IT guy looking for banking certification

[Landed05]

Hi, I am in at IT guy with over 10 years of experience and currently at architectural/design level. I work on technologies which probably are very much common in almost investment bank, infant I am not aware of one going bank which does not use those technologies. Biggest obstacle for me to get into an investment banking seems to be no prior experience. So I am thinking of doing some sort of course/certification which gives me basic level knowledge of the industry and makes me speak & understand the banking/finance language.

Will IMC be good for that? Will it give me any help considering that I am an IT guy and that's what I want to continue doing?

If not, can someone please kindly advice me where can I begin getting some good knowledge and may be prove it with a certification?

Many thanks,

 

[scose-no-doubt]

For someone who's already so far committed to a completely different discipline I reckon it'll be a case of CFA or gtfo but what do I know?

Good luck.

 

[Hoggums]

To be honest I think you are wasting your time and money on certification.

Now is a very bad time to try to get into banking - no-one is recruiting and redundancies are a real possibility. Just sit tight for now and wait another year before trying to get in - you are competing against lots of seasoned pros with plenty of experience for the few jobs that there are.

In the good times it's relatively easy to get into banking provided you have a degree and you try the permanent route. But you must be top of your game technically, you are likely to face tough technical tests and you must be a good communicator.

If you don't have a degree then you will find it tough to break through so I would suggest you try a less direct route - e.g. asset/fund management company, broker or hedge fund to gain your financial experience.

btw I have been working for a number of the top London banks since 1996.

 

[scose-no-doubt]

btw I have been working for a number of the top London banks since 1996.

Really? Never knew that. What do you do?

 

[Hoggums]

In a nutshell, I'm a programmer working on trading/risk systems.

 

[scose-no-doubt]

Surprised you're allowed to trade.