[D i g i S y n c]

Hello all...





I have recently completed my Diploma in Computer Technology, which is a three years full time course. I secured a first class. My age is 20. I’m unable to understand/decide what to do next. Always wanted to do a career in finance after graduating from a top B-School like the London Business School . After doing a lot of search work for around 4 months, I was all set to go to England for doing my undergraduation at Loughborough University . The course I selected was BSc. in Computing and Management. As I have completed my diploma in Computer Technology, I was offered an advanced entry to the second year, though this was just for few computing courses. For any other course like Economics and Maths I’d have to start right from the first year. Already have an offer from them and I have scored much more than they expected from me. Due to some financial crises at our end, I don’t think I’ll be going to England . I’m very disappointed and feeling terribly inferior.



I was thinking of getting a job at a reputed bank (like the HSBC, ABN Amro or Standard Chartered in India.) and at the same time do do a correspondence degree in Bachelors in Commerce. This way I could get a degree as well as some valuable work experience. After having an experience of 3 years I could always apply for the Masters in Finance at a top B-School( like the MiF course @ LBS or Masters in Finance @ LSE)

I would be very thankful if you could give me some guidelines and tips so that I could possibly get into a finance career and contribute as much as possible wherever possible. Even if I get a job in a bank I am not sure if I could get into the finance department easily. As my diploma is in Computer Technology, the bank might want me to work for the IT department, which wouldn’t give me any experience in corporate finance.




Kind regards,

[rajatb]

Originally Posted by Đ i g i S y n c

Hello all...





I have recently completed my Diploma in Computer Technology, which is a three years full time course. I secured a first class. My age is 20. I’m unable to understand/decide what to do next. Always wanted to do a career in finance after graduating from a top B-School like the London Business School . After doing a lot of search work for around 4 months, I was all set to go to England for doing my undergraduation at Loughborough University . The course I selected was BSc. in Computing and Management. As I have completed my diploma in Computer Technology, I was offered an advanced entry to the second year, though this was just for few computing courses. For any other course like Economics and Maths I’d have to start right from the first year. Already have an offer from them and I have scored much more than they expected from me. Due to some financial crises at our end, I don’t think I’ll be going to England . I’m very disappointed and feeling terribly inferior.



I was thinking of getting a job at a reputed bank (like the HSBC, ABN Amro or Standard Chartered in India.) and at the same time do do a correspondence degree in Bachelors in Commerce. This way I could get a degree as well as some valuable work experience. After having an experience of 3 years I could always apply for the Masters in Finance at a top B-School( like the MiF course @ LBS or Masters in Finance @ LSE)

I would be very thankful if you could give me some guidelines and tips so that I could possibly get into a finance career and contribute as much as possible wherever possible. Even if I get a job in a bank I am not sure if I could get into the finance department easily. As my diploma is in Computer Technology, the bank might want me to work for the IT department, which wouldn’t give me any experience in corporate finance.

Kind regards,

Replying to your PM request ,unfortunately in India Investment banks do not run the kind of Analyst programs they run in US/Japan/Europe where they pick up undergraduates.
Since there are so many Fresher MBAs in the job market there is no need to look for undergraduates to fill Analyst positions.
I hate to be blunt but unless you come from a big name school it is virtually impossible today to get into Investment banking/investment Management in India today without an MBA.
The kind of jobs you may get with Banks otherwise will be Back office /Clerical and will hardly cut any ice with the LBS admissions committee 3 years down the line.
If you look at the LBS website to see the profiles of the students admitted all of them come with quality Financial Services work experience ,I am not sure working for the IT division of a bank will count as Finance work ex.

The best course of action for you given your background ( and it is no mean task) is to try and get into one of the IIMs to try and directly get into the I banks or if not after passing out work for 3-4 yrs and then apply to LBS .If you will see the admitted students for the LBS M.Fin Programme most of the Indians are IIM A/B/C passouts..

[D i g i S y n c]

Originally Posted by rajatb

Replying to your PM request ,unfortunately in India Investment banks do not run the kind of Analyst programs they run in US/Japan/Europe where they pick up undergraduates.
Since there are so many Fresher MBAs in the job market there is no need to look for undergraduates to fill Analyst positions.
I hate to be blunt but unless you come from a big name school it is virtually impossible today to get into Investment banking/investment Management in India today without an MBA.
The kind of jobs you may get with Banks otherwise will be Back office /Clerical and will hardly cut any ice with the LBS admissions committee 3 years down the line.
If you look at the LBS website to see the profiles of the students admitted all of them come with quality Financial Services work experience ,I am not sure working for the IT division of a bank will count as Finance work ex.

The best course of action for you given your background ( and it is no mean task) is to try and get into one of the IIMs to try and directly get into the I banks or if not after passing out work for 3-4 yrs and then apply to LBS .If you will see the admitted students for the LBS M.Fin Programme most of the Indians are IIM A/B/C passouts..

Thanks a lot for replying. I fully agree with your post. I had already checked the profile of the class at LBS doing their MiF. Almost all Indians out there have worked at senior positions and are from IIT/IIM. Practically, with my background, even I think that LBS is not really possible.

At the same time, lets think about the London School of Economics. I know a guy who has a conditional offer, upon securing, 60% in final year of his course, for Masters course @ LSE. He has completed his B.Com. from the Mumbai University. It is possible to get into LSE after B. Com. provided I have 70ish% throughout and a decent GMAT score.

Now, I have already completed my Diploma in Computer Technology, securing a first class. Using some network/contacts I could get into HSBC/ABN Amro. There, I can work for say, 3 years or so and get some work exp. Simultaneously, I could complete my B.Com. So in the year 2010-11, I will be having a B.Com. degree in hand and also a work exp. of ~3 years. Then I can sit for GMAT and try getting into LSE (which unlike LBS, does not require work exp n stuff). What do you think about the same? Please let me know.

Thanks in advance

Regards,

[rajatb]

Originally Posted by Đ i g i S y n c

Thanks a lot for replying. I fully agree with your post. I had already checked the profile of the class at LBS doing their MiF. Almost all Indians out there have worked at senior positions and are from IIT/IIM. Practically, with my background, even I think that LBS is not really possible.

At the same time, lets think about the London School of Economics. I know a guy who has a conditional offer, upon securing, 60% in final year of his course, for Masters course @ LSE. He has completed his B.Com. from the Mumbai University. It is possible to get into LSE after B. Com. provided I have 70ish% throughout and a decent GMAT score.

Now, I have already completed my Diploma in Computer Technology, securing a first class. Using some network/contacts I could get into HSBC/ABN Amro. There, I can work for say, 3 years or so and get some work exp. Simultaneously, I could complete my B.Com. So in the year 2010-11, I will be having a B.Com. degree in hand and also a work exp. of ~3 years. Then I can sit for GMAT and try getting into LSE (which unlike LBS, does not require work exp n stuff). What do you think about the same? Please let me know.

Thanks in advance

Regards,

That may be possible but remember LSE today is not what it used to be 25-30 yrs ago,that place has been usurped by LBS.
Also there are a plethora of courses in LSE and only a few are considered prestigious enough to attract I Bank recruitments .
I know of some ppl who after completing courses from LSE failed to find jobs in the UK and had to take up pretty mediocre jobs in India.
So before joining do your research carefully on which of the LSE courses are considered good in the job market.

[anandbatra]

Edited the post..

[reggiem75]

since you already have spent 3 years studying computer IT , why not stick to that itself?

Maybe take a job in IT for one year and then see where you want to go.

There must have been some reason you chose IT 3 years back. re you sure you dont want to leverage the knowlegde you gained in the last 3 years?

You can also try getting a job in a banking / finances project with one of the big guys: Satyam , wipro, infy .. theres a lot of finance-related projects going on in the cos.

you can then try and grow into a "business analyst" in these companies, thereby specialising in both IT and finance.

just my two cents, i could be wrong - it all depends on what you want to do and how strongly you feel about it.
tc,
rajesh

[Nikolai]

Since you're an diploma grad, you're next degree will have to be a bachelors. Now heres where your worries start.

I work in an IBank. For a career in IB, I've not seen any pattern emerge from what people did for their bachelors. However, a pattern emerges as to what they are professionally qualified as. My bank is populated with CAs from the VP level right up until the asst. manager level. MBAs, are a fair number as of now and everyday we recruit more.

So herein lies the question - what should you do your bachelors in? For a holistic experience before an MBA, I would recommend a BMS. But only from a good college. For colleges like Xaviers, they've been having consultancies come to them for recruitment (PWC, E&Y, Lehman I think) of analysts.

Someone mentioned the I-Banking ops in India are only back-office. This holds true for foreign banks. There are many Indian banks which allow you to graduate from research (which is what I am doing) to front-office (client-side).

Lehman and Goldman Sachs are coming into India... Lehman already has and recently underwrote an IPO issue. But they would hire nothing but MBAs.(Not because they need them, but because when you get basmati rice as abundantly as saadha rice, who would want to buy saadha?).

The fact remains that for an engineer to migrate to a financial domain, it requires much less training than even Infy gives its new recruits? MOnths of training? naaaah! maybe a couple of weeks at max.

Indian IBank recruiters are not yet used to picking up engineers for their ops. primarily coz the quality of engineers is very poor and with the mushrooming of a 10,000+ engineering colleges, the overall quality of engineers has really gone down.

They're still picking up IITians, though. I've spotted two IITians doing their summers are my delhi office, and its not an uncommon phenomenon, foreign or domestic!

Bottom line: Its not BCom/BSc/BE/BMS that will launch u into an IBank. It could be a CA and MBA; but I doubt anything else would help. And as people have mentioned, being top of your class in your MBA school would only be of help.

[Nikolai]

It was suggested that you work in a s/w co for a few years and try to "grow" into a business analyst. Please let me correct that - a Business Analyst wouldn't be able to do his job without a basic degree in business management. Otherwise, he would not be able to achieve a holistic view of the business process and would not be exposed to theoretical learning on the best practices methodology used world-wide. And besides, Business Analysis is not IBanking, comes more under consultancy than anything else...

[ankurbipinshah]

i have done diploma in electronics engg n m currently doin be in same field from mumbai university
i would lilke to get into financial sector,i have found one course (msc in investment banking from lsb),what are prm certificate course,wat abt cfa,n can a good gmat score get me into lsb for msc in investment banking

[D i g i S y n c]

Originally Posted by ankurbipinshah

i have done diploma in electronics engg n m currently doin be in same field from mumbai university

Originally Posted by ankurbipinshah

i would lilke to get into financial sector,i have found one course (msc in investment banking from lsb),what are prm certificate course,wat abt cfa,n can a good gmat score get me into lsb for msc in investment banking

Hey,

I'm in the same situation. After interacting with many students/professionals, I can say that a BE + Masters from a top B School/ University is a good combo. If you do CFA at the same time, that will be a killer combo for sure

LBS is somthing way too different. I can say this after checking the class profile of the LBS MiF (Masters in Fin.) course. If you check the eligibility of LBS masters course, you'll find that their minimum requirement is :-

a good undergraduate degree
a GMAT score of 600 or more
at least 2-3 years' post-graduate work experience in finance or a related field n two good references (at least one of these should be a work reference) a well-written personal statement.

The average student on the Masters in Finance course has six years' professional post-graduate work experience in finance and a GMAT score of 680.

If you plan to do masters immediately after completion of your degree, then London School of Economics would be a better option. Even CASS Business School is highly reputed. I'd like to mention that 'most' of the students at LBS are either from IIT or IIM.

Cheers