Financial Modeller to Quant - Honestly what are my chances?

[Dementia]

My background:

• Masters in Economics (3.5 GPA)
• Big 4 Chartered Accountant (ACA) within audit (financial services)
• 3 years at Big 4 firm
• 1 year at an M&A boutique
• 1 year at a blue chip within corporate finance
• 1 year at a small tech focused VC fund
• 2 years contracting as a Financial Modeller with various blue chips, which I am currently still doing
• Good with Excel VBA and SQL

The models I build are complex to the average accountant but the work I do is still firmly in the "financial" rather than "mathematical" category of modelling. Things like discounted cash flow valuations, capital structure optimisation, financial statement analysis, capital budgeting, etc.

I have been accepted on to a 2 year part time MSc Computer Science course. I am also planning to teach myself to code in Python and C++. I'm also open to doing an internship in the summer after the first year as contracting allows me this flexibility. Would still be in early 30s by graduation.

Do I have a shot at breaking in or is my background just not mathematical enough?

 

[AppliedMath]

Depends on where you're aiming to be. If you're aiming for the usual Christmas list of companies, in the usual cherry picked location, then there's not such thing as "enough." Outside of that enough math is subjective, as practicality can beat theory in many places. This is especially true if you are aiming to be a normal Individual Contributor, and not imaging starting as a Senior Quantitative Analyst or hire. In the former case, someone else is in charge of your mistakes. Moreover, everyone, no matter how good triple-checks things. Heck, model review exists for things like this. You only need enough math to get past an interview and into the role. Start top down, not bottom up with the math concepts.

The programming language you use doesn't matter. I suggest Python. Someone else will quickly say C++. Pick one. Master one language. Don't be a Hello World in many. Nobody cares what language you use. They care how good you are with it. The hypothetical scenario about 2 candidates with same skill but one use the language of the company is useless to worry about. You should start searching and applying now. Don't waste time on phantom preparation that might not be needed. Get your own feedback and assess.