Real experience: Career Perspective of Financial Engineering and Risk management

I just had an information seminar today at laceName>McGilllaceName> laceType>UniversitylaceType> about the career in Financial Engineering and Risk management. Several professionals in this field gave great speeches during the 4-hour seminar. My conclusion is that great payment, extremely intensive competition, big pressures, and no personal life.

Typically, they work from 5:30 am to 7:00 pm, or 7:00 to 7:00pm, depending on the sector which you manage, but the average is about 12 to 16 hours per day. As an analyst, you need to have regular meetings, or dinners with CFOs or CEOs. So, you need to have excellent interpersonal skills, and only the language, but also the culture which most of foreign students do not have. (All speakers are native.)

There are tens of people competing for one position. Someone with CFA, not just passed the exams but got the designation, only can work as an assistant or associate.

Moreover, if you cannot beat your benchmark just one year, probably you will be kicked out.

If you are the super in programming, math and modeling, you may find a position dealing only with numbers, which is not real an analyst do. Some PhD in physics would like to have this kind of position, while financial students do not have any advantages here.

Forget one of the most important. You would get 100,000/year on the basic level, 1,000,000/year on the advanced level, such as chief analyst of one sector. That’s why all genius in this business.

This is what I heard today from those fund managers, analysts, and VPs from some banks and financial services firms.