Alternative Degrees - Disadvantage?

Hi all,

I'd like to ask someone with some industry experience as a first year analyst in S&T. I have just finished a masters degree in aerospace engineering (1st, with honours :D) and I will shortly be starting as an analyst in a large american investment bank. I imagine the vast majority of my classmates will have studied economics or mathematics - so will have had exposure to option pricing, Ito calculus, sigma-algebra etc.

I have been buying and reading every book I can find on a range of topics, including looking at some of the financial mathematics - and it seems fairly clear aerospace eng. mathematics covers very different ground. Am I going to find this is a significant disadvantage once I start work? Should I:

a) Study financial mathematics hard (proper revision level study)
b) Have a look through the notes of my friends studying maths/finance/economics
c) Relax, go back to my copy of the Economist and enjoy some sunshine

I asked my line manager what I would need to know, and he suggested reading a few parts of the annual report, which I have done. He didn't seem overly concerned that I am not familiar with financial math...

 

Yes, you'll be at a moderate disadvantage- though the math in your engineering background will be helpful. Would recommend reading up on a basic finance textbook that covers Time Value of Money and the Capital Asset Pricing Model.

I'd recommend checking your school's basic finance textbook and/or watching stuff on MIT Opencourseware. Failing that, Fabozzi's Fixed Income Mathematics book might be helpful.

 

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