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Seeking advice on Financial Engineering Certification from Columbia

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7/17/12
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Seeking advice on Financial Engineering Certification from Columbia.
Financial Engineering Certification | Columbia Video Network | Columbia University Engineering

If anyone has taken this or is familiar, could you shed some light on your experience and perception of the certificate. I work as a risk quant currently, seeking to move into front office quant role. I have a Masters in Computer Science from an Asian university and learned quant finance basics mostly on the job. The primary reason to pursue this degree is hopefully to get an instant "recognition/verification" when I apply for jobs. Trying to understand whether this provides most of the benefits in my case (as I am already in the industry) of an otherwise full fledged Masters (MFE) which requires higher cost/time/commitment.
 
Thanks for the response. Columbia's FE Certification seems to require 12 credits, which is about a third of 36 credits required by Columbia's MSFE. A bit more into my personal background - I've worked in banking for last 10 years, 5 of which as a risk quant. I have acquired good portion of the MFE concepts through job and/or self-study. I have two small kids, so not as easy to find time to do a full-fledged MFE course, although of course nothing's impossible. Given this context, I was thinking what can I do for career progression into front office quant or on senior roles as risk quant. Would Columbia's FE Certification add some "brand name if you will" on the resume, if given I can do a technical interview well, things might work out? Or would FE Certification at this point in career look odd and hurt instead. There's also Certificate in Quantitative Finance (CQF) which although is not provided by as reputed an institution. Or will a proper MFE from say NYU or some uni which has parttime/online course (can't afford to quit job to study so) be a better bet. What else can someone in my position do to further my career... I thought about PhD as well but that's again further tougher to do part-time. I know it's a personal question, but thought getting some input from other quants in this forum could only help.
 
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