<p>Hello all,
I am a high school senior looking to major in engineering at a university. I am interested in EE (although it's not my only major of interest) and I have heard of many people who got EE degrees and ended up in banking. Why is that so? Is EE not a marketable degree anymore, or is it that they felt that they could make more money in the finance industry? I'm kinda confused/nervous about it. I really wouldn't want to end up in finance after I graduate. I appreciate any answers I can get.</p>
<p>EE is definitely still in need. It is not a tremendously common circumstance for EE’s to roll into finance. Normally this comes from the Ivies. And, yes, it is for the increase in wallet size. Don’t worry engineering has been around for ages, and most people don’t want to put the time in during undergrad so it is a large hurdle to join the engineering club.</p>
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<p>This one. </p>
<p>The EEs that typically end up in finance come from top universities. Most state universities aren’t funneling EEs into finance, and they’ll mostly do more EEish stuff. And even if you do choose to go to a top university, it’s not as if your only options will be in finance.</p>
<p>If you look at the number of EE’s who graduate nation wide vs. the number that go to Ivys, get a BSEE and go into Banking you will no longer be intimidated. These Ivy to banking people got the EE degree for the math and $, not for the love of science. These finance guys (and gals) need the complex math that they just can’t get from an accounting or business degree.</p>
<p>All you need is one job and if there isn’t any around then you try to find any available one…banking, working for govt, opening your own consultant firm?..So, if I can’t find a job after my graduation with major in ME then…off to banking too?</p>
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<p>The type that get banking jobs aren’t the type that had to settle for banking jobs because they couldn’t get anything else.</p>
<p>not necessary. I know some people (mostly ladies) where they got out of a high paying EE job for a lower paying finance job due to the location and ‘cleaniness’ of the job.</p>
<p>In EE, even if you are doing design or projects you will still need to go out into the field to see what is actually going on, and alot of people dont like that.</p>
<p>I think EEs end up in finance because the math skills learned are (control theory, signal processing, etc.) are very applicable to finance, and because finance positions generally pay very well. Some of the Ivy U’s that offer engineering are notorious for placing graduates in finance.</p>
<p>Don’t worry that EE is generally not marketable because of this.</p>
<p>***?!!! 
EE is one of the most interesting engineering majors , who told you that they end up in finance??
I guess who ends up in financing couldn’t find a real job in EE field “not all of them”.</p>
<p>don’t go for EE if you are thinking about getting a job in finance.
engineering is a passion ,so don’t do it unless you love it.
I wanna go for EE and learn programming during my undergraduate ,I intend to be a professional in programming once I finish my bachelor degree and then do my graduate school in CS maybe or Telecommunications >>not decided yet.
eventually : if you like to do finance jobs or things like this then major in accounting or economics.</p>
<p>While most of the posts here are accurate, I’d like to object to the notion that these students chose EE with the intent of using those quantitative skills to go into finance.
The majority of students who plan on switching to finance from a quantitative degree go into physics or mathematics. Neither of the two is by any means easy, but they are far more relevant than engineering to finance work, with less unnecessary irrelevant work. It’s like a premed going into engineering - a waste of time and effort. Those that do go into finance from EE are those who originally wanted EE, but later decided to do finance instead. </p>
<p>Finance of the investment banking variety is only an option for top students at a top school. There is no way that these students would be unable to find a job elsewhere, unless they have some serious social deficiencies that the IBs are just willing to look past for some reason. And it’s a well-known fact that as long as they are sufficiently compensated for the quality of work that they do, talented people don’t really care about money (they don’t need it to survive, and most of them aren’t especially greedy). After all, when you reach $400k vs $600k as an annual salary, is the money really the most important thing? No it is not. </p>
<p>This means that the IBs offer the students something that engineering companies don’t. It’s certainly not a more interesting or easier job; finance work is quite time-consuming and dull. The big advantage is the money. And I think the problem is not the subject of the work, but the type of work an engineer does. At the end of the day, all the work that the best put in isn’t worth it. That’s why those who originally chose EE out of interest opt for dull and money instead.</p>
<p>let’s suppose I wanna go for finance ,what type of work I will do??
and how much can I make??
and can’t an EE who works in his field “not finance” make as much money as an EE who works in finance??</p>
<p>Investment bankers generally advise their clients, crunch numbers, and find creative ways to either purchase something expensive (a multimillion dollar company) or to hide a crushing debt (there are many, many ways to do this, some ethical and some not). It’s 70-100 hours of work per week, until you get to the top.
How much does it pay? Usually starts at six figures, but you quickly rise into the millions if you’re good at your job. Are you likely to make such money as a working engineer? With 99% confidence, I can say you will not, even if you’re one of the best. There are a few exceptions, mostly stockholders at a small company that grows massive.
For those that actually can go into finance, the money is there, beyond a shadow of a doubt. But don’t think it’s in any way better or that it’s an option open to most.</p>
<p>let the millions for the others.
I don’t want millions if I am not enjoying my job.</p>
<p>And that’s the problem: why do top Ivy students, a group well above average in engineering, leave an engineering job for something with no benefit outside of money? It means there’s a problem with those jobs that makes finance preferable to engineering work. Money alone wouldn’t do it because talented people are quite insulated from a need for money.</p>
<p>There is a movie, Margin Call, which shows an analyst who has an advance degree from MIT-engineering. I think his job is mostly crunching numbers, running some matrix, doing probability for stock and bonds, etc. He gets paid good but he is not happy with the job.</p>
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<p>An aside, that was Goldman Sachs.</p>
<p>I think there is Babson College with major of Computational and Mathematical Finance. This will be good Finance Major with crunching numbers instead of major in EE then trying to work in banking industry.</p>
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<p>totally agreed.</p>
<p>I’ve heard of schools with “financial engineering” (quant finance) majors. I believe Berkeley has one.</p>
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<p>Financial Engineering is almost always a Masters program, including Berkeley’s.</p>