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Originally Posted by in bank
I'm not "Unregistered", but I can share from my personal experience and observations.
You can try getting a finance degree, but you will face stiff competition from fresh graduates who are cheap to hire and full of energy and bright ideas. This route is possible, but there are opportunity costs and risks.
Alternatively, you can get a finance + IT/Maths hybrid degree, such as financial engineering, and you'll get a better chance getting into quant related type of jobs in a bank, working in the front office. You'll suffer less pay cut, and things can be promising. If you are good and lucky, you can even make it to be a trader or work in a hedge fund. You have to prove your worth early, since age is catching up.
The third option I can see is to just get into the IT division of a bank and move laterally until you find a suitable role. I had similar background as you and I took this lowest-risk route. I was lucky to find someone willing to hire me into IT. I tried and I got in. I'm now doing front office development and pay is a comfortable low 6-figure.
All said, I have to manage your expectations. It's extremely tough to do very well given the extremely talented competition you will face. Academically, I was among the top 0.1% in my cohort, but whether it's lack of luck or experience or skills, I'm still struggling to achieve a "breakthrough". Further, you'll notice that the mid to senior management in foreign banks are always the "foreign talent", with a handful of "occasional" locals making it to low middle management where admittedly the pay is a quite comfortable 200k and above.
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Hi, sorry about addressing you as "Unregistered", as I was not able to see your nick in the post.
Your sharing has indeed given me better insights on how I can move into the finance industry. Guess I should try out the 3rd option too, instead of just thinking about getting a second degree. And seriously, you are already above average, and I sure have lots of catching up to do!
I agree with you, we all have our own "breakthroughs" to achieve. And it always seem so difficult at first, but I personally believe that victory is sweet. And this is what keeps me going. I've not achieved as much as you and am definitely not in any position to advice or have anything to share, but I believe given your current achievements, you'll achieve your breakthrough pretty soon! Let's all work hard together!
And seriously, thanks for the sharing!
