Better IB candidate with engineering or finance experience?
Year of experience prior to graduating undergrad in
-engineering, unique and gains expertise
-finance, shows interest and a lot more relevant
Thoughts on which will make getting an FT IB spot more likely?
I'm more interested in finance, but adviser was saying if you go straight into finance it's very hard to get back into engineering and having engineering expertise is useful. I don't really have an interest in getting into engineering and I'm not sure how useful a year of experience would be, if at all, for IB.
You answered it yourself - why worry about engineering if you are not interested?
Finance is better.
A dual finance/engineering degree is good for Venture capital. Do yourself a favor and earn yourself a CFA, it'll correct your weaknesses.
I will definately tell you that if you want a job in engineering. move to Houston and you will be hired. Don't worry.
that goes for KBR, or other notable firms.
Go for finance... fuck what your advisor told you. Engineering is an indemand job. Finance is one of those degrees that is over saturated due to the potential payout.
look at the future...I guess nobody on this board has experienced the hard times after the 1987 crash, or even the Asian Crisis of the mid-nineties..."suddenly all have become complacent enough to think that the markets have become permanently stable, ever growing, that the finance sector is capable to feed anyone for ever" (refer to the last few issues of the Economist)...so, it'd be better if you had a backup in case sometime the financial sector faces trouble...and definitely an engineering degree will open more doors for you...I went to a college with a top engineering school (ok, few choices...you can guess) and 30% of my class are now working in BBs...
Engineering degree (having obtained BE/Master in it myself) is definitely has its prestige and gets you spotted. I'm a civil engineer, and I can literally get any job I want anywhere in the world (such a huge demand). Having said this, i'm leaving this because the pay is shit. you work your ass off and you go home with less than 1/3 of what the 1st year Analyst get (inc bonus). You take risks that can put you in jail as engineer, if something goes wrong.
I'd say engineering is great degree to have, but prospect of profession in terms of $$$ is bad. But still, few years experience will definitely help you.
Engineers can make a lot. Many times more than IBD. They have to work for a hot company with stock options. It does not matter how good you are at trading or PE, no one has as much money as Larry and Sergey at their age. Bill Gates remains another good example.
In any case, at my school CS and Computer Engineering majors probably get as good or better placements on the street then any business majors. We got a few kids going straight to top tier hedge funds and at least one to a rather well known PE shop. A lot have positions in sales and trading at top five players. Another handful got IBD offers, but most of them decided to go to trading.
Yeah, the business school kids love us. We literally took their jobs, but most of these firms did not even want to speak to them anyway.
In any case, make sure you protect your GPA. A 3.8 in business will serve you better any day than possibly a 3.5 in engineering, but it seems that you may get at least a 0.2 advantage, depending on the type of engineering.
Finance and engineering are two different ball games. If you aren't interested in engineering you will be MISERABLE. I'm living this nightmare right now.
Many successful traders and quantitative analysts were former engineers. The high quantitative skills acquired through the study of an engineering degree can translate to a financial career.
I knew no short of 25 engineers my first 2 years of undergrad, and by the time we graduated, only 2 stayed in engineering.
I don't know what sort of engineers "make a lot". As per civil engineer, I tell you, my boss who is one of the highest paid in the company (3000 ppl, one of top 50 consultancy in the world), one of most respected in the specilized field, with 20+ years experience, PhD, Master etc..., with 50+ publications, makes about whopping US $250k (gross, including 401 contribution) in a year. Now Go figure.
Another example, my friend who is a super genius, doing long-span bridge structural design (very very niche area), 3 years experience, makes less than my brother who joined Fortune 500 company as a fresh grad doing Human Resources.
I personally, am leaving engineering because industry is hopelessly lacking $$$. We are bottom of the food chain in any projects.
Mining engineers and construction engineers may make a lot more. But Design engineers, no way.
" personally, am leaving engineering because industry is hopelessly lacking $$$. We are bottom of the food chain in any projects."
You're not the only one. It's a shame that enginneers don't get paid much, for a very smart group of people. Get your CFA and you'll get hired. One of the former global head of I-banking at JP was a former engineer for ten years, left for equity research in tech. then made the big time.
Google, MS, etc pay 85k base first, at least 100k all in, and their benefits are a lot better than IBD. Yeah, and these people work more like 50 hours a week. I know, I had an offer from one of them, but decided to trade.
Now CIVE, MECHE, CHEME, they get raped unless you let Schlumberger ship you out to the middle of nowhere and then you will bank more than anyone in IBD. SERIOUSLY!
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