<p>I was looking at a jobs posting site and i saw some listings for entry-level finance jobs and they said engineering majors could apply. Can a engineering major really get a job in finance? How does one go about that without all the accounting/finance classes that business majors take? Has anyone gone that route? What are your experiences?</p>
<p>Banks and other finance companies love engineers and physicists for their math and problem-solving skills.</p>
<p>I’ve been searching a lot on this topic too Xinio. From what I gather, for entry level finance jobs like an ib analyst, trading and the like, a lot of training is done on the job. Once again from what I gather they basically want kids with good problem solving abilities, some decent quant abilities, really good work ethic and somewhat of a passion for finance. </p>
<p>Having said that I do admit it’s tough for me to see an engineering major with at most a couple courses in intro econ as options, being given a finance job. But it happens all the time. I guess it’s a combination of on the job training and just being given a bunch of grunt work until you learn the ropes?</p>
<p>I’m only a second year engineering major though so what do I know.</p>
<p>Definitely, but this means that you just have to behave like a business major. Go out, network, and get internships. That’s how ANYONE gets into finance. Business majors only have an edge because they felt like they had to do that early on. Engineers usually have the mindset of only focusing on schools, but you won’t get into finance if you’re like that.</p>
<p>When I went to my school’s career fair, CapitalOne (the banking company) was there. I thought it was strange that they went to the science/engineering day (instead of the business/liberal arts day), so I approached the table. It turns out that they came to our school specifically to hire Engineering majors as financial analysts. The guy told me they can teach you everything finance-related you need to know to do the job in a couple weeks: they’d just rather hire engineering majors over the finance/econ people for their superior logic/reasoning skills.</p>
<p>As some have suggested, it certainly happens a lot, but not every engineer will be desired in finance. They are mostly interested in the mathematically-stronger fields like EE and Aerospace, and less interested in fields like chemical or nuclear engineering. My boss at work got his PhD in a mathematically-intensive specialty of EE, and he was the only one of his cohort who did NOT go into the financial sector.</p>
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Are you sure? This was my one experience with engineers working in finance, but at that CapitalOne booth there was one ChemE, one MechE, and one MatSciE.</p>
<p>Nothing in the universe is more boring than finance. I don’t think I could turn my back on the coolness of science and technology and do brain-numbing drudgery for a bank for any size paycheck.</p>
<p>I like both fields; finance is interesting to me. My plan is Industrial Engineering and then going from there.</p>
<p>What are some financial companies that hire engineers? And what type of positions within the industry can an engineering major get?</p>
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My experience has been as I stated. MechE would not particularly surprise me and I am not sure about the mathematical rigor of MatSciE, but I’ve never met a ChemE in finance (although you have), the ChemE I do know has commented on the relatively light math-load in his field, and the PhD I mentioned was commenting on the mathematic and computational modeling skills as being the assets sought after in finance.</p>
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<p>Before the crash, nearly 30% of all MIT graduating seniors who entered the workforce took jobs in finance (and even after the crash, 15% of them took jobs in finance). Granted, not all of them were engineers; MIT doesn’t break down the percentage from each discipline who go to finance. But since the majority of all MIT undergrads are engineers, it is almost certain that a substantial percentage of them went to finance. </p>
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<p>Well, it’s clearly no more of a stretch than finance firms hiring liberal arts students, but that happens as well. I know one person who majored in English yet took a Wall Street job and probably made double the pay of that of many starting engineering salaries.</p>
<p>Of course what may have played a key role is that the person majored in English at…Harvard. In fact, before the crash, 23% of all Harvard graduating seniors entering the workforce took jobs in finance - and they’re not all business/finance majors (which doesn’t exist at Harvard) nor are they all economics majors (which isn’t THAT big of a major to comprise 23% of the entire class). Even now after the crash, 12% of the class will take finance jobs. </p>
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<p>Well, unless we’re talking about a position in a bank’s research department, I don’t know that the banks care that much about a quant/math background. Let’s face it: an engineering graduate from even a 4th-tier engineering program probably has a better math/quant background than does a humanities student at Harvard…but Wall Street is far more likely to hire the latter.</p>
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<p>Most investment banks do. You will be hired as an analyst.</p>
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<p>Would you say that’s just because the Wall Street firm doesn’t normally hire from non-targets at all? Do these firms want to see that you have learned a lot about finance even though it doesn’t say it on your transcript? You’ve learned the basics on your own and you’re hungry for more. Or are they simply taking high GPAs from target schools on the bases that they’re smart kids and they’ll teach them anything they need to know.</p>
<p>I’ve always thought one of the reasons banks liked engineering grads was because of their work ethic. Which is needed for the insane hours that an analyst works.</p>
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<p>Then will doing a math minor help a ChemE or Science majors to get a finance job?</p>
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Well, that is exactly the sort of positions where I have heard of engineers being hired in finance. If engineers are hired in non-mathematical positions I have no experience with it.</p>
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Probably, but I am not sure where the dividing line is - it might not help enough.</p>
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<p>TomServo, why in the world would you say something like this?</p>
<p>the areas of M&A, Leveraged Buyouts, Private Equity, Hedge Funds and Venture Capital would all be considered “finance” and are some of the most exciting areas to be involved in, way beyond that of engineering and technology. In fact, Venture Capital would combine the knowledge of Engineering and Finance.</p>
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<p>Comicfish, many many ChE’s eventually go on to get an MBA and the majority of these will concentrate in the area of finance. Why?..because it comes easy for them. As an example, I am a ChE in Finance with a BSChE and MBA from HYPSM.</p>
<p>Finance and ChemE ties really well together because of the economics of the field. Its heavily reliant on Process Controls with which decisions based on economics outlooks are made.</p>
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<p>I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.</p>