CFA with out finance background background, studying, finance, career

Andreas42

Hi,
I am studying for Level 1 exam. Does CFA helps to launch a career in finance? I do not have any finance back gorund (i am an Industrial Engineer).
I would appreciate your help.
Thanks
.

bluejazzy

Also work on your spelling and speaking skills. Not even joking about that.

tarunajwani

It will help, but it’s a supplement to other things like education, knowledge about finance etc. Think about it, a lot of people take these tests, in your case, I think it will signal to employers that you’re serious about a career in finance if you’ve passed L1 and give you a talking point during interviews. Plus given your background as an engineer it would not be a bad idea to target quant-oriented jobs.

jim8z3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ2HcRl4wSk
No, but seriously, you can do it. I did it.

anish

I’ll be a little more encouraging, since I entered the field without a finance background and did the CFA program.
CFA will help a lot in terms of you being able to understand what a lot of financial discusssion is actually about.  It will get you into the language and terms of finance and enable you to have at least mildly intelligent-sounding conversations with others in the field.  That’s valuable in itself, because it makes people take you more seriously.
It will also prove that you are serious about putting in the work that’s required to be serious about the field.
On its own, however, it’s not necessarily going to make someone reach for your resume first.  It may make someone reach for your resume before someone else with similar levels of experience and no CFA; you need have some other “hook” before they’ll choose you over someone with experience in whatever they are looking for.

TheMBAGlover

first, with out is one word.
second, you wont even be able to get the charter without the approved work experience. so you wont be a “cfa” until you have 4 years of finance experience. you will simply have passed the exams.

CPATrader

Does it help? Yes it does, but not as you much as you think.
So realistically, the answer is “no” unless you have more to offer

orang3eph

It will be of limited usefulness unless you have other compelling qualities.