What are "finance" jobs?

[clam61]

Can someone explain to a n00b what "finance" jobs are? Some people tell me that getting into finance is a thing i should look into, but i'm not sure what this generic category entails.

[sarat]

Can someone explain to a n00b what "finance" jobs are? Some people tell me that getting into finance is a thing i should look into, but i'm not sure what this generic category entails.check out

http://jobs.efinancialcareers.co.uk/USA-NY-New_York_City.htm

[cemj99]

I'm probably not the best one to answer this post since I'm an MBA that works in the technology field but speaking in general, a finance job is one that contributes to the short and long term financial goals of the company. By this, I mean they could be doing tasks such as studing a company's financial statements and sales forecast to construct a cash budget for the year, they may be asked to develop a pro forma(forward looking) income statement so investors can have an idea of what the company's projected profits/losses, they determine best methods for financing projects(selling stock or debt), they are tasked with valuing assets of a company(i.e methods such as NPV & IRR), and they can also be tasked with analyzing another company's portfolio to see if its worth acquiring. I hope this gives you some idea of what a finance job may entail. If you like this kind of stuff, then you'll like finance.





Can someone explain to a n00b what "finance" jobs are? Some people tell me that getting into finance is a thing i should look into, but i'm not sure what this generic category entails.

[clam61]

thanks!

the reason im asking is that people i know (my brother and my girlfriend's dad) tell me that engineering starts off at a high salary but caps off. its more like a log(x) curve whereas finance starts lower and increases exponentially like a x^2 curve.

is this true? what are some of the salaries in finance looking to be for a person with an mba and 0 years financial experience vs a person with an mba and about 2 years tech experience coupled with 3 years financial/business experience

[sarat]

Take a look into the "Financial Sector Explained" on the site. It provides some overview of various types of finance jobs out there.

http://graduate.efinancialcareers.co.uk/

It my opinion, it is absolutely true - Corporate Finance(on the long run) and Investment Banking, Fund Managment, M&A etc pay way more than a traditional Engineering job. It is my opinion that it is one of the reasons you see lots engineering graduates in IT profession becuase there are lots of jobs that pay well and it is relatively easy for an engineer to transition to an IT (Business Data Processing) field.

I hire many P.E.(Electrical and Mechanical); people who do some serious work and whose mistakes could mean catastrophies and they get paid what a top 5 business school Finance MBA in Investment would earn (in salary and bonus) in 2 years.

These PE's would probably make double their salary if they went to Barnes and Noble, picked up a book on Oracle and start writing Reports for a career!

That is my 2 cents on Engineering career.

[clam61]

thanks again, Sarat.

1. What are P.E.'s? Process Engineers?

2. Writing what type of reports?

3. now when you say IT profession I think of the IT guys at my work that don't get paid that much. their job is to set up a network and fix some problems here and there. u can go to a trade school and get an associates degree from ITT Tech to do this. from what i know, IT is the lower rung of computer industry. its not engineering, because you don't make anything!

this is obviously now what you are talking about, is it?

besides, IT is being outsourced in the US to india and china. =(


they get paid what a top 5 business school Finance MBA in Investment would earn (in salary and bonus) in 2 years. this is true. right now im 1.5 years out of college with a bachelors and i make 68,500. probably an 71K around march when its time for the yearly raise. however, like you said, this is a log(x) curve.

[ziggi]

clam61, do you have your bachelors in engineering?
I'm 3 years out with a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and only make in the 50s and that's in Canadian dollars.

[clam61]

yeah i have a BS in Computer Science from UCLA

[ziggi]

Technically comp sci is not engineering, at least not according to the professional engineering accreditation board.
A P.E is a professional engineer, ie. someone who has practiced engineering (the sort the board recognises, ie. the sort wherein mistakes can kill people) for 4 or more years, and has passed an ethics and law examination. He is then considered an engineer and granted P.Eng status. His/her status in society also changes, at least in the eyes of insurance companies, banks and the courts. His/her word generally supercedes that of most other people in a legal framework and his/her credit and risk levels increase and decrease respectively at banks and insurance companies. Those are the perks, as for the responsibilities, a P.E can stamp off drawings which may or may not lead to the creation of faulty products which in turn could kill people or save them. However if the product fails, the engineer can lose their licence, a criminal conviction can also lead to a loss of licensure.
Prior to licensure a person practicing engineering is considered an EIT, engineer in training, they have none of the perks or responsibilities, however a prior criminal conviction will prevent them from earning licensure. The whole process is similar to that of a medical intern, engineers like doctors are not considered engineers until they become licenced.

[clam61]

at ucla "computer science" is under the school of engineering. computer science in its purest form is basically applied math, but we learned things that are pertinent to software/hardware engineering.

in any case, i work as a software engineer.

i never heard of PE, that's interesting.

[ziggi]

Yeah, as far as I know software engineering isn't considered engineering by the professional engineers association. But for all I know, maybe UCLA has some deal worked out.

[clam61]

that's interesting. maybe because you are not producing a physical product.


consider the US. if you have 4+ years experience as an ME, you would be making 70+K USD in the states.

[sarat]

As of now, Software education and experience is not recognized by any State for a P.E. license.

[ziggi]

I did consider the US...the US didn't consider me :) not yet
70K a year....you must be talking about the defense contractors or something, I'm in sales engineering and project coordination for the process (oil, gas, water etc.) sector up here in Canada.

[clam61]

I did consider the US...the US didn't consider me :) not yet
70K a year....you must be talking about the defense contractors or something, I'm in sales engineering and project coordination for the process (oil, gas, water etc.) sector up here in Canada.
no, im just going by stats i have seen. starting salary for ME was low 60s, so i just assume for 4 years you would be at least in the 70s

[clam61]

As of now, Software education and experience is not recognized by any State for a P.E. license.

hmm...that just goes to show NSPE is worthless! jk

[ziggi]

What's NSPE?