Mid Career Advice: MOOC (e.g Columbia's Financial Engineering Course on Coursera) or Part-Time MFE?

[buddingquant]

I've started my career in finance in structured products and became highly interested in option pricing models and quantitative areas like quant trading or structuring for credit-linked products etc. I was previously in the military before making this switch to finance via an MiF only to realize i should've done an MFE as I've always been more quantitative in nature. However, I don't wish to go for yet another full-time masters as the opportunity costs are high (already 30 with bills to pay), so I am seeking the most cost-efficient way to gain knowledge and help my transition into a quant finance role. Would courses like C++ on quantnet/data science course from General Assembley coupled with other MOOC courses like Financial Engineering (Columbia's course on coursera) work as well as paying hefty prices for a part-time/full-time MFE?

also, my MiF was from a top London target school if that aids your advice

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Best bang for your bucks would be to take the QuantNet courses (all of them) which will make you really good C++ developer, enough Python skills to be useful on day one, and the options pricing knowledge to be able to pass quant interviews. You can't work with options pricing models without knowing C++ and the options theory used in those models.
All of that will cost you just a bit over $5K and your time.

Online Courses

quantnet.com

The main utility of the MFE degree is to help you secure an interview for close to 100K. If you can't afford it, try to get a job interview by taking the courses mentioned above. I know plenty of people got into great quant dev positions using the courses.

How Quantnet's C++ certificates got me a job on Wall Street

Dear prospective students, I recently signed a contract with a top Investment Bank for an Associate C++ Developer position in the Securities Technology Division in New York. Three years ago I had very little programming and math knowledge, and non-relevant work experience. I was just another...

quantnet.com

 

[buddingquant]

Thanks for sharing that Andy, post the C++ courses (say, the advanced one), how should one gain actual experience in C++ that can be showcased to potential employers on the resume? Are there freelance jobs or communities that perhaps you could recommend that allow one to gain real world experience after learning from these courses?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Once you got the right amount of C++ skills, say after the Quantnet C++ advanced course, you can contribute to many open source quant libraries through github. That way, you can build a profile that will lead to many opportunities. There is always good paying job for those with excellent coding skill.