Non finance experience to quant finance.

[Avinashk]

[FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]Hello ,

I understand that many of you are an experienced lot in this field and would like to seek your guidance . Sorry it is a long one.

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[FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]I have an engineering background from NIT (one of the top engineering intts in India , next to IITs) and about 14 years of work expereince - four years in sales and ten years in programming ( programming on IBM midrange/AS400 technologies, C & ERP ) and project /program management from an I.T. standpoint.[/FONT]
[FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]I also have a GMAT quant score of 46.

[/FONT][FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]> Does my GMAT Quant score open gates to the field of finance?My verbal score is bad but belies my communication skills , be that spoken or written.[/FONT]
[FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]I came across princeton's MFin program that seem to have average GMAT quant mentioned as 49.5.Salaries are quoted in the range of 140 k .[/FONT]
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[FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]B -[/FONT]
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I recently came to know about quant finance and have been reading about the field .The main reason for thinking of a transition is not just the money but also that I find myself drawn towards understanding the equity side of the financial markets and that I will get to work with better .Although I guess equity research would be an ideal field to get into but it would not suit given the role and salary one can expect in this field after spending so much time in IT industry... that is the understanding I have.Though the role part applies to quant as well.

I have a few questions about the trade off involved in switching over to finance and whether (or in what roles, if any, in finance) I can leverage my past experience .Here are the questions. I know it is quite late in the day but would be interested in exploring a creative solution , if there exists one.

>What are the starting levels /roles and salary range .You can please mention a few geos covering India , APAC, Europe. My geo of preference would be India/APAC/Europe.

>What is the typical career progression in quant and what are the levels in the hierarchy and years it takes in general to move from one role to another.

> Do quants get boxed or do they get to play a wider role as they move up in their career?If yes at what levels.

[/FONT][FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]> I do like mathematics and finance and have seen the maths primer at wilmotts forum and know a few books that I should go through to get a feel.However it is quite important to know the life of a quant in India /APAC/Europe (when it comes to the roles quants play , work hours at various levels).[/FONT]
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[/FONT][FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]thanks[/FONT]
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[alain]

did you search this forum? all your questions have been discussed before.

 

[subhrain]

I am in a similar situation, except the work exp and gmat.

I can assure of one thing: that you do need to review your math from your undergrad and need to be great at it, even to understand anything of mfe/finance.

The salary I am not too sure of. It ranges from 70K to 150K and highly depends on the college you go to. Columbia, Princeton would be great, but very difficult to get in to. I think what makes the difference is the bonus of 50K and above per year which is almost impossible in engineering.

If you are looking for a management job (flashy job - dealing with finance) I think MBA-Finance is the way to go, not mfe or ms in fin. This degree will get you a better job than engineering, but you will be working in your desk pretty much (just like an engineer would).

Hope this helps! It is MOST important to know what you are getting into before making a huge time and financial investment. I find myself in a similar situation and I think money wise mfe and mba would be same depending on how you perform, but the type of life you will have will differ by miles!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I can assure you that your GMAT/GRE scores do not correlate to how much you will make in your job. It doesn't even significantly improve your chance of admission to a top MFE program, given that majority of applicants score at the top percentile of the exams (800 GRE Q, for example).

Since you are interested in a specific geo market, there is smaller window of information out there. You probably want to contact those who come back and work in India for the few roles that are available there.

 

[subhrain]

Andy, I thought that it was not that difficult to get a job in the US after your degree. As MFE/MSMF are all highly specialized technical degrees.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

It's a question better answered by the graduates of numerous MFE programs that never published their placement stats.

 

[alain]

Andy, I thought that it was not that difficult to get a job in the US after your degree. As MFE/MSMF are all highly specialized technical degrees.

This is complete hogwash!! Nothing is certain when looking for a job.

 

[Avinashk]

I can assure you that your GMAT/GRE scores do not correlate to how much you will make in your job. It doesn't even significantly improve your chance of admission to a top MFE program, given that majority of applicants score at the top percentile of the exams (800 GRE Q, for example).

Since you are interested in a specific geo market, there is smaller window of information out there. You probably want to contact those who come back and work in India for the few roles that are available there.

Thanks Andy , I am trying to get the needed information about those working in Asia/ India etc.

You are right about the corelation between score and pay.However I just wanted to share the score and the salaries their website mentions and wanted to know the response to the salaries.I guess I juxtaposed the two comments in such a way that it got corelated as I left it open for interpretation ...unwittingly .

In your opinion to what courses in quant finance/Mfin /MFE does my GMAT quant come as useful.For MBA finance all of them seem to focus on the total GMAT score.

---------- Post added at 01:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:36 AM ----------

I am in a similar situation, except the work exp and gmat.

I can assure of one thing: that you do need to review your math from your undergrad and need to be great at it, even to understand anything of mfe/finance.

The salary I am not too sure of. It ranges from 70K to 150K and highly depends on the college you go to. Columbia, Princeton would be great, but very difficult to get in to. I think what makes the difference is the bonus of 50K and above per year which is almost impossible in engineering.

If you are looking for a management job (flashy job - dealing with finance) I think MBA-Finance is the way to go, not mfe or ms in fin. This degree will get you a better job than engineering, but you will be working in your desk pretty much (just like an engineer would).

Hope this helps! It is MOST important to know what you are getting into before making a huge time and financial investment. I find myself in a similar situation and I think money wise mfe and mba would be same depending on how you perform, but the type of life you will have will differ by miles!

Thanks Subhrain, could you please elaborate on the difference in the type of life.
Agree about the revising the maths part and I may be rusty but I think I can do that part.

Same question as posed to Andy - to which courses/programs in finance /MFin /MFE would my GMAT score come in handy.

Which location are you in and what is your plan to make a transition to finance.