Thank you first of all for all your knowledge and contribution. My initial plan was to work as an IA and slowly get into a Portfolio Manager position. I guess I can cross that option, if I don’t possess a CFA and MBA. My degree is what @medved pointed out (Design) with an extra knowledge of programming skills. I can get into IA easily through contact, but why I wanted to switch career is because I enjoy the technical and fundamental analysis part of finance. I can tell through a friend (an independant IA) that his applying 0 knowledge of what he learned with his bachelor in Finance. His lifestyle is actually pretty laid back. There is a saying that you open your mouth, you open a business and this is his case. He got a great life by the way with 5 years experiences making around 100k. He didn’t state his salary but I can do an estimate. As an independant IA, his knowledge are quite limited.
I know that after 5 years as a glorified IA I’ll probably learn nothing. Knowing that there isn’t an exit option, through the members posts, since an IA skillset can’t be transferable to an analyst or PM role terrifies me… I’ll stick to my plan and see what will happen: continue developing my programming skill for HFT and backtest on Quantopian, get the mba, cfa and IA title inside 6 years. I initially though an IA was a mix bag of an analyst, a salesmen, a trader and PM. It’s clearer now.
@Matt Likes Analysis: I’ll definitely PM you if I have further question, most of the posts here covered 99% of my dilemma. I appreciate the offer.
@Mike79: I’m actually suprise that you can’t use the portfolio manager title even with a CIM. bummer
I though Web Tech was confusing… finance industry is actually worst but extremely fun!!!