What is finance like ?

[Aba_juggin]

Wtf is a blockchain

No



Yo yall look into blockchain and the implications it may have on the industry. My company is going really hard doing innovation labs using blockchain technology. And I know Nasdaq has a blockchain project named Linq. Off the bat blockchain woujld get rid of a lot of back/middle office reconciliation type jobs. Just something to look at.

 

[Aba_juggin]

Y’all thanks for this information brehs! I’m currently a finance major, but I switched from Mechanical Engineering junior year ()

I feel like I’m a step behind everyone because I’ve been rushing to catch up so I can possibly graduate this year (I’ll be 21), but I’m starting to realize that I need to take as much time I can and start making connections

Two questions:

What are some good entry positions as a finance major?

And what are some good websites/books/etc. to master topics needed to become a great finance analyst/IB/etc? Any help is appreciated

Isnt the money a whole lot better in mechanical ?

Why did you switch ?

 

[phcitywarrior]

Isnt the money a whole lot better in mechanical ?

Why did you switch ?

I think Mechanical gives you more options work wise and is better for job security in the future but Finance will always have way more money involved.

But a lot of Engineers are jumping to the Finance route.

 

[desjardins]

Wtf is a blockchain

that wasn't in response to you, just ain't feel like making another post for it (i'm assuming you actually know what it is and trying clown)

 

[KingBeez]

Isnt the money a whole lot better in mechanical ?

Why did you switch ?

Short version: teachers/advisors were horrible, only black breh in my classes, impacted classes, takes 6 years to get a bachelors

Long version:

The teachers were horrible and had thick accents.

Classes were severely impacted. My physics with calculus class had 200 spaces and over 600 people trying to add it advisors even tell students that it usually takes engineers 6 years to get their bachelors due to impaction.

I was literally the only black guy in my classes (ironically enough, I’m the only black guy in my finance classes as well) and this made it difficult for me to make friends and fit in, so I stayed to myself. I still do for the most part.

My college engineering department was sink or swim. I remember the classes that made me offically leave, it was matlab. The teacher literally on the first day introduced himself and assigned a project with 20% of our grade due 2 weeks from now and went to sleep. No prior knowledge or anything. We literally had to poke him to wake back up when the program he wanted us to do a tutorial on wouldn’t work for anyone.

That class made my realize that im wasting my time and money in this major and that it isn’t for me, and I made the switch.

Wish I picked finance during College apps in HS because I’d be in a better school. But you can’t change the past

 

[Aba_juggin]

Short version: teachers/advisors were horrible, only black breh in my classes, impacted classes, takes 6 years to get a bachelors

Long version:

The teachers were horrible and had thick accents.

Classes were severely impacted. My physics with calculus class had 200 spaces and over 600 people trying to add it advisors even tell students that it usually takes engineers 6 years to get their bachelors due to impaction.

I was literally the only black guy in my classes (ironically enough, I’m the only black guy in my finance classes as well) and this made it difficult for me to make friends and fit in, so I stayed to myself. I still do for the most part.

My college engineering department was sink or swim. I remember the classes that made me offically leave, it was matlab. The teacher literally on the first day introduced himself and assigned a project with 20% of our grade due 2 weeks from now and went to sleep. No prior knowledge or anything. We literally had to poke him to wake back up when the program he wanted us to do a tutorial on wouldn’t work for anyone.

That class made my realize that im wasting my time and money in this major and that it isn’t for me, and I made the switch.

Wish I picked finance during College apps in HS because I’d be in a better school. But you can’t change the past

Cc would have been better in that case why are you paying money for classes you can't get?

It's good that you switched, only if it's best for your situation. Always look out for your best interest

 

[KingBeez]

I'll say this, don't rush things. The thing about college is that you really have time to focus without a lot of the responsibilities of real life.

To your questions:

1. Arguably the best (or most prestigious) position for a finance major upon graduation is as an Investment Bank Analyst, ideally with a Bulge bracket firm e.g. Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley etc within a major financial center e.g. NYC, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Zurich, Frankfurt, Abu Dhabi etc. Outside of that, any Business Analyst position with a strong focus on Finance will be pretty good. Equity and commodity analysts I've heard are also pretty good but I do think IB is the best way to go. Even if you can't get a Bulge bracket firm, I think it'd be good to go to a smaller market or niche firm to get exposure to the industry.

2. Not 100 percent sure on books. Honestly whatever upper level undergraduate/junior level graduate school textbook on Finance you can find is probably solid. A lot of Finance is simple math equations that build upon themselves. Once you have the basics down it's all good from there. You may need to find something on Investment theory however.
One thing I've been told is good is to read either the Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times (the Business and Finance sections at least) and make a stride to understand the macro-economic climates from the books. Also, for every business term you don't understand do some research on Investopedia (great resource for Financial concepts as well).

All the power to you breh. Take your time in college, crush your classes (the workload shouldn't be bad considering you were a Mechie) and try to get at least 1 internship within Finance under your belt.

Thanks for the info breh

I’ve already secured an internship working in the controllers office for my city, but they didn’t assign me to the finance department but I’m trying to make the best out of it

 

[KingBeez]

Cc would have been better in that case why are you paying money for classes you can't get?

I didn’t know it was that impacted entering school, and I luckily got my classes, but my friends weren’t so lucky

 

[Aba_juggin]

I think Mechanical gives you more options work wise and is better for job security in the future but Finance will always have way more money involved.

But a lot of Engineers are jumping to the Finance route.

wha wha what's wrong with engineering ?

 

[Aba_juggin]

What's the difference thought socially and work environment wise. In some careers it's all about presentation and other careers it's about whether the work gets donw and everything is secondary in terms of office culture etc . I notice STEM careers can veer towards the later but what about finance and being black in finance is that even a thign or am I pulling something out of the air and making an issue out of nothing. I'm asking because my social skills may not be that high of a level in terms of general office attitudes etc etc idk in hope you guys know what I'm getting at

 

[Aba_juggin]

Short version: teachers/advisors were horrible, only black breh in my classes, impacted classes, takes 6 years to get a bachelors

Long version:

The teachers were horrible and had thick accents.

Classes were severely impacted. My physics with calculus class had 200 spaces and over 600 people trying to add it advisors even tell students that it usually takes engineers 6 years to get their bachelors due to impaction.

I was literally the only black guy in my classes (ironically enough, I’m the only black guy in my finance classes as well) and this made it difficult for me to make friends and fit in, so I stayed to myself. I still do for the most part.

My college engineering department was sink or swim. I remember the classes that made me offically leave, it was matlab. The teacher literally on the first day introduced himself and assigned a project with 20% of our grade due 2 weeks from now and went to sleep. No prior knowledge or anything. We literally had to poke him to wake back up when the program he wanted us to do a tutorial on wouldn’t work for anyone.

That class made my realize that im wasting my time and money in this major and that it isn’t for me, and I made the switch.

Wish I picked finance during College apps in HS because I’d be in a better school. But you can’t change the past

What school you go to

 

[MewTwo]

What is working in finance like?

What about quantitative finance?



Just wanna know seems cool

Anyone have more information on this? It sounds like an interesting field. It's like a marriage of science/math with finance. Doubt anyone here is in that field but wouldn't hurt to ask.

 

[Larry Lambo]

Is Charlotte really still considered a "small market" since they are now the number 2 finance hub in the country? I know San Francisco is like number 3 and houston probably follows close due to energy finance...

NC seems like a prosperous place to move with Charlotte and Research Triangle Park

The investment industry in Charlotte is hard to break into as far as what people consider "front office" (i.e. trading, asset management, research, typical Investment banking). They take a lot of people that started out at banks in NY and moved down. I worked for a year supporting one of the banks Fixed Income Division, but it was just managing their budgets and doing some profit/loss reporting

Now if you are looking for a commercial banking gig, it's a lot different. You can get in a lot of different ways, and work your way up. They have a lot of contract jobs available as well. But, it's hella competitive. You gotta really want it and go well above and beyond to get recognized.

 

[RennisDeynolds]

The investment industry in Charlotte is hard to break into as far as what people consider "front office" (i.e. trading, asset management, research, typical Investment banking). They take a lot of people that started out at banks in NY and moved down. I worked for a year supporting one of the banks Fixed Income Division, but it was just managing their budgets and doing some profit/loss reporting

Now if you are looking for a commercial banking gig, it's a lot different. You can get in a lot of different ways, and work your way up. They have a lot of contract jobs available as well. But, it's hella competitive. You gotta really want it and go well above and beyond to get recognized.

fukk man is anything easy anymore lol. Figured they would pull a lot of UNC grads and such, not move people down from nyc

 

[RennisDeynolds]

The investment industry in Charlotte is hard to break into as far as what people consider "front office" (i.e. trading, asset management, research, typical Investment banking). They take a lot of people that started out at banks in NY and moved down. I worked for a year supporting one of the banks Fixed Income Division, but it was just managing their budgets and doing some profit/loss reporting

Now if you are looking for a commercial banking gig, it's a lot different. You can get in a lot of different ways, and work your way up. They have a lot of contract jobs available as well. But, it's hella competitive. You gotta really want it and go well above and beyond to get recognized.

fukk man is anything easy anymore lol. Figured they would pull a lot of UNC grads and such, not move people down from nyc