Phd in FE, Finance or Econ to seek a quant research job?

[aajoshi]

I am highly interested in making career move and seek a quant research analyst job. I have a MSCE and MS Engr. Mgt(concentration: Finance) with nine yrs experience in s/w design and development. hands on experience with Excel VBA. I have enrolled myself in CFA program and will be taking my first exam in June 2008. I am not sure if this can fetch me an entry level quant or front office job.

If not, I am motivated to seek a PhD. The reason for PhD is to improve my research skills and independent thinking and make myself eligible for my desired. I personally think PhD will also help me to do independent consulting and connect myself with academia in my future career. My motivation is also to seek the PhD from top school and not all top school offers all the concentration.

So the question is, to seek a Wall Street Quant Job what will really help me? A PhD in FE from Cornell, Columbia or Princeton or Finance/Econ from Wharton, Northeastern, Duke ?

Lastly, if I truely pursue a PhD and take all 3 exams of CFA, can i expect a job with base salary of $150k or more ?

Thank you

 

[aajoshi]

No response to my post makes me think either my questions were absolutely foolish or I should be really patient. Please let me know either way. I am in search of direction

 

[Andy Nguyen]

No response to my post makes me think either my questions were absolutely foolish or I should be really patient.

You should be really patient. It's easy for a post to get pumped down quickly here.
Why don't you contact some recruiters and see if they can get you some IT jobs in a bank. That way, you get in and can figure out what you want to do.
Finance is huge and it's hard to tell what you truly interested in until you get there.
Why don't you just prepare for CFA level I, apply for whatever PhD programs you desire and discuss further when you get in those programs ?

Just a word of caution: those Finance PhD programs will admit only 2,3 students a year and as soon as you say you want a $150K job on Wall Street, they will reject you sight unseen. Those programs are strictly geared towards people who plan a career in academics only. Or so I heard.

 

[MikeK]

I am highly interested in making career move and seek a quant research analyst job. I have a MSCE and MS Engr. Mgt(concentration: Finance) with nine yrs experience in s/w design and development. hands on experience with Excel VBA. I have enrolled myself in CFA program and will be taking my first exam in June 2008. I am not sure if this can fetch me an entry level quant or front office job.

Lastly, if I truely pursue a PhD and take all 3 exams of CFA, can i expect a job with base salary of $150k or more ?

I'm not sure about the PhD, but a CFA does not guarentee anything. I currently work in the portfolio management industry and when they screen applicants for fund manager jobs, the CFA is a "nice to have" but can easily be overridden with work experience, academic background, etc.

I have a finance/econ background but worked on building trading and portfolio management systems for a while. I showed interest in becoming a portfolio manager and the software I worked on gave me some really hard-core PM exposure.

Also, I personally decided against the CFA because I felt it was too broad and EVERYONE I know who has passed all 3 levels forgets at least 80% of the material. FE is much more interesting to me, and more relevant to what I want to work on (ie active funds).

-Mike

 

[aajoshi]

Thank you!!

I can agree with you because I am a total believer that experience can beat lot of things. But, I want to enter into field and I want to portrait my abilities to the hiring manager. I possess a MSEM ( Engr. Mgt ) with concentration in Finance (thats where I really developed my FE/Finance interest) and by taking CFA exams I can show my sufficient debt. I am not sure if I can get job just on MSEM and about 10 yrs s/w design and development experience. Hence all these efforts of PhD and CFA.

What is your opinion about MSFE ? Can that fetch a quant job ?

Thanks again !

I'm not sure about the PhD, but a CFA does not guarentee anything. I currently work in the portfolio management industry and when they screen applicants for fund manager jobs, the CFA is a "nice to have" but can easily be overridden with work experience, academic background, etc.

I have a finance/econ background but worked on building trading and portfolio management systems for a while. I showed interest in becoming a portfolio manager and the software I worked on gave me some really hard-core PM exposure.

Also, I personally decided against the CFA because I felt it was too broad and EVERYONE I know who has passed all 3 levels forgets at least 80% of the material. FE is much more interesting to me, and more relevant to what I want to work on (ie active funds).

-Mike

 

[MikeK]

Thank you!!

I can agree with you because I am a total believer that experience can beat lot of things. But, I want to enter into field and I want to portrait my abilities to the hiring manager. I possess a MSEM ( Engr. Mgt ) with concentration in Finance (thats where I really developed my FE/Finance interest) and by taking CFA exams I can show my sufficient debt. I am not sure if I can get job just on MSEM and about 10 yrs s/w design and development experience. Hence all these efforts of PhD and CFA.

What is your opinion about MSFE ? Can that fetch a quant job ?

Thanks again !

An MS in Financial Engineering can certainly fetch a quant job--that is the goal of those programs. And you are correct--getting your CFA will show potential employers you not only understand finance/accounting/etc, but you are motivated to learn more. So it certainly won't hurt you. However, getting both an MSFE and CFA may not have the ROI you expect. And the CFA takes 2.5 to 3 years while you can do a part-time MSFE in less than 2 years. And overall, the MSFE classes are so much more relevant. The CFA has a lot of material on it that becomes insignificant when you get into trading or portfolio management, while the MSFE gears 100% towards those types of fields.

But again, the CFA will only help you. But if you're doing a PhD or MSFE, then you probably don't need the CFA also. But still, it never hurts. I've known many people in operations or technology that used the CFA as a launch point into the front office.

Given your software development background, you have a lot of good options I think. It wouldn't hurt to try to get into a S/D job at an investment firm; that's a great way to get a foot in the door.

-Mike

 

[weirluo]

Thank you!!

I can agree with you because I am a total believer that experience can beat lot of things. But, I want to enter into field and I want to portrait my abilities to the hiring manager. I possess a MSEM ( Engr. Mgt ) with concentration in Finance (thats where I really developed my FE/Finance interest) and by taking CFA exams I can show my sufficient debt. I am not sure if I can get job just on MSEM and about 10 yrs s/w design and development experience. Hence all these efforts of PhD and CFA.

What is your opinion about MSFE ? Can that fetch a quant job ?

Thanks again !

You don't know what you don't know. Others know it worse than yourself do. No one knows the future. With all the related education, you will still need a bit of luck to get in. I'd say do what you are interested in rather than what looks good from outside.