Switching role as a Software engineer in finance

[simplygj]

Hi,
I have been working as a software engineer for the last 5 years in a software company (not in financial domain). My question is in regards to a software engineer in finance mainly supporting the front office (say fixed income department). I don't know much about finance but I have keen interest in learning finance and have interest in getting an MBA in finance in the future.
My question is, is this a good role to be in if you are interested in learning finance. I understand the work is very demanding and a lot of it is mostly about "plumbing" data between the various systems and not that challenging from a software perspective but I have read that working in front office is better than back office. Is that true? In what ways? Would this role help me in learning finance and pave the way to become a trader/banker (maybe after getting an MBA) in future?

All your suggestions/feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Andy Xu]

Similar background here, looking forward for any advice on heading into financing.

 

[Jeffrey K.W. Lo]

I picked up a few questions here:

"Is MBA in finance a good...?"
I think a big part of MBA's value is its network. If you are just trying to learn finance then there are many alternatives such as MFin, CFA exams, etc.

"is Software engineering in Finance good?"
Yes why not it is huge field. Your question was a bit generic though since there are many kinds of financial software, such as OMS, EMS, PMS, risk, pricing, modelling, etc. and then there are the in-house who-knows-what systems.

"is front office better than back office"
Depends how you define better. Pay wise maybe (at least I think so) since FO is probably more demanding and challenging, but back office has its importance (Risk is big as well).

"will it help to become a trader/banker"
Why not aim directly to become a trader/banker instead?