Need advice for en engineer looking to become a quant

[tsail]

Greetings,

I've recently decided to enroll in the CFA program and plan on completing all 3 levels eventually. My education consist of a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering. Also recently completed a Data Science certificate through Coursera. I have 3 years of experience within the aerospace industry analyzing large amounts of data. I also have good command over programming in C++, VBA, Python and MatLab.

What I am unsure of is if recruiters/employers view my credentials as valuable assuming I complete my CFA or not Or am I competing with a bunch of PhDs and probably stand very little chance due to the fact I have no finance background? Also, as I am still exploring the finance industry, are there any other roles you would recommend me to take a look into?

Appreciate the feedback. Thanks!

 

[Yike Lu]

CFA L1 helps you talk the talk. I haven't taken L2 or L3. L2 I've heard is very useful if you want to be in corporate finance / M&A.

You'll do fine, best thing is to go on a few interviews first to get calibrated on what's required vs what you have. Don't try for your dream job in this phase, just get the lay of the land. At that point you'll know better if you're good enough; you can even ask directly for feedback. Hard to tell based on an online profile, often the requirements are very specific / idiosyncratic.