Breaking in without any degree

I’d say it’s impossible. this is not the career for someone who has not gone to school, let alone a target. your situation sounds tough, and I’m sorry, but there are absolutely no handouts in this profession. Being 25 doesn’t help you either.

100% not going to happen. The only way you'll get into high finance (PE/HF/IB) is by being a cheque writer and you won't be doing that unless you amass significant capital. Personally, I would never hire anyone without a degree or real operating experience...that's coming from a guy without a degree.

My advice is to go get your degree or use SBA debt to acquire a business and scale it. Then if you do well, maybe you can start your own firm or join a VC or PE firm.

It is impossible, bluntly stated. You say you do not have time or the skill set to learn programming, but plan on completing the CFA? Good luck man. Trying not to be to harsh but you need a reality check. Also, CFA is not going to help you break into IB. Going to Harvard will.

i see one possible career path for you

1) learn to code from home, with online video courses. start out with https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8butISFwT-Wl7EV0hUK0BQ and learn for free. Then use udemy for more indepth classes (they only cost $12 each) Perhaps goto LamdaSchool after to improve and broaden your skillset, which will also help you get a job

2) after learning a full development stack (front end, database, back end) you can get a programming job. Use that job to become a better programmer, and earn some money. While doing that, learn financial math, derivative pricing etc...which will enable you to get a tech job programming an an investment bank.

3) you are now working in the tech division of an investment bank. after 2-3 years, you will have formed relationships, and can use those relationships to get a position in different parts of the bank.

This is probably a 5+ year path....but its doable...and you'll make decent money as a programmer in the meantime.

Did you guys know I don't have a degree? I know, surprise, surprise. I can't tell you how hard it was for me to be where I am today but by no means am I where I want to be. Get a degree... honestly, mate. Unless you're like the 1%, no one is going to take you seriously. My colleagues at my previous firms were always baffled how I got these jobs without a degree. I can't tell you struggle that I've went through and amount of sacrifice and dedication just compete with these people who knew less than me but had a degree. I had ample opportunists to trade for a big bank or a hedge fund but got turned down due to not having a degree mate as much as they wanted me .

I have no degree and got a couple of offers in the tech / risk divisions from firms across spectrum. You need something else to validate your skillset and talent. In my case I got a patent and worked on distributed systems on a massive scale that pushes the limits of cloud computing. I'm also competitively ranked on global leaderboards for programming contests.

Silicon valley valued this skillset way more so I never went through the background checks to find out how strict banks were about the degree. Therefore I suspect if you are good enough overcome your background somehow, the banks aren't gonna value you enough as well. You'd be better off somewhere else if you make it or not.

With all that said, I'm still contemplating a degree. If you're not making 6 figures yet you should just go back to school.

I know a guy who broke into MM IB after staying in a jail for two years because of violence charges. Anything is possible...

The guy recommending the coding is absolutely right. Coding skills are valuable in almost every industry at some point of the value chain. And there is a shortage of coders worlwide, for now. If you don’t make it coding, you’ll have learnt enough to try luck with your own online business, let alone being a programmer in any place (trust me, everyone is gonna need one)

You’re going to HAVE TO BUST YOUR ASS WITH OR WITHOUT A DEGREE. What’s the point of not getting one? It’s absolutely necessary. Go to school and be extremely resourceful (networking etc). Barring you’re a victim of a freak accident or live a dangerous lifestyle, you’re either going to be 30 and wishing wondering what if, or you’re going to be making moves.

Can't imagine you'll get any opportunities in IB given your situation. Real estate is a little more entrepreneurial and in some cases open to hiring people without a degree, Won't be anything at REPE, developer or top shop, but if you show some grit a smaller/no name brokerage could give you a shot. Kill it there for a few years and a move to a CBRE/JLL/CW would be do able assuming you can turn into a big producer.

for careers in technology...you generally don't need a degree...you can simply say that you are self taught (you'll have to prove this by passing coding tests...but its not uncommom).

you will have to actually learn how to code...but you really don't need to goto college for that...its a total waste. you can just sit in on some computer science classes for free to understand what i'm taling about....i learned nothing from those classes that i couldn't learn from an online MOOC and some time playing around with the free development environment (Visual Studio is free...python platforms are free....SQL server 2012 express is free...its all FREE to learn...you just have to have the self motivation to do it on your own)

I have an Ivy degree, but for all the many jobs I've held -- several very prestigious -- I only had to document it once. When I joined the Army, showing my diploma got me the rank of Private First Class instead of just Private.

My close friend attended Yale but never graduated because he blew off his senior thesis. He's also has multiple prestigious jobs. However, when he had the chance to run for public office, he had to turn it down, because oppo research would inevitably expose his degreelessness, possibly wrecking his career as well as his campaign.

If you act as if you have a degree, most people will assume you have one, and not check. Of course, you'd be busted by a reasonably thorough background check, such as many finance jobs have. Lying on your resume about having a degree is also something which will always haunt you, and might destroy you some day.

OP, why are you dead set on IB AND no degree? There are other industries you can enter without the degree for comparable pay and better WLB. Or get the degree and go the IB route if you truly want. It’s possible you can do both.

But why IB specifically?

Impossible for IB. It's client-facing, and no client will ever feel comfortable having some degree-less person on their team for a huge deal. That's the reason why there's so many Ivy League kids represented on Wall Street, because it provides a sense of legitimacy. I would highly recommend going back to school, because in this day and age, it's impossible to get anywhere without one.

Has nobody here seen [The Pursuit of Happyness ] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pursuit_of_Happyness)?

OP - your odds are slim. I think you'd be better off acquiring a skill in an industry that values self-starters more than resume pedigree.

Better off getting a lot of money and then working with bankers on deals

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Byrne Hobart's article "How I Got Hired at SAC Capital Without a College Degree." It's not clickbait; he really did. But he's also ridiculously smart. I have no idea what he's talking about in his articles ~1/3 of the time.

You would face significant difficulty getting hired by a small commercial bank without a degree, let alone an investment bank. A vast multitude of reasons aside, just the sheer amount of kids (with degrees) applying versus the limited number of slots precludes any chance you might have of a Will Smith/Happiness moment. Also wondering how you expect to take FINRA exams without being employed. You have to be sponsored by a FINRA-affiliated firm, you can't just sign up and take the exams off the street. Go to school if you want even a remote shot at an IB gig.

Even Rudy had to go to juco and transfer... he wasn't ever going to play just because he had the desire. He had to put in the work, as well. Best of luck.

Like many have said it will likely be impossible to break into high finance with no degree or money to have a good track record of profitable investments.
Take what I have to say next with a bucket of salt because I am just an undergrad. I have been told by numerous professors that a bachelor's is no longer something that helps you standout, and that is why we need internships to be competitive. I've seen people with their degree months out of school with no proper job because they dicked around for too long and did not prepare adequately.

Assuming you are a U.S. citizen, and you did not botch your freshman year somewhere go back to school. Start with a community college, and take the CFA level one while you are there. Leverage passing that exam to move to a decent state school and get a sophomore internship. Once you are at a better school you can take your shot at recruiting for IB.

However, have you considered other options besides IB? You said you need specialized medical treatment. Are you sure you want to grapple with 90 hour workweeks and some condition that none of your superiors or peers are likely to show sympathy for? Nonetheless, not matter what you decide, having a degree means not having to jump over extra hurdles for no reason other than not having your degree.

Or if you don't give a damn start a youtube channel and see what happens. Apparently, there is some children making millions doing that.

It's important to know everything about the industry try getting a subscription with the economist here is a link economist.com/ev5 that will get you the first 12 weeks for $12 and another link for economist.com/TNEV5 a 51 week digital subscription.

0% until you get a degree from a top school. To be honest not going to a top ~20 school means you're probably fucked unless you get really lucky.

Honesty, I'd probably go a few different ways if I was in your position. 1. Real estate. 2. Tech or medical device sales 3. Learning how to code and be a software dev for either a tech or finance company.

Real estate doesn't give a shit about your pedigree. As long as you're willing to work hard, you can be mentored under someone and live a great life. One of my mentors started out living on Section 8 now make $1m a year in free-cash-floor. Plus you can do this with no degree. Become an agent or work in property management.

Tech or medical device sales allow you to make money with no degree. You can make 6 figures as a basic SDR/BDR while setting appointments for your AEs. 40-50 hours a week, great work-life balance, and I never take work home. I've heard of several AE's who've made >1m a year in a single year from commission.

Learning how to code might be the best bet. Tech companies and finance companies love coders. Lambda School is a program that offers you an income-share agreement so it's no upfront cost. Plus a lot of the tech companies nowadays have dropped the college-degree requirement. Work-life balance is great and you can make stacks.

If you're dead set in working in IB, good luck my friend.

Can I ask why are you in significant debt? What kind of experience do you have and what did you do with your time instead of going to college? Are you a U.S. citizen? If yes, you will definitely qualify for financial aid, which should cover all of your costs if you go to a CUNY.

If you are really serious about breaking into finance, here is my path for you:

• Attend a community college (apply for financial aid, and after you become a resident of NY which I think takes 2 years, you'll get even more aid). Make sure to kill it at the community college. Get a 4.0, and pay special attention to core classes like algebra/geometry/writing because your upcoming classes will rely on the knowledge you have gained from the core classes.

• After killing it at the community college, apply to schools. Depending on how well you did at the community college, you might have a shot at getting into a fantastic college. If you're looking to save money, apply to Baruch (best cuny for finance)

• Then at whatever college you're in, get a good gpa, internships, read, and network network network. Now it's true that by the time you graduate you'll be pretty old for an analyst and a bank might not consider you for such a role (also depends on the story for why you started so late, maybe they'll have pity if it's medical or something related). In that case, I recommend that you find a role at a company an investment bank has to deal with, for example > getting a role at a credit rating agency (CRA) or at an accounting firm. Accounting firms and CRAs are extremely lenient with the age of their candidates, and will give you exposure and a skillset to one part of the transaction process, which can make you valuable to an investment bank. **After 1-2 years of experience, you may have a a shot of lateraling into a banking role. **

I hope this high level overview helps with the path you would have to take to break into investment banking. It;s not easy and will require some work!

I can relate to this to some degree. I was a pretty non-traditional candidate working full-time throughout most of my college years and didn't have any real finance internships. I ended up getting hired on into my current role (at a business valuation firm where we do some consulting/advisory work) to start full-time the semester before I finished undergrad. A lot of the other analysts/associates at the firm came straight out of graduate programs (mostly MSFs or MBAs), had passed a few levels of the CFA, or had 1-2 years work of substantial work experience before moving over so I was clearly way out of my league here when I started.

I always think back to some advice a former co-worker gave me when he made the move to the buy-side with the crappiest/most non-traditional background ever (think 3 tiers below a flagship state school in the MidWest):

"But my alma mater is absolute shit... people at my fund, and all of Silicon Valley for that matter, are all Stanford, Harvard, etc. (top 10) while I come from a business school ranked 350+ haha... That will never stop being a hurdle. I was told by Felicis that my school and background "doesn't make their capital competitive, but otherwise you're great" and that kinda thing will never go away. Just gotta force your way in and make people respect you. With that being said, some places will look at your work product and thoughts only and those are the places to get your foot in the door. Bring some actual insights to the table and get good conversation going and something will stick."

Some places are meritocratic and to be truthful there probably is at least one hedge fund out there that could give you a chance if you are ABSOLUTELY EXCEPTIONAL, like the top 1% of the top 1%. But the chances of breaking in w/o any college degree in any high finance roles (investment banking, private equity, hedge fund, etc.) at any BBs or EBs are virtually 0%.

For some practical advice, you could try retail wealth management as an entry point. The entry hurdles into retail wealth management are much much lower, though it's a much longer path that involves working your way up through a myriad of crappy admin/back office jobs. I previously worked at a private wealth management shop as a client associate and we occasionally had client service associates move on to become financial advisors w/o college degrees. If you have a strong track record as a producer as a financial advisor in bringing in AUM, there's a few career pivots that could be feasible (i.e. moving into a family office or institutional asset management).

You either need the skills or the pedigree - you can't just jump into a large corporation without one or the other.

Some skill based jobs with low barriers to entry: - Sales - Trading - Equity Research

Sales - Easiest place to get into would be selling life insurance or something. They always are hiring. You have to start somewhere.

Trading - If you're so good at this, why don't you trade your own money? Or prop trading firms sometimes give you leverage if you join and put up $10K or something. Do you believe in yourself?

Equity Research - Write and publish successful reports on equities or macroeconomic conditions and you'll get noticed eventually. You also could start selling monthly/quarterly subscriptions to your reports.

If you're not thinking of any of those paths, you're probably just going to have to be an older student in undergraduate. But, the advantage there would be that you are wise now and can set the right path - in terms of major and then setup some solid internships. That would be your foothold in the industry coming from an academic perspective.

If you still don't want to do any of that - go ahead - apply to places for temp positions or free internships. Proving yourself even for a good lead or recommendation will open your path. Who do you know? If you know someone that you could just call and get a position, do it. Maybe you know someone that can get you an interview for a free internship - that's basically where you would need to start, but that still might be a stretch.

If IBD didn't require a college degree MD's kid's high school experience would be being A2A at GS/MS/JPM.

Dude I got shit on and essentially pushed out of a lower mid-tier pwm firm for not having a degree, no way the ivy league crowd will even give you a glance without having either substantial entrepreneurial experience or a lot of capital that you invest or other things already suggested earlier. I'm going to finish my bachelor's around age 30 and I can tell you as someone who thought college was a crock of shit (still somewhat do but not relevant to my point here), if someone had to put in that much work to get somewhere (ivy league or similar) and you didn't, it doesn't matter if you can cure cancer, they're going to shit on you no questions asked. You will not be given a chance by any of those people.

I didn't "break in", I'm in college as an adult right now. The reality is that it doesn't matter what you think and the sooner you accept that the better off you will be. You're not special. Either go to a highly regarded (ivy/target) college and get good grades or you go to a less well regarded college and get really good grades and hustle your ass off networking and maybe, maybe you get there.

It's like the secret to bring in great shape: there is no secret. You learn the science of how your body works, train your ass off for years, and keep your diet dialed in for years.

There is no silver bullet or magic pill or secret handshake, there is just work.

I had a classmate in Multi-Var at my Semi-Target who had broken in with a Community College Degree and was going for his Bachelors after working for a few years for an EB. This guy was so smart it was scary, only went back to school because it would look bad for a VP to not have a Bachelors.

The name of the game is getting credentialed. SIE, CFA, whatever. Make it happen and doors will open.