Next Steps for a Reject

I graduated from a non-target school in 23’ and all three of my internships as well as my full time job has been in back or middle office. I’ve truly become sick of operations and administrative work over the last few years of interning and working. I feel like a total reject.

I really do want to make the leap one day to a front office role and thinking CFA is the only logical step for me at this point. I don’t want to get in more debt from an MBA, and I only have a year of working experience. A former boss told me to gain 3-5 years of experience before even considering an MBA. 

One of my issues is my technical skills in finance are not great. I used chegg and chatgbt throughout college, took online courses, and used google to help me out on all assignments. I truly regret cheating in school because I never learned anything. My degree truly is a piece of paper.

I want to obtain the CFA designation not only to open up the opportunity for front office roles, but to go back and truly learn what I should’ve been in the first place. 

Few questions here:

-Would you agree the best way for me to land a front office role is to obtain the CFA? Or at least level 1 designation to open the doors? 

-How helpful is the CFA designation, truly? Will it help to open doors and make me stand out? I have some huge names on my resume already (back/middle office though) that have helped with recruitment in the past.

-Have you heard of people breaking out of back office for a front office position? Or done so yourself? How hard was the process? Is it easiest if you are still fairly early into your career like myself?