CFA with technology and operations management background- Career Options?

Folks,

I am curious what all career options do I have post CFA L-3. I am a L2 candidate and plan to complete the charter in 2011 (I said plan..). About my background: I have a Bachelors and Masters in Computer science and Engineering. Working for past 4-5 years in technology operations (back office) for a large financial services company as a service manager.

I am considering all options such as management consulting, I-banking, Equity research (sell leading to buy side, eventually) and private equity.

Do I need a top school MBA after completing all three levels of the CFA program??? I am sure MBA will help but I am also thinking what all options can I pursue without going to a B-School. Any advice would be helpful.

Btw.. I am already 29 and cannot go to school for 2 more years due to family reasons. Is it worth getitng into a Bschool at the age of 31/32 and graduating at 34.. to pursue one of the above career choices???? I feel it will be too late so trying to explore non-MBA options. Please advice.

2 Comments
 
Best Response

can you try to network with people at your current firm and check out the internal listings? maybe you're at another office from the people you would be interested in talking to...

when you describe your experience as "back office", a lot of people will significantly discount it- without lying or misrepresenting yourself, you need to spin your story to make your experience seem important and relevant for the job you want- i.e. either "saved the company x amount" or "grew business by x". These figures will not be audited of course so you just need to be reasonable.

so remember all the options you are considering are highly competitve- passing L2 of the CFA is certainly no walk in the park and you're surely smart enough to get one of these jobs but that doesn't guarantee you will (especially in the current environment, where just about every company is reluctant to bring on anybody new and untested...)

another thing is that all these careers are not as great as they were in the past... Goldman Sachs is showering its employees in record bonuses but you wonder how much longer the days of front running their clients and milking their government contacts/alumni can last.

 

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