Engineering switch to finance

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I graduated with a structural engineering BS recently with a 3.3 GPA, but I have always considered switching to finance. I did economics as a technical elective in college and really enjoyed it. I picked engineering because i knew it would be easier to transition from engineering to finance rather than vice versa. Plus my college is known more for its science programs than its humanities.</p>

<p>What are the best steps I can take to change my career path? I want to try to land an internship first before going for an MBA.</p>

<p>any tips on how to turn an engineering resume into a finance one would be great too.</p>

2

<p>If you’re looking for a straight up finance job with a finance bigwig, you missed your opportunity. Sorry. Usually they want 4.0 students from name-brand schools.
If you’re looking for an MBA-track engineering job, the path is pretty much this: be a good engineer and do better than the average bear. The path to management will open up, and eventually the need for an MBA will be apparent. Keep in mind that being a mediocre engineer who tries to directly go for a management position is just going to get shot down by any company that knows what it’s doing.</p>

3

<p>Finance includes many things and I think if you want any useful response you need to be more specific.</p>

4

<p>I really wanted to try breaking into IB or trading analysts.</p>

5

<p>It might be possible to get a non-IB/non-trading analyst job in finance and then move your way up after 2 years. Finance is a really really really broad field and not everyone in finance is an investment banker. That being said, you really need to do your own research in the financial field - I don’t know very much personally.</p>

6

<p>There are fields within finance, namely quants, that always seek for strong mathematical minds. Many of them hold PhD in quantitative field, but it is possible to break in from top Master’s in Financial Engineering degree. Try checking out <a href=“https://www.quantnet.com/forum/[/url]”>https://www.quantnet.com/forum/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Other fields like investment banking / trading are alot about graduating from top schools with 3.7+ GPA like some have already mentioned. Furthermore, they usually hire college seniors and not graduates (at least at BB).</p>

7

<p>Also possible is a masters in quantative finance whic could help you get into the quant field. It all depends on what you want to do. Physics PhDs are often candidates for quant position from what I know. Good programming skills are need. What do you wish to do exactly.</p>

8

<p>My college roommate went directly to a job as a trader for one of the most prestigious Wall Street firms with an engineering degree - he took no finance courses, and did no penance as an analyst first.</p>

<p>His brother, also an engineer, went straight into an investment banking position at another high-prestige firm, perhaps THE most prestigious at that time.</p>

<p>We all went to the same college, which had no finance department, and offered only two finance courses through the economics department. </p>

<p>This was in the 1980’s. From talking to my friends on Wall Street, things haven’t changed.</p>

<p>Jobs on the Street are possible with any major (I know a philosophy major who became a senior executive at one of the prestige firms - he’s also brilliant). By the same token, they are extremely difficult to get.</p>

<p>A graduate degree can certainly help. However, what I’ve been told by Wall Street people is that they look for brains and for a certain mindset that usually includes a high level of assertiveness/aggressiveness, among countless other personal characteristics.</p>