Need some advise please

[Rockyhead]

Hi,

First of all, big thanks for all the seniors of Quantnet who are helping many guys like me. This is really a great and a very useful site for MFE aspirants.

I would be grateful to you guys if you can provide me some good advise on MFE.
I am really struggling to find out information on MFE programs and career after doing MFE.
I am finding a lot of info in this site. But, I still feel I need a good advice from someone who knows more about this field, to decide if I have to do this program or not.
I have no contacts of any person who did or doing this program to get help from.

I am a Software professional. I have been working with multinational IT Company for the last 4.5 yrs. I have experience in maintaining and supporting Commercial Banking Back Office Applications which are responsible for processing of all the Swift payments, FXs, LDs of the bank. Our client is ING Netherlands. For the past 2 years, I have been working in Netherlands in the office of ING. I have experience in writing COBOL programs, and scripting in many HP NonStop server products according to the requirements of the bank (traders/operations/BAs/Backoffice guys). I am more into technical now with a little bit of finance knowledge.

Earlier, few months back, I did not know about MFE. I was preparing for GRE/TOEFL trying to get an MIS admit in some top school. Then, I met a guy who is a lead BA here in the same bank who advised me to consider doing MFE instead of MIS. He is an experienced guy (8-9 yrs exp) and draws a huge cheque every month (around 2, 80,000 EUR/year). That’s the first time I heard about MFE. I took it very seriously as it was suggested by a knowledgeable guy like him. I started researching about this program. The curriculum consists of pure finance cum maths.

At first, I got curious and sceptical about the program. But then, I thought if I am going to spend 1 – 1.5 years of time on learning something I should really learn something new. MIS is a mix of technical and business subjects. Business over here is not the pure finance as in MFE. MIS might make me into a better Business Technologist/IT project manager with a good understanding of business. MFE can make me into an IT Engineer with rich finance knowledge who can build finance systems. I am more interested in the latter one. The big guy who suggested me this program told me there is a great demand in financial job market for guys who have both software and finance knowledge.

I would really enjoy working in a financial institution building/helping developers to build financial systems as a BA. Is MFE the correct program for me to reach this position?
I am some one who is more inclined to non managerial work, who loves to be in action and perform and deliver. This is one more reason my heart is getting pulled away from MIS which would turn me into an IT manager. Something deep inside me strongly says that MFE will definitely add more value (even it is harder) to my current profile than MIS.

Please advise me if MFE is the correct program for me or not. Also please tell me with your experience if finding such jobs after doing MFE is a difficult task. I mean, do recruiters who come to placement drives in the universities give preference only to recruit MFE graduates who have prior finance experience or do they recruit graduates who have IT experience as well? Is it hard for a MFE graduate who has prior IT experience to find a job in university placement drives? Your help is invaluable to me. Thanks in advance…

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I'm sure you are overwhelmed at this stage just learning about MFE degree. Everyone went through the same phrase and it's a lot easier if you have a good starting guide to read. I suggest download the QuantNet guide in my signature and read it, then you can do more research on different programs and come up with more focused questions.

 

[Rockyhead]

Thanks for the reply Andy. I have already read your guide few days back.
https://www.quantnet.com/threads/qu...e-to-programs-in-financial-engineering.11411/

I got a better understanding of the program after reading your guide. Thanks for that.
The guide is a good introduction to MFE and all possible careers after MFE and life and all related.

I even read Mark joshi's book which is mentioned in your guide.

I found the below lines from his book:

"Quant developer – a glorified programmer but well-paid and easier to
find a job. This sort of job can vary a lot. It could be coding scripts quickly
all the time, or working on a large system debugging someone else’s code."

And it is also mentioned there are these diff types of quants:

(1) Front office/desk quant
(2) Model validating quant
(3) Research quant
(4) Quant developer
(5) Statistical arbitrage quant
(6) Capital quant

As I have a software background I can not imagine myself working far away from IT.
So I am interested in number (5) in the above list, which is Quant Developer.

But there is no information beyond this on this role.
May be it is not one of the main career paths for an MFE.
And thats what I fear too.

I am already very busy gathering info about this role and I wont stop doing that.
But it will be really helpful to me if you can answer my questions here with your experience.

"Please advise me if MFE is the correct program for me or not. Also please tell me with your experience if finding such jobs after doing MFE is a difficult task. I mean, do recruiters who come to placement drives in the universities give preference only to recruit MFE graduates who have prior finance experience or do they recruit graduates who have IT experience as well? Is it hard for a MFE graduate who has prior IT experience to find a job in university placement drives? Your help is invaluable to me. Thanks in advance…"

Thanking you in advance.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Whether MFE is the right choice for your future career, I'm afraid only you can answer that. Finance is a changing world so whatever you read in Mark Joshi guide probably is outdated by now.
The best approach for you is to narrow down to a few programs you are interested in applying. Look at the profiles of their students and the type of jobs they get after graduation. Contact them and ask for advice. It's very likely that you will find someone with similar background or even coming from the same major, university, country.
Many of them are members here. Also use LinkedIn to your best benefit. Everyone experience finding a certain type of job 2 years ago may no longer apply.