Making a Move from IT to Finance at 34 Years Old
I have been in the IS/IT world for the greater part of the last 20 years. At 34 years old, I'm looking to make a move into the world of finance and would like to get some background on the feasibility of this and I'm all ears for opinions. Here's my quick background:
-My undergrad degree is in International Business from a great school - ranked in the top 50 nationally - and the IB program is ranked in the top 5 nationally. I have no grad work.
-I have passed both the Series 65 (easy) and the Series 3 (even easier). I studied for and passed these on my own, first try; each one took me about 3 weeks of diligent study.
-My work history includes working for some of the largest companies on the planet and consulting - so I'm not afraid of the long hours.
-I have done just about everything there is to do with computers - you name it, I've done it. But my core competencies are in C# and ASP.NET programming.
-I manage my own portfolio in a retail forex account, trading on technicals. I've read some of the questions and what-not on here and I would rate my skills as poor when it comes to fundamental trading evaluation.
I feel like I have a skillset that would be valuable to shops out there, I just need help in narrowing down the focus of a job search. I am currently in CA and am open to relocating, hopefully to a state with lower income & sales tax.
Honestly you sound like you could kill it in trading with some technique. Firms LOVE guys who can do tech at the level that you can. Are you very proficient mathematically? I dont know how HR feels about 34 year olds making the move, or what kind of pay cut you would have to take etc. but you definitely are qualified for at least an interview.
Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I've heard that some firms are very friendly to a person with a tech background that's why I'm considering the move. I'm more of a stats guy that a straight maths guy. I can write a mean monte carlo but I suck at algorithms. Does that make sense?
There's a lot of acronyms on here for firms like IB, HF, etc. Which kind of firms should I be looking at?
Based on your background, you'll want to go for a quant firm, high frequency trading, or something similar. One thing you could try is the job board on the bloomberg terminal, they have postings on there. You might also be interested in a headhunter.
Thanks. I don't have access to a bloomberg and I only know IS/IT headhunters who would probably discourage me from making the move (ie take business away from them). Which headhunter firms are players in finance?
If you're near a university with a business program, you might be able to get a guest user account to use on their network/bloombergs (if they have them).
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