Non-finance professionals pursuing CFA job, commitment, experience, motivation

hoangvu90

Just curious, are there any non-finance professionals with a lot (10+ years) of experience? If you are one, what is your motivation to pursue CFA?
I have 16+ years experience as a software developer, as of now I am working on some really cool defense stuff as a technical lead. I went for CFA to (a) see for myself what finance was about, and CFA was cheaper in time and money commitment than MBA, and (b) as a second string should I get fired and not find a software job. Unfortunately, (b) seems to be the reverse situation - plenty of jobs for US citizens in (US) defense contractors; while many experienced finance guys get the axe. But having lived through the 2001-2003 tech recession, getting laid off and managing to find a job; I am sure that this too shall pass. So in a nutshell, that’s why I decided to go for CFA (with the added bonus of getting much better insights into my own stock trades.)