Does B.Eng. in Petroleum Engineering provide an edge?

[Wenzhe Jiang]

I have an undergraduate degree in Petroleum Engineering and a master's degree in Applied Math. Now I'm applying to some MFE programs. I don't have much knowledge in Finance since I've never taken any finance courses. But I learned some materials and passed FRM Part I.

Is it an advantage that I am from petroleum engineering and math?

How is petroleum engineering related to quant jobs? Is there any specific area for petroleum finance?

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Just out of curiosity: why do you want to leave petroleum engineering?

Have you done stuff like numerical reservoir engineering?

How quantitative (maths, physics, computing) is your background?

 

[Wenzhe Jiang]

Just out of curiosity: why do you want to leave petroleum engineering?

Have you done stuff like numerical reservoir engineering?

I don't have passion for petroleum engineering but I love math so I took all the math courses in my undergraduate university and now I am a graduate student in Applied Math.
I haven't done numerical reservoir engineering before.

I have extensive coding experiences in C/C++ and Matlab. Very good at math.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

I don't have passion for petroleum engineering but I love math so I took all the math courses in my undergraduate university and now I am a graduate student in Applied Math.
I haven't done numerical reservoir engineering before.

I have extensive coding experiences in C/C++ and Matlab. Very good at math.

Looks good to me.

 

[Wenzhe Jiang]

anybody got any advice?

 

[pingu]

I have an undergraduate degree in Petroleum Engineering and a master's degree in Applied Math. Now I'm applying to some MFE programs. I don't have much knowledge in Finance since I've never taken any finance courses. But I learned some materials and passed FRM Part I.

Is it an advantage that I am from petroleum engineering and math?

How is petroleum engineering related to quant jobs? Is there any specific area for petroleum finance?

Are you employed currently? Where? Most of the big oil companies have big trading desks to hedge their operations and do more stuff. Most of them are very sophisticated.

 

[Wenzhe Jiang]

Are you employed currently? Where? Most of the big oil companies have big trading desks to hedge their operations and do more stuff. Most of them are very sophisticated.

I'm a graduate student at Applied Math at UWaterloo and I'm applying to some MFE programs. So you are saying that big oil companies need quant?

 

[pingu]

I'm a graduate student at Applied Math at UWaterloo and I'm applying to some MFE programs. So you are saying that big oil companies need quant?

All the time. Now that banks are getting out of physical, more than ever. Do your research first. Also, petroleum engineers get some of the highest salaries out of college (at least in the US), 100k+.

 

[Wenzhe Jiang]

All the time. Now that banks are getting out of physical, more than ever. Do your research first. Also, petroleum engineers get some of the highest salaries out of college (at least in the US), 100k+.

But is there any position for petroleum engineer with MFE skills in major banks?

 

[pingu]

But is there any position for petroleum engineer with MFE skills in major banks?

sure but a bank won't care that you are a petroleum engineer (unless you have working experience and you don't).

 

[C S]

But is there any position for petroleum engineer with MFE skills in major banks?

I don't think you understand what it means to work at a very large corporation, which is what a big investment bank is. All the Dilbert-ian stories you've heard (I hope)? They are true. The bank will think of you as a gear to put into their immense machinery. What kind of gear are you, is their first thought? You might luck out and meet a very weird manager who takes a liking to you and decides to have you hired. But the rest of the machine is going to try grind you into the kind of gear it's missing.

Your best bet at leveraging an unusual background is going to a hedge fund manager and convincing him/her that your knowledge of petroleum engineering can give an edge at understanding the details behind some gas storage arbitrage strategy (or whatever).

In any case, wherever you go interview, whether it be a hedge fund or investment bank, they're going to ask you one thing, and it really is going to be the main determinant of how far you progress in their interviewing process:

Why would you give up a lucrative career as a petroleum engineer to become a quant when opportunities are scarcer in finance and competition is fiercer than ever with many quant wannabes having superior backgrounds?

You've been asked it here, and believe me, they will ask it to you "there" too.