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Maybe a silly question: age issue for MFE

Joined
3/4/08
Messages
15
Points
11
Hey, guys,

I'm a prospective student for a Financial Math program in UK. I will be 29 after finishing the course. Would that be too late to get into the industry?

My background:
M.E. & B.E. in mechanics
worked in Siemens as a software engineer for 2 years
ran my own B2C website for 1 year.

Would age be a problem to get into the industry? Thank you for your comments

Mark
 
Hey, guys,

I'm a prospective student for a Financial Math program in UK. I will be 29 after finishing the course. Would that be too late to get into the industry?

My background:
M.E. & B.E. in mechanics
worked in Siemens as a software engineer for 2 years
ran my own B2C website for 1 year.

Would age be a problem to get into the industry? Thank you for your comments

Mark

To put it into perspective...people typically retire when they are 65. If you finish the degree when you are 29, you have 36 more years of work, compared to the mere 6-8 years of experience prior to starting your FE program. Meaning you still have 80% of your work life ahead of you. So no, you won't be too old.
 
well, I am in a similar position as mark..!! have done my B.E. in EEE & have been working as a software developer for the last 3 years, having workded on a plethora of technologies(JAVA, ORACLE, et al.) am also planning for a MFE program...& i will be almost 30(assuming a 2 year course) when i graduate out..!!
had this notion that in the finance industry people join when they are very young(around 24) & leave by the time they are 50..! would be great to hear from you guys, on this!!


cheers
 
Reading posts like this makes me feel like I'm too old. I'm older than most people who ask this kind of question and I don't recall once where anyone asked me about my age when I interviewed for jobs. Nor did they ask my friends who are older than me.
The notion that age prevents job is unfounded. It may be true in other industries but on Wall Street, I haven't heard one example.

By the way, 30s is the new 20s :D
 
The notion that age prevents job is unfounded. It may be true in other industries but on Wall Street, I haven't heard one example.

I agree...if you can make them money, they won't care if they have to wheel you into work everyday and hook you up to a breathing machine.
 
Thank u, guys.
I suppose it's not too late for to chase my dream now.
 
Reading posts like this makes me feel like I'm too old. I'm older than most people who ask this kind of question and I don't recall once where anyone asked me about my age when I interviewed for jobs. Nor did they ask my friends who are older than me.
The notion that age prevents job is unfounded. It may be true in other industries but on Wall Street, I haven't heard one example.

By the way, 30s is the new 20s :D

Andy, first, it is not appropriate to ask how old you are or if you are married at interviews, second, you look at least 5 years younger than your real age :)
 
Uh. I think I speak for the whole over 30 crowd here when I say, no, 29 is not too old to enter an MFE program.
 
Hi

In France they ask for Age and Marital status, and am sure it is a discriminating factor. Then the government wonder why people prefer to cross the Channel to get jobs in general and moreover in the financial industry. What a pitty. It's a cultural thing so I don't think it will change anytime soon. I am considering applying to MFE programs for this fall, if I enroll, I will for sure look for intership and positions abroad and in foreign institution.
 
Yuriy is right that banks should not ask, but that raises a different set of problems.
You need to show that the extra time has been used well, in terms of you progressing and showing that you realised your potential.
The legal issues mean that they don't ask, which means it is up to you to say these things.

But remember that a lot of people enter this line of work after PhD, so you won't look that old at all.

In the P&D Guide we go on about "older candidates" because we observe that many good people make an imperfect assessment of their chances.

Although of course P&D obeys all laws everywhere, we don't actually care about the anti-ageism legislation, and try to counsel people in the light of reality, rather than political correctness.
Forewarned is forearmed.

An attribute of getting older is that you become clearer in what you want, and that is both good and bad. It's good that you don't waste time on pointless crap you find you don't want anyway.
But it can come across as inflexibility, and some managers will be alert to this, and some will be actively trying to detect it.

It is important to speak well of your current line of work, even though obviously you would like to leave it.
One may feel sorry for refugees, or donate money to helping them, but you don't hire people out of pity.

You need to show that your change in direction is the result of a positive desire to do banking. Yes of course money is an honourable motivation, but it is shallow.
The ideal in this is to show where the enjoyable bits of your job are similar to the work in banking.
Shows that you've thought this through and that you will settle in well.

You won't get as much "respect" as you might have earned in your previous role. Some people come to me with respectable management experience, the hard news is that this is not going to be used any time soon. You may have bossed around a dozen people, but there's a 25% chance your first task is menial Excel VBA.

I believe it is worth adopting a rather "British" self deprecation here (think Hugh Grant).

Something like "I see my management experience as something for the longer term, since obviously I'm starting at entry level and will need to prove myself".
That delivers several good messages all at once.
First you mention the management, which is good but accept you won't be doing any, which is better. No one wants to hire you if they think you will be unhappy in the job.
You are thinking long term, nice, and you want to work up, which warms any managers heart (except at PWC).
 
Hi

In France they ask for Age and Marital status, and am sure it is a discriminating factor. Then the government wonder why people prefer to cross the Channel to get jobs in general and moreover in the financial industry. What a pitty. It's a cultural thing so I don't think it will change anytime soon. I am considering applying to MFE programs for this fall, if I enroll, I will for sure look for intership and positions abroad and in foreign institution.

Same thing is in Russia :)
Many job ads start by saying "We are looking for a man ages 25 to 45". So they immediately discriminate on the basis of age and gender. And in many cases being married is good.
 
It's just so different in NY and London.
Last year we managed a big entry level recruitment event for an IB, and I innocently referred to them as "bright young things". The head HR honcho froze me with the sort of glare Cate Blanchett uses in Elizabeth on foppish courtiers.
I didn't do it again...

I'll share with you the list of things we are not allowed to mention in our correspondence with one well known Wall St. firm.
Disability, Age, Military Serivce,Gender, Sexual Orientation,Race, Shoe Size, Marital Status, Country of Origin, Faith, and Political Affiliation.

(only one of those is made up)
 
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