Exam Takers - Non-Finance Background how many? technical, background, studying, struggled

cmacedo

I am curious to know how many of you who took exam in December (last week) are from Non-Finance background and doing the CFA as a passion or for a carrer change?

I am from a technical background and working as a Senior Web Developer and I am in 30's and own a small business and an active investor in stock market enrolled in CFA program because I want to learn more about in finance.
I started studying around six months before the exam and did it very seriously. Initially i struggled a lot in economics and quants sections because of non-finance or accounting background. However i was comfortable in Equity, portfolio management and derivatives and alternative sections because i was a active reader in stock options and stock market for last 3 years.

I am feeling confident but very nervous about my results and hoping to pass (I spent huge amount of time in studying for the exam)

Good luck all!!!.

johnnyBuz

Hi CareerThruCFA,

I am currently in my final year of undergrad engineering. No finance background, except from an engineering econ course I took in third year.
I am taking the CFA this June to aid my switch into finance and to increase my knowledge.
Asset classes are a breeze , but I havent touched FSA or econ. yet, so havent really met the main beast.

Goodluck mate.

JGovender

Graduated from eletrical engineering.

Only formal business background:
-1 engineering economics class (no actual economics, but we did do the basics of finance and accouting that are covered in the CFA curriculum, plus I think our teacher was a CFA holder also),
-1 marketing course
-entrepreneuship seminars

Non-formal:
20 years of reading my dad's Businessweek magazines (since I was a kid...)
over a dozen books read on personal finance, popular economics, selling, etc.

trogulj

I used to blow sh!t up with a 30mm cannon.

soddy1979

I graduated with a Political Science degree with a concentration in law. The only business class I took was business law.

I definitely took the CFA because I'm passionate about trading stocks. I've been trading for the past 5 yrs and ultimately want to make a career out of it.

agulani

I'm a CPA so the accounting part was pretty easy for me but the rest of the stuff was extremly difficult... especially quant and economics, the other stuff was average....I think I passed... crossing my fingers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cyber21

I am an engineer in the 30s, trading stocks and studied relatively hard for the CFA. I am also doing my MBA, so that helped in Accoutning, FI/Equity and PM. Being an engineer, Quant was a breeze for me. However some of those minute detail oriented questions stumped me. In the MBA, I look at things from a higher level. However, in the CFA, looks like we have to dig as deep as possible. I am hoping to pass. Lets see

Siddimaula

I am an computer engineer.. plus worked for year on a finance project which made my interest into finance.. so pursuing Cfa.. im aged 23 so its better i get done with CFA program as early as possible.. plus its a Big challenge for Non-finance background people.. plus i think our quant is better than any other person sitting right here so it helps us a lot

smartpants

I am an engineer and just finished doing my MBA part-time in May'09. Was wondering what to do with the freed up time. Since I loved the finance courses in my MBA, I decided to do the CFA. I decided quite late (paid the max registration fee) and didnt really prepare as well as I could and should have. I told myself this Dec exam is the rehearsal for the real one in June. But the exam was not too bad, considering my preparation. I would have been pretty confident of passing, had I prepared 30% more than what I actually did.
If some of my wild guesses turn out right, I might pass Fingers crossed. I am going to study the Level1 stuff that I had skipped over this time, while I wait for the results.

A question for those not from the finance background - in order to become a charterholder, you need 4 yrs experience in a related job - what are your plans to fulfill that requirement?

sgupta0827

My education was non finance. I was in a completely unrelated field and made a career change.
I would never enroll in the program just to learn more about finance. I would buy the curriculum used from the last year and read it that way, or I would read books of my own choosing. That's my opinion. Others might like/need the program structure and test stress to learn effectively.
I struggled with quant from the probability/calculus perspective. Eco took mutiple goings over. I found it to be a subject that seems simple and straightforward, but has an enourmous amount of subtleties. I did manage to turn it from a section where I was getting scores in the 50's to the 70's.
FRA is going to take a lot more work to get it from a level I to level II understanding level. I seemed to do well on the mocks in FRA, but I didn't always know how. I did pretty well with understanding PM, Equity, derivatives and AI, overall, but there were specifics in each section that were difficult for me.

If I didn't pass, the worst thing is that I it will cost me a year. On the bright side, I will gain a better understanding of the level I concepts that can only help me in level II.