choosing a career path

K

kupa

Hi, first of all I'd like to say that I'm glad to have found a website like this. I'm graduating from college with two B.S. degrees in engineering and science from a good engineering school in a few months. Basically trading stocks is the only passion that I have. When I tell this to people, many don't believe it, but it's not the money itself that I'm passionate for. I actually love the process of trading stocks and making profit from it than the money itself. I have been trading since I was 18 and have only bought and sold long shares of stocks. Luckily or not, I have been consistenly able to make a good profit (as much as 700% in one year.. and say 150% or better in the other years). I had never learned anything about trading and had taken no courses in college related to business or finance. All my methodology comes from my own intuition that I had built by observing charts and fundamentals. I don't follow my stocks everyday because I buy them with the expectation that they would increase in several weeks to years.
Anyway, the point is not to brag about how well my investment method works (I like to remind myself that I probably have been lucky so far). I would really like to pursue a career in finance. I have always been thinking of getting an MBA degree in a few years, so my question is: 1) What would I need after graduating with degrees in engineering and science in order to be employed by a financial firm where I can learn all the basics while at the same time get enough work experience to apply for MBA program at a renowned school? 2) What are the alternative routes other than pursuing an MBA? (Masters in Finance, MFE, etc) 3) What are the most prospective careers in finance management?
My graduation is near and I would really like to take the direct route to reach my dream job...
Thanks in advance for all your replies.
 
Q1: I hope you go to one of the Wall St feeder schools, otherwise, it's next to impossible to get them to look at your resume without relevant experience.

Q2: Try CFA.
 
If you are making those kind of returns (assuming you have a decent amount of capital) why work on wall street? Why waste time and energy doing admin non-sense and laying out nearly 100K for an MBA that could be better leveraged in the markets or several years of your life getting a CFA if you can do well enough on your own?
 
Of course, I could just keep investing on my own as a "part-time job". But as I said, it is not just the money that I'm seeking. Also as someone mentioned, I don't even have enough capital to make a living solely by trading stocks. Moreover, I want to gain some fundamental knowledge in finance because I don't believe that my investment strategy is rock solid. It is purely empirical, and lacks the more important theoretical basis. I believe that through experience, I'll become a more successful trader. (not saying that I'm already successful or anything..)

That said, how good is CFA license? There are so many licenses out there that are just useless.. (like MCSE) But will CFA license open the doors to my career? How important is it? What does the license mean to the employers?
Thanks
 
kupa, science and engineering are perfect backgrounds to work at any number of algorithm-driven trading firms. I'd suggest looking to Chicago (or NY as a distant second) for such an opportunity.
 
Quote from jasonbraswell:

kupa, science and engineering are perfect backgrounds to work at any number of algorithm-driven trading firms. I'd suggest looking to Chicago (or NY as a distant second) for such an opportunity.
More...

They are always looking for the math whiz to do financial engineering that often results in spectacular blowups.
 
Quote from a529612:

They are always looking for the math whiz to do financial engineering that often results in spectacular blowups.
More...

I'm not sure what you're trying to say or imply with this, but I'm pretty certain it's irrelevant to the OP's questions.
 
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