Breaking into Finance with only CFA? into, currently, something, everything, only

laurab

Hi Guys,
I was just wondering if there’s even a possibility into breaking into the finance world with only a CFA (no buisness school etc..) I am currently in IT and love reading and learning everything about finance… I read at least 2 hour’s worth of news a day, books etc..
So basically, if I start and get my level 1 and start looking for entry positions, would this prove to them that I least know something and am serious about this? Or I basically have no chance in hell?
Appreciate all the responses and am looking forward to hanging around this community!!

dmar

The CFA program is not a break-into finance tool.
sorry

Unforseen

CFA is a waste of time. I have learnt it the hard way - Just dropped in to save your time, efforts and money on this.

spreads

nigelnyc wrote:
Save your $1600…most job postings say “CFA a plus” not “CFA a requirement”….
This is nit picking, but even if the job says CFA is a requirement, it doesn’t mean that CFA will get you the job…

dkishore1

This board really needs a sticky with this question at the top

dandman

Systematic wrote:
This board really needs a sticky with this question at the top
(1) No, CFA will not get you a job in finance.
(2) Yes, Schweser is enough to pass level 1.
(3) Leave 1 month to revise with Qbank and mock exams.

sdada

i hope people are smart enough not to take anyone on here too seriously…..

cross-ied

Since the FRM requires only 2 years of work experience for the designation rather than the 4 years required by the CFA should that be the new slogan….”will a FRM get me a job in Finance?”….I realize some of these topics border on near ridiculousness.  But I am sure there will be another similar post in the next month.

EastCoastJ

probably not, but breaking in from IT to finance with CFA  breaking in from IT to finance without CFA

JPSem

I never know what people mean when they ask about “breaking into” a field such as finance or whatever else it may be.  Does it mean
getting your first job in a particular field?
feeling like you’ve proven yourself in that field?
making a good salary working in that field?
I think it’s like anything else.  It takes lots of hard work, patience, and experience to build a career and market yourself competitively as part of the labor force.  Now there’s nothing wrong with experience in IT, but anybody can read 2 hours a day of financial news a day—it’s incredibly superficial what passes for news these days.  You have to look past the popular press if you’re serious about this.  And there are lots of finance and investing books out there of the popular press’ “self-help” genre that aren’t worth much either.  You can learn a lot in 2 hours of reading per day, but you really need some serious and worthwhile reading material in order to decide if this is something you want to get into.
As far as finance being a shrinking field, well it looks like a lot of fields are, or simply have shrunk and are not expanding as yet: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNU02300000