Read the following on Nelson Lopes’ post: Eng.ShriKrishna Balaji Muthu Pillai scored 90.73% and stood First in B.E (E&E) Dept, at GEC , Farmagudi ,Ponda Past student of GAHS Curchorem and Chandrabhaga H Sec. He receives Eng Francis Bomdin Lopes memorial founded award of Rs 10.000=and citation under PCTrust .He intends to pursue MBA in finance.
I asked myself why it was common for Engineers to do Finance studies. I got a partial answer from a Google search but I am not entirely satisfied with it. Could someone provide a better explanation? I can answer this because I often ask them same question about how I got into engineering. Here is the flawed reasoning I used to get into a STEM career: "Engineering is really hard. If I'm good at it, and I work hard, I should be able to eventually earn a lot of money, right?" WRONG. I am comfortable saying that if I had chosen a finance career over engineering, I would be making 10X or more of my current salary, and I would be enjoying it a hell of a lot more. Let me elaborate. I went to a very prestigious undergrad university. I had always planned to be an engineer, an inventor. After school, I took the engineering job, and the moment I did, I flushed 95% of the value of my prestigious degree down the toilet. Because once you've taken an engineering job, you're forever seen as an engineer and will never be able to get into anything else. I'm not an expert on all things finance, but I do know enough people in the industry to know this: finance pays a lot. Really a lot. Like 10X more than other college educated, fully employed people. Several people have answered "STEM is fun. You have to love what you do, and STEM is interesting." Well, STEM jobs are interesting - for the first 9 months or so. Then, you're pigeonholed into doing pretty much the exact same thing you've been doing, forever. If you work your butt off and you're really crushing it, you can maybe be promoted to engineering manager. Meanwhile the company brings in former investment bankers and management consultants with a couple years of experience into jobs 5 levels higher than you on the org chart. To a level you couldn't get to if you literally invented gold for your company. And so, you're in your 30's, you're working as an engineering manager in your industry, doing the same very difficult stuff that you've been doing the last 5 years. The former consultants and bankers hired by the company are getting paid multiples of your salary to do much more interesting and varied work - product strategy, marketing strategy, M&A strategy. How did that "interesting STEM work" work out for you, when you realize you're stuck in the same Honda Accord you've been driving for the last 7 years and you won't be able to provide your kids with the same standard of living that your parents provided for you growing up? Money matters. Finance pays. By taking that first engineering job, I'm forever locked out of the fast track, despite my MBA. My kids might decide to pursue a STEM major in college, but when they graduate, they'll be going to Wall Street, Management Consulting, or Med School. That's my rule for them. I wish it weren't this way. I don't totally understand why it is. But it is. It has been for the last 100 years, and will be for 100 more. I wish careers that made things paid better. Please note: this is written from the perspective of someone who attended a top 20 school in the US and had a lot of other things going for me that I could have leveraged. Not everyone can just go get a high powered finance job. But, if you're fortunate enough to be able to get that, please do. Roland. Toronto.
