Switching to Finance for any non finance professional (IT professsional lets say)

[foobar]

Hi,
Many IT professionals switch to finance every now and then. Most of the time it is post-MBA. But one can always have some hands on experience in a financial firm to get a hang of things before going for MBA. A CFA/FRM equivalent degree certainly comes handy.
What questions we wish to discuss upon this thread :
1. What trajectory should any non-finance person take to enter finance?
2. What are the different opportunities in terms of positions one should aim for that might be available for one thinking to switch to finance?
3. What should be a good pre-MBA job be like for a solid foundation?
4. First Hand experience from people who've been there done that and their valuable advice

Experienced people your thoughts are keenly looked forward to here.....Thanks in advance......

[watson]

Originally Posted by foobar

Hi,
Many IT professionals switch to finance every now and then. Most of the time it is post-MBA. But one can always have some hands on experience in a financial firm to get a hang of things before going for MBA. A CFA/FRM equivalent degree certainly comes handy.
What questions we wish to discuss upon this thread :
1. What trajectory should any non-finance person take to enter finance?
2. What are the different opportunities in terms of positions one should aim for that might be available for one thinking to switch to finance?
3. What should be a good pre-MBA job be like for a solid foundation?
4. First Hand experience from people who've been there done that and their valuable advice

Experienced people your thoughts are keenly looked forward to here.....Thanks in advance......

dear friend,

I am also in the same boat. I am a Electrical engg grad with more than 3 years of work ex in Engg domain and a little hand on ex in daily budget and payment not much. Thinking about applying to ISB etc this year.

I would be obliged, if sceniors could help me out.

Au Revoir,

Monsieur Watson

[cyberwizguy]

Originally Posted by foobar

1. What trajectory should any non-finance person take to enter finance?

I think the best option is... to start with NCFM modules. (NSE's Certification in Financial Market). No formal educational background is necessary for registration to the NCFM programme. Nor is there an age requirement.
NCFM currently tests expertise in the following modules:

1. Financial Markets: A Beginners' Module
2. Derivatives Market (Dealers) Module
3. Capital Market (Dealers) Module
4. Securities Market (Basic) Module
5. FIMMDA-NSE Debt Market (Basic) Module
6. Surveillance in Stock Exchanges Module
7. NSDL - Depository Operations Module
8. Commodities Market Module
9. AMFI - Mutual Fund (Basic) Module
10. AMFI - Mutual Fund (Advisors) Module
11. Corporate Governance Module
12. Compliance Officers (Brokers) Module
13. Compliance Officers (Corporates) Module
14. Information Security Auditors Module (Part-1)
    Information Security Auditors Module (Part-2)
15. Modules of Financial Planning Standards Board India

For more details click on the below link:
NSE - The NCFM Programme

[foobar]

Originally Posted by cyberwizguy

I think the best option is... to start with NCFM modules. (NSE's Certification in Financial Market). No formal educational background is necessary for registration to the NCFM programme. Nor is there an age requirement.

Thanks for your inputs Cyborg. NCFM I agree is a good place to begin with.
I personally took the same path to begin with. However just a word of caution for the uninitiated, its basically supposed to be for people vying to become dealers/brokers. Thus academically speaking its scope is pretty limited in terms of Return on Investment. Its a good point to start from but not to stick to. Personally after clearing one exam, I took up CFA (which unfortunately got banned for Indians).

[Tumtum]

Originally Posted by foobar

Thanks for your inputs Cyborg. NCFM I agree is a good place to begin with.
I personally took the same path to begin with. However just a word of caution for the uninitiated, its basically supposed to be for people vying to become dealers/brokers. Thus academically speaking its scope is pretty limited in terms of Return on Investment. Its a good point to start from but not to stick to. Personally after clearing one exam, I took up CFA (which unfortunately got banned for Indians).

Besides the reasons mentioned by Foobar, the main thing is that NCFM modules are plain bullshit. Totally crap and very poor in quality. Most elementary and basic stuff. It just a regulatory formality form traders and I don't think we should waste any efforts in doing such crappy certifications- they are not even paper tigers. For me, I personally cleared Derivatives core module without studying it and got 90% flat. Trust me on this guys, if you are not getting into trading for a broker, then don't even think of it. People will treat it as toilet paper.

[rajatb]

Originally Posted by Tumtum

Besides the reasons mentioned by Foobar, the main thing is that NCFM modules are plain bullshit. Totally crap and very poor in quality. Most elementary and basic stuff. It just a regulatory formality form traders and I don't think we should waste any efforts in doing such crappy certifications- they are not even paper tigers. For me, I personally cleared Derivatives core module without studying it and got 90% flat. Trust me on this guys, if you are not getting into trading for a broker, then don't even think of it. People will treat it as toilet paper.

I agree that you get almost no learning from the NCFM modules,but I would still recommend them for ppl with no Finance background.
I remember when I was finishing college and was trying to apply to Finance companies with my Engineering education there was nothing much to write to show prospective employers about my passion and knowledge about the subject.NCFM was a rather inexpensive way to add a couple of more lines to your resume and I know it does not count for much but then there is no harm in doing it since you literally don't have to study anything and it is so cheap and can be done quickly.
Programs like CFA and FRM are better in the long run but what to do if I want to polish up my resume today? In that case NCFM is a good and cheap alternative for the time being.
Though I had read up Hull ,you very well cannot make statements that you have read so and so chapters from Hull in your resume so it is better to add any qualification however trivial to help you get shortlisted ,afterwards in the Interview it will really matter weather you read up Hull or know only what was in the NCFM modules.

[cyberwizguy]

Originally Posted by Tumtum

Besides the reasons mentioned by Foobar, the main thing is that NCFM modules are plain bullshit. Totally crap and very poor in quality. Most elementary and basic stuff. It just a regulatory formality form traders and I don't think we should waste any efforts in doing such crappy certifications- they are not even paper tigers. For me, I personally cleared Derivatives core module without studying it and got 90% flat. Trust me on this guys, if you are not getting into trading for a broker, then don't even think of it. People will treat it as toilet paper.

.... I dont think its a crap for a layman with no financial knowledge... Its a good module to start with then u can go for CFA.

[nitro]

Originally Posted by cyberwizguy

.... I dont think its a crap for a layman with no financial knowledge... Its a good module to start with then u can go for CFA.

yeah... i can bet on it....i working rite now for a securities company....n i have asound knowledge of d financial terms used daily....n u have a chance to give CFA by goin abroad n givin it....i completed my enng in IT....having 8 mth experience in securities company....

[foobar]

Originally Posted by nitro

yeah... i can bet on it....i working rite now for a securities company....n i have asound knowledge of d financial terms used daily....n u have a chance to give CFA by goin abroad n givin it....i completed my enng in IT....having 8 mth experience in securities company....

Why do you think they would let you do it. Indians are banned from CFA. I am sure there must be some sort of identification that would be required while registering (atleast a communication address). So its not solving any purpose in that regard I suppose.

[foobar]

Originally Posted by Tumtum

Besides the reasons mentioned by Foobar, the main thing is that NCFM modules are plain bullshit. Totally crap and very poor in quality. Most elementary and basic stuff. It just a regulatory formality form traders and I don't think we should waste any efforts in doing such crappy certifications- they are not even paper tigers. For me, I personally cleared Derivatives core module without studying it and got 90% flat. Trust me on this guys, if you are not getting into trading for a broker, then don't even think of it. People will treat it as toilet paper.

Totally in accord with Tumtum. I am assured that investing your time to go through 300 pages of Hull would give infinitely better returns than going through 300 pages of NCFM module. And anyways NCFM certification doesnt prove any point for anyone for whom you would want it to matter (or rather it might just work against you disregarding you that why on earth could not think of anything better to do!)
So net-net for newbies, if you really want to help yourself in the long run, go build a strong foundation with any good old book/paper that has some academic merit over collecting certifications which you are not really sure about.