neither MFE nor MBA will concentrate on teaching Technical Analysis. However, you can usually find this course available as elective at many schools.

 

[mohitthapar]

Thanks for the reply,but not satisfactory.

Your reply is based on your experience, which could be unique and which may lead you to conclusions which could be useful to someone, and unsatisfactory to others, which happened with me at present.
First of all your saying that anyone can learn technical analysis and start analyzing on their own, is alright, but not everyone is good at it. That is where one can make out the difference between the men and the boys.
Its like in formula 1 racing, every racer has a powerful and an expensive car, but only one wins.
Its all a matter of experience and depth of knowledge.

This world is huge, there are all sorts of people around the world doing all sorts of jobs, at present there are companies in India,especially brokerage houses which require only technical analysts, but the pay scale is not attractive. That is why i require to know if QFE will put more weight age on my career and improve my knowledge or if its completely a new form of analysis apart from Technical analysis.

Well,thanks for your reply, but your statements didn't satisfy me at all, I am here to be explained about the influence of QFE on my career, or if i should do QFE or not, all other issues or your concern about my knowledge, wont be of any use to me.

thanks n regards

mohit thapar
(india)

 

[alain]

It won't help you.

 

[Uncle Max]

your statements didn't satisfy me at all, I am here to be explained about the influence of QFE on my career, or if i should do QFE or not, all other issues or your concern about my knowledge, wont be of any use to me.

My point is that nither MFE nor MBA concentrate on Technical Analysis. You can take it as elective on either path. If you see a job which requires Technical Analysis only, this is very strange to say the least, because TA is not very hard to learn, therefore pay-scale/carrer-opportunities will be very limited.

 

[mohitthapar]

I am still not able to understand much about QFE!

hello max,
The problem is that i havent come across any real life example of a QFE at work.This is what every aspirant wants to know before jumping in this highly technical field.( I have read an article on this forum stating that jobs related to QFE field are slowly disapperaing? is this right?)

The word MBA is very common and everyone knows what an average MBA does in the office, irrespective of if he/she is in the field of finance,sales,or HR.
QFE/MFE is a highly technical field, and i have come across in some articles that Technical Analysis is indirectly connected to FE itself.
If possible i would like to have a real life example of what a Financial Engineer is supposed to do in the office.Although i have a small idea but that seems to be pretty vague and not clear to me.
After QFE am i suppose to write programs all the time in C++ ?
After QFE am i suppose to provide financial data in excel format or some interpretational format for other analysts?
If i am going to work in a team then what role am i going to play?
Or what is the main job role of a QFE in a financial institution in technical terms ?

Please if someone can answer these questions, then i will be salvaged!

regards

mohit thapar
(frm India) ( I am no slumdog!)

 

[Stefan Zota]

If you do a simple search on this forum you will find plenty of threads with detailed descriptions about quantitative finance work. Pricing financial instruments using stochastic/statistical models can be one broad definition.
Technical analysis is a "black art", qualitative more than quantitative. As already said, this does not require any special education.

 

[mohitthapar]

Can MFE be descried as development of Black box trading?

:-k :wall :sos:
I have come across many articles and even an interview on this forum, where quants are described as developers of black box trading,which means no human intervention in the trading of stocks/commodities/forex, where computers buy/sell automatically on the basis of algorithm or trading models developed by the quants. If this is the core job of a quant and the progamming is mostly in C++, then dont you think that reading some math books for quantitative analysis a proficient C++ progammer can write the program on its own and could do freelancing for mutual funds or financial institutions?
I understand the need for a formal education in the field of financial egineering, but if Windows 3.1 could be made in a garage then a quantitative trading model could be developed in a small private office as well?
Please reply with an example.

 

[mohitthapar]

where does an MFE/QFE stands in front of a PHD?

:-k

This is another doubt which has popped in my inquisitive brain, about the competition from phd's in the quantitative analysis job field. I have been to many sites which offer quantitative jobs, but most companies ask for a PHD and atleast 2yrs of experience, whereas i have experience of 6yrs but only in technical analysis, which is a different field, and yes i have yet to apply for QFE program.
Now even if i get selected in Baruch, what are my chances of getting rejected by good companies on the basis that i am not a PHD, and also since i have no experience in the Quantitative analysis field? This doubt is hurting my brain cells.
Please.... someone explain me if possible.

 

[Stefan Zota]

:-k :wall :sos:
I have come across many articles and even an interview on this forum, where quants are described as developers of black box trading,which means no human intervention in the trading of stocks/commodities/forex, where computers buy/sell automatically on the basis of algorithm or trading models developed by the quants. If this is the core job of a quant and the progamming is mostly in C++, then dont you think that reading some math books for quantitative analysis a proficient C++ progammer can write the program on its own and could do freelancing for mutual funds or financial institutions?
I understand the need for a formal education in the field of financial egineering, but if Windows 3.1 could be made in a garage then a quantitative trading model could be developed in a small private office as well?
Please reply with an example.

Quant is not a pure software developer. By definition a software developer will receive formal requirements, implement/test/debug.
A quant will receive a broader problem. For instance: take data on a certain product, use different models, back test against historical data, adjust arguments and even the model, make recommendations etc.

 

[doug reich]

:-k :wall :sos:
I have come across many articles and even an interview on this forum, where quants are described as developers of black box trading,which means no human intervention in the trading of stocks/commodities/forex, where computers buy/sell automatically on the basis of algorithm or trading models developed by the quants. If this is the core job of a quant and the progamming is mostly in C++, then dont you think that reading some math books for quantitative analysis a proficient C++ progammer can write the program on its own and could do freelancing for mutual funds or financial institutions?
I understand the need for a formal education in the field of financial egineering, but if Windows 3.1 could be made in a garage then a quantitative trading model could be developed in a small private office as well?
Please reply with an example.

That is correct. That can happen. There are myriad examples, including posts by user dhride on this forum recently, or famous people include Ken Griffin of Citadel.

Most of us are not clever enough, lucky enough, or entrepreneurial enough to do that. Fortunately, there is a big industry with many more established roles that require an education just to get in the door (whether or not that education provides any edge is widely debated, but bureaucracy is what it is).

By example, this field is becoming more institutionalized just as software is; if you wrote Portholes 3.1 in your garage, you wouldn't find a soul on the planet willing to pay for it.

 

[doug reich]

:-k

This is another doubt which has popped in my inquisitive brain, about the competition from phd's in the quantitative analysis job field. I have been to many sites which offer quantitative jobs, but most companies ask for a PHD and atleast 2yrs of experience, whereas i have experience of 6yrs but only in technical analysis, which is a different field, and yes i have yet to apply for QFE program.
Now even if i get selected in Baruch, what are my chances of getting rejected by good companies on the basis that i am not a PHD, and also since i have no experience in the Quantitative analysis field? This doubt is hurting my brain cells.
Please.... someone explain me if possible.

There is the desire and the reality. There are far more people requesting PhDs than there are actual, living PhDs. Many of those jobs will be filled by lesser mortals, including those with Masters. I don't have the answer, but contrast this question with that in your previous post; those with the ability and motivation will make it happen regardless, those with only one may not.

This is an uncertain industry in an uncertain time. By the time you know the answer to the question, time will have passed you by.