can an engineering degree lead to a job in investment banking?

is it feasable to enter investment banking with an engineering degree? the other careers i thought about following were law, medicine, economics or mathematics. Since I saw the devil's advocate, I hava a preconcieved idea, which i am sure is totally wrong, that to be a hughely successful lawyer you somehow have to do damage and not necessarily for the greater good. for example I do not think i could have defended Micheal Jackson. i unfortunately cannot handle blood and so i eliminated medicine. economics seemed too narrow. I wasn't sure what jobs in mathematics, apart from teaching, i could obtain. I am sure there are many highly paid jobs for mathematicians. Instead I chose engineering because ... really... because it seemed hard and it would keep my mind active. I have heard that investment banking is equally hard (people working 60 or more hours per week) and competitive, plus more rewarding financially. the reasoning being the old economic argument that the salary reflects the difficulty/skill level. however wrong this might be, it would appear that to work in IB you have to be highly competent. (I tend to like difficult things because you learn so much more).
in brief, is it possible to enter investment banking with an engineering degree? what can I do to increase my chances of getting a job in this area? and any book recommendations?

Reply 1

Redeyejedi

7

Most Investment banks ask for a numerically intensive degree for things like trading. Engineering is without a doubt about as numerically intensive as it gets in terms of degree (just below maths) furthermore the applied aspects of engineering through its strong attatchment to physics make engineering even more ideal as it shows you can apply your numerical skills to specific situations rather than being purely theoretical.

It also depends of course on where you do your degree, but if its a top 10 establishment it should be fine. I know engineers personally who have been to either Oxford, Cambridge or Imperial who have gone to Goldmans..the best in terms of IB so in a word YES Engineering is ideal.

Hope it helped :smile:

Reply 2

Neocortex

another similar topic lol...

Anyways you need to be motivated and really want to make it into the financial world do research into it, read financial books etc. just wanting to enter it purely of the reasons of it being difficult and challenging is not enough, the IBs seek lot of things.

here an example of the requirement of two different students that say gets into the CSFB, one from business/finance/eco background and one from non that type of background: http://www.gfbn.org/index.php?act=home&fd=7&sb=ccountry&cn=92&submit=Go

Reply 3

alben

OP

thank you for your advise. I am going to imperial next year. and yes i think i do have an interest in the financial world. for example i sometimes buy the economist. right now i am in exam time so i have had little time to read for pleasure, but the economist is a great magazine.

Reply 4

TheWolf

15

Yes and you'll find that lotsa people from esp your course at IC going into IB.

Reply 5

Neocortex

alben

thank you for your advise. I am going to imperial next year. and yes i think i do have an interest in the financial world. for example i sometimes buy the economist. right now i am in exam time so i have had little time to read for pleasure, but the economist is a great magazine.

Economist magazine in my view is just the beginning and fairly politically biased, i have losed the appetite in them these days. if you inspect it carefully. Fortune is far better and FT decent as well.

Reply 6

alben

OP

i will try fortune magazine next time. I have only read the FT a few times, I find it an "old" newspaper, by that i mean they do not try to appeal to teenagers, but then again of course they wouldn't. they do however have a great review section. i will however start reading it. again thanks for the advice. any books?

Reply 7

Neocortex

alben

i will try fortune magazine next time. I have only read the FT a few times, I find it an "old" newspaper, by that i mean they do not try to appeal to teenagers, but then again of course they wouldn't. they do however have a great review section. i will however start reading it. again thanks for the advice. any books?

for books umm i haven't got the list of books up in my website, but there are few there, takes some time until we can get it running properly, take a look at the careers section to see what few i have slotted there. too busy to do much until after an exam next week...

Reply 8

alben

OP

i found a good website that explains investments (eg what stocks and bonds are, mutual funds and hedge funds ...etc) here is the link http://investopedia.com/

Reply 9

alben

OP

that one is american. there is a british one which i haven't looked at very much but it does explain how much they should tax invesment (and how to avoid it). the link http://www.incademy.com/

can an engineering degree lead to a job in investment banking?

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