I've been on the IT field for the last 10 years, however in the middle of my career a new passion woke in me : "Trading, as well as the finance sector, I have done OK , not great but ok trading mainly Crude Oil last 3-4 years, I decided to do a MS in Finance with concentration in Investments and securities, I am finishing my degree this summer, I am already a 38 year old person (but with a lot of energy in me), and I want to keep pursuing my dream of becoming a Commodity Analyst or a Financial Analyst on a financial institution (hedge funds, or investing banks) and probably more. The obstacle I think I am facing now is that at the end of the summer, I only will have my degree and my trading experience online, I also have plenty of knowledge (self study) of the fundamentals of commodities (my bread and butter is crude oil) as well as technical analysis, but I am aware that's not enough, I've been searching online and some recommend to take the Series 3 test and even the Series 7. I'ts any suggestions what direction I should take and also would my degree , knowledge and experience online trading could get in the doors of a Financial Institution?.. I am trying to avoid leaving a solid job for an internship, bottom line what I could do ? will passing the series 3 or 7 open the doors for me? Any help will be greatly appreciate it.
Having your IT background along with your MS Finance should make you very marketable - especially for smaller firms that have no in house IT - if your willing to help them a bit with that also you can leverage that out to get in. You can do what ever you set your mind to. I left an IT related career more than once to start a business and have no regrets - no guts, no glory.
A series 3 or 7 will not help you get a job. When you switch carriers you pretty much start at the bottom. Your online trading experience will not be worth very much. But your age (maturity) might. At my firm there was a doctor who was 40 years old in our analyst program. He accelerated throgh everything because he was mature enough to know what was important and management saw that.
It's exactly the same answer as below, become entrepreneurial, start at the absolute bottom, or have more or better experience than everyone else. The first there's too much bureaucracy so very few can navigate through it, the second means you are a coffee fetcher until you fight your way out, the third is a lottery because there are just too many people in the world now who have more energy, skill and lack of value for time. https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/breaking-into-physical-commodity-trading.306120/#post-4393971 Exams are the cherry on top, but if you don't have what they need (or want) underneath they won't make any difference. It could land you the job, but most likely it will be a waste of time. Now I don't believe the next generation (age irrelevant) should disrespect the value of time as much as they are being forced to these days. Yes, I know options along the entrepreneurial line because that's what I setup, otherwise it's grad programmes or trying to invert so you make income in the markets and do a job for growth. You are trying to explore and grow in a world that wants workers who keep quiet and do their job for income, it's a discovery process and past knowledge does not equal current knowledge as the world has introverted these past years.
WITH A LOT OF IGNORANCE, I'd throw a CFA into the mix. I'm not so much a fan of the CTA, but that may be beneath you...
You are. Go back to the retirement home grandpa. (Smilie added just incase you didn't get it was a joke !)
Don't know. Lost touch with him after about a year. But within a few months he was promoted to associate and heard through the grapevine that within 12 months of that was up for VP (typically a 5 year career path for a fresh college graduate).