How to Break Into Investment Banking as an Engineer
“It’s something very personal, a very important thing. Hell! It’s a family motto. Are you ready Jerry? I wanna make sure you’re ready, brother. Here it is: Show me the money. SHOW! ME! THE! MONEY! Jerry, it is such a pleasure to say that! Say it with me one time, Jerry.”
-Rod Tidwell, Jerry Maguire (1996)
If you’re like Rod here, you’ve come to the right place.
You’ve done engineering or you come from a technical background, but now you want to break into finance. Show me the money!
So here’s how you break into the industry:
What You’re Up Against
Every recruiting effort is a battle – sometimes you have advantages over the enemy, and sometimes you’re at a disadvantage.
Here’s what other professions are up against:
- Lawyers: They can work long hours and deal with annoying clients all day, but can they count?
- Accountants: They can do mind-numbingly boring work and they know finance, but can they work long hours?
And here’s your key challenge as an engineer:
“I know you’re good at math and making calculations, but can you talk to people? Do you have any social skills? Are you actually interested in finance? Are you willing to work 100 hours a week rather than the 50-60 you’d get at Google, Facebook, or Twitter?”
You need good answers to those, and your interview performance needs to be polished to a waxy shine – otherwise you’ll come across as the engineer who doesn’t know what he or she is getting into.
In Your Favor
But it’s not all bad news. There are some things working in your favor:
- They won’t doubt your quantitative skills or your attention to detail.
- Depending on your experience, you can prove that you can work long hours relatively easily.
- You have options outside of investment banking that other professionals like lawyers and accountants don’t have access to.
Telling Your Story
Here’s how you apply our story-telling template and tutorial to investment banking interviews if you’re an engineer:
“I started off being interested in [Engineering / Technical Field] back [Before College / In College If You've Graduated], and thought I would do that for a few years.
But after getting exposed to [Your Finance "Spark" - Meeting Someone, An Event, Student Group, Internship], I realized that I was much more interested in pursuing business because I want to make an impact and work in something much faster-paced.
Since then, I’ve done some research on my own and also [Hopefully Done More Finance-Related Work / Activities], and I’ve realized that starting out in investment banking would be the best fit for me. In the long-term I want to be an investor or trusted advisor to companies, and I see banking as the ideal path to getting there.”
You might expand that in interviews or shorten it if you’re networking, but that’s the basic idea.
If you’re an engineer, you’ll have a much easier time telling your story if you’re applying to groups with a technology focus – whether they’re in banking, PE, or anything else.
It makes it much easier to use the Background In One Field + Finance Experience = Long-Term Success formula discussed in Why Investment Banking.
Networking Ninja Tactics
There’s not too much specific to engineers when it comes to networking: if you’re a student, go through alumni, your friends, family, peers, classmates, anyone in your fraternity or sorority, and so on.
Cold-calling also works well with local boutiques, and some regions – like Silicon Valley – have a high concentration of tech-focused boutique investment banks, so you may have more success there.
If you’re already working, you can go to your co-workers, former co-workers, clients, and former clients for networking purposes as well: just be careful to not say too much too early.
Should you go for bulge bracket banks or target middle-market / boutique firms exclusively?
It depends on how old you are and what you’ve done up to this point. Some rough guidelines:
- Already Working Full-Time: Forget about bulge brackets unless you have a killer connection – go for smaller places.
- Graduating Soon, With No Relevant Internships: See above.
- You’re Applying for Internships in Your 2nd or 3rd Year at School: It’s worth spreading your net wide if you’re still at this stage, though you’ll have more luck with large banks if you’re at a well-known school.
Other Options: Hedge Funds, Prop Trading, Sales & Trading, and Middle/Back Office Roles
I mentioned above that engineers have options available to them that others don’t, because of their quantitative background.
There are 2 main categories here:
- Trading: Hedge Funds, Prop Trading Firms, and Sales & Trading at large banks.
- IT / Support Roles: Referred to as the “middle office” or “back office” at banks.
You stand a good shot of getting these jobs because they look for people with quantitative and technical backgrounds.
Even if you’re not doing algorithmic trading or any programming, you still need good math and probability skills to succeed in trading.
And if you’re in an IT or support role, programming is essential and you have a huge leg-up with your background.
But there are a few things to watch out for:
- Even if the work you’re doing is more technical, having a demonstrated interest in finance is still critical. Especially at top schools, engineers are all very, very good at math – but they’re not all genuinely interested in finance.
- You should avoid IT / support roles unless you truly have no other options – transitioning to the front office is quite tough unless you want to get into sales & trading rather than investment banking.
- The main disadvantage of all these options is that your exit opportunities are more limited: you either stick with trading or you move into an entirely different industry if you get tired of it.
So they’re not right for everyone, but you should at least consider them and do some networking in these areas if you’re coming from an engineering background.
Spinning Your Resume
So you have your “story” set and you’ve planned out your recruiting strategy, which firms you’ll contact, and what fields of finance you’re most interested in.
Next, you need to craft a winning resume – because almost everyone will ask for it. Here’s how you do that:
Step 1: Use this investment banking resume template if you’re an undergraduate, or use this more experienced resume template if you’re already out of school.
Step 2: Pick the 3-4 experiences you want to highlight – these should be what you’ve done full-time, your summer or school-year internships, or major activities where you’ve held leadership roles.
Step 3: Remove technical jargon and engineer / programming-lingo from your resume and re-frame everything in terms of business rather than C++.
Here’s a poor way to word an example bullet on your resume:
“Inspected client’s customer support code and assisted with migration from Linux 2.4 to Linux 2.6 by implementing support for 64-bit multi-core processors in assembly code as well as support for threaded processes in operating system kernel.”
No one aside from programming geeks knows what the hell that means – so you need to write about the business results instead:
“Reviewed client’s customer support system and found room to optimize process by 20%; recommended and implemented changes, which saved client $10,000 and 10 hours of labor per week over first year.”
Please don’t write about multi-core processors – write about the time or money you saved people, or the additional revenue you brought in as a result of what you did.
In Interviews
Interviewers will focus on the key questions we referenced above:
- Are you genuinely interested in finance? Do you have a demonstrated track record of interest?
- Have you learned enough about accounting and finance to answer basic technical questions?
- Do you have the stamina to work 100-hour weeks?
- Can you talk to people? Comb your hair? Dress properly?
Here’s how you can answer these “objections”:
- The 100-hour week one is probably easiest: just talk about all the lab work you had to do, all the last-minute projects you worked on, or any time you hit “crunch time” in your internships or full-time jobs.
- To prove your interest in finance, pick a few interesting tech (or other) stocks or companies to discuss. Avoid Google, Apple, Twitter, Facebook, etc. as everyone will talk about those. Also talk about any investing you’ve done or any recent tech market news.
- To answer technical questions, there are interview guides and financial modeling programs that will teach you everything you need to know. You can also go through accounting / finance textbooks or ask your friends for a crash-course.
The last point – proving your social skills – is tough to explain in words, but you need to be polished and you can’t hesitate when you answer questions.
The best way to get good at this one is to practice with any friends who are smooth talkers and imitate them as much as possible.
Also, make brevity a habit – many engineers ramble on endlessly about technical details, but in interviews you want to keep 90% of your answers to 2-3 sentences at the most. If they want more, let them ask.
Technical Questions
Since you don’t have a finance background, bankers will have lower expectations when it comes to technical questions.
But that doesn’t mean you can just ignore them: at the very minimum, you need to know the fundamental accounting and valuation questions – the 3 financial statements, how they link together, how to walk through changes to the statements, and how to value a company.
You could get questions on more advanced topics like merger models and LBO models, but these are more common if you’ve had some type of finance experience: definitely know the basic concepts, but don’t spend time learning every single obscure detail.
If you’re in a time crunch, your best bet here is a comprehensive, concise interview guide that lays out everything in plain and simple terms.
Plan B Options
So you networked your butt off, you spun your resume as best you could, and you nailed your interviews.
But you came out of it with no offers.
What are your options?
1. Consider Finance Roles Outside of Investment Banking
See the section above on hedge funds, trading, and middle / back office roles. While these have some disadvantages compared to investment banking, they’re still much better than sitting around watching TV all day.
You could also think about asset management, private wealth management, consulting, or anything else that takes you closer to business – investment banking is not the be-all end-all that some would have you believe.
2. Business School
It’s never a magic bullet solution, but you can use business school to re-brand yourself… if you do it properly.
Just make sure you get into a top MBA program, that you do some kind of pre-MBA internship, and that you have a few years of full-time work experience first.
3. Keep At It
This one is only applicable if you’re working full-time: if you’re in school, you have deadlines.
But if you’re already out and working, keep in mind that the job search process takes a long even if you’re spending 8 hours a day on it.
Expect to spend 6-9 months looking before you find anything – and it might take a year or longer in a poor economy.
So don’t throw in the towel until you’ve exhausted Plans B, C, and D.
Break Into Investment Banking
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Hi, I am a 21 year old Computer Engineer and am interested in Investment Banking. To understand more about this, I applied to and have got offers from top business schools in the UK for MSc. in Finance. However, is this degree a good stepping stone for working in Investment Banking and the Financial sectors?
I don’t want to do an MBA now as i am a fresher. Is it a good idea to do the MSc. Finance and work for a few years and then do an MBA?
Please help me out with this, it is very confusing.
Thanks a lot.
You have done some great work here for engineering grads like me. :)
Yes that degree will help but you also want some business-related work experience before applying to IB.
This is quite a dilemma. I can either go to University College London for a MEng degree in Engineering with Business Finance(Business taught by LSE by the way) or to McGill University(Canada) for BSc Mathematics and Statistics.
I am looking to get a post grad degree in either case from a top Grad School. If I go to UCL, i’d probably wish to go for a management degree from the likes of LSE, Cambridge, etc. If Mcgill, then a degree in Actuary or Financial Mathematics.
Is it possible for me to do either straight out of college or do I have to get work experience prior to joining a top Grad School?
Which one is the better option?
BSc math from McGill and then Actuary from LSE, etc. OR Engineering with Business finance from UCL and then management from LSE, Cambridge, etc
You don’t need work experience for a Master’s program. I think either option is good but LSE is the best-known of those schools so UCL to LSE is better.
Hi, I have completed a Bachelor of Science in Production Management and went straight into a Masters of Science in Financial Services. Since completing my undergraduate and Master degree in college, I have found it difficult to get into finance to gain experience. I have over a year of experience in insurance since finishing my degrees and I am presently working in operations there however it is very hard in the current economic climate to gain experience in finance.
Can you advise me on how I could gain experience in finance asap to begin my career as I cannot get to interview stage anywhere and I have got professionals to review my CV and advised it is correctly laid out, only it is difficult to break the barrier.
Thanks.
Offer to work for free and do informal internships at local firms. You could also try going through a program like Analyst Exchange that pairs you up with an internship.
Hi
I am a fresher in “Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering”. Beside doing BE I have also done MSc. Economics. Along with this I am also being trained at advanced JAVA by a Computer training institute.
I wish to go for investment banking as my career. Please state if I have the required qualifications for the same or not?
As mentioned throughout this site, there are no real qualifications other than a college degree. Breaking in is all about things you can’t quantify, such as networking and how presentable you are.
What do the merchant banks expect from the engineers?
What kind of jobs they give to an engineer, specially fresher?
No one “gives you” a job – as a freshman your chances of getting any type of internship are very low to begin with, but if you lined something up it would consist of helping with basic data collection tasks, helping with random errands and so on – see the day in the life / summer internship articles on this site.
hi,
I am currently working as a software engineer in one of the MNC.Judging by the earlier post i think its tough to get into financial sector without a good work-ex or an intern.Could you please suggest name of some firms that i can join for internship that can help me reach my goal and also can u suggest me some distant learning courses regarding the same.
Thanks
I would ask on WallStreetOasis for names of these firms – I don’t have a list offhand.
I just finished my freshman year in industrial engineering at Rutgers University but would like to pursue an IB job after graduating. Should I switch out of engineering (I might loose a semester or 2 at most) and what major would you recommend? I want to start getting my self ready before its too late, I have been reading a lot and educating my self about this industry, what are other things that you would recommend to do early on in my career.
I really appreciate your help.
It doesn’t really matter because the larger issue is that few banks recruit at your school. More than switching majors, transferring elsewhere would be a smarter move. If you do want to switch I would go for Economics / Accounting / Finance or something else similar.
I am 3 years through my petroleum engineering degree at the university of calgary. I am doing a 16 month engineering internship with Shell in both drilling engineering and reservoir engineering and I am going back to do my final year in September. I would really like to transition into Investment Banking so I was thinking of doing my CFA in the evenings when I graduate while working full time as an engineer for the first few years of my career. This would give me the technical understanding of the petroleum industry as well as an understanding of the business. Is this a reasonable plan for shifting into Investment Banking?
The CFA is not that helpful in North America – you’re better off networking and making the push to get into finance now, before you graduate from university or shortly thereafter. It gets significantly harder to break in if you’ve been out of school for several years.
Hi, I’m a first year engineering student at Cambridge university, but I want to go into IB, I want to transfer to study economics, but some of my friends in ib suggest me stay in engineering beacause it gives me a solid numerical foundation. What should I do? Should I transfer to economics?
Maybe do economics or finance but keep engineering as a minor.
Hi, I am in SAP FI consultancy for more than 2 years. I completed my MBA in Finance and Banking.Before that, I completed my B. Technology in Electronics and telecommunication engineering.Now, I want to switch to IB or equity research or Financial Analyst job.
Could you suggest me a suitable way to hit through?
Will be highly obliged.
Hard to do anything if you’ve already done an MBA, your best bet is to go back and speak with alumni from your program, network with them, and see what presents itself.
In my final year of mining engineering and finance, (BEng/Bcomm) I want to go into Mining investment finance eventually but most people recommend that I spend a few years onsite working in the mining industry before i move into a finance position. Do you think that this technical experience is as critical as everyone is making it out to be? Or should i try for a financial role as soon as I graduate?
I really don’t know as I know nothing about the mining industry – I would try to move into a finance role sooner rather than later.
Hi, I am a computer engineer,a recent graduate.I want to get into investment banking or equity research as soon as possible.I have applied to most of the good finance firms but have got no response.
Unfortunately, I have no networking as well.Should I go for CFA charter now or should I wait until I get some experience in an IT firm.Other than CFA, how can I break into Finance.Are certifications from Stock Exchange helpful.
Forget about certifications – focus on cold-calling small banks and talking to quant-based prop trading firms that can use your skills.
Hi, I am really interested in working with Prop trading firms and I believe I have strong quantitative skills as well but do they accept freshers.And, if yes then is prior knowledge of finance required to enter prop shops.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no… usually you don’t need knowledge of finance but interest + passion + quantitative ability are key.
Could you please name a few prop trading firms in India where I can apply for Trader position.
Sorry, I don’t maintain lists of firms – ask on WallStreetOasis in the Traders’ Forum and someone might know.
Hello there,
I wanted some advice as regards to moving into Investment Banking. Just a quick summary about my background, I graduated from Waterloo University in Ontario, Canada with a degree in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Economics. During my internship/school years I wasn’t too focused to get into banking, so I worked at a number of tech companies. During my last year i tried to make the switch and obviously it was hard with no experience on my resume.
I tried then to switch into consulting or a business related role as that might provide me leverage to get into banking. With that in mind i applied everywhere with a business resume. Before anything concrete could happen, I landed a full time job at Ericsson, another technical role.
Four months into the job, I got a call from a consulting company (information management consulting) for the position of a Business Consultant. Do you think I should give this position a shot and from here onwards try to move into banking or work at the tech company “Ericsson” and make the switch after my MBA?
Yes I would at least consider the business consultant position and then think about an MBA after that
Hi,
I graduated with an MEng degree in Medical engineering last year from Queen mary university of london. I have been working as a recruitment consultant since graduation but I want to break into banking and finance. I was thinking of doing a CFA level 1 to learn more about finance and may be it would help me into a banking position if I acquire the required knowledge. what do you suggest me to do? do you think this is a sensible thing to do?
The CFA is not very useful… do a search for CFA on this site. I would suggest targeting local boutiques first and then considering business school in a few years.
Great page. You mentioned high-tech boutique investment banks in California. What do you mean by high-tech banks? Is this referring to the complexity of the products they are trading or do you mean high-tech IB?
Boutiques that advise companies in the technology industry
Hi, I have got an offer from a prop trading firm to do intra-day trading in stocks/equity.They are offering no salary but a 50% share of the profit that I earn.They are also ready to share the losses equally.Please guide me whether I should join it as it is a very risk taking job.Also, I do have interest in Finance and want to be an investment banker someday.How would this help in my profile for an MBA later in my career.
I would only do it if you have enough money saved up to cover a year of living expenses; it would not be super-helpful for IB unless you used it to move to a boutique bank (for example) and then into IB later on.
So, does that mean that the day traders earn very less in their initial one year.How much time on an average does it takes to become good in trading equities?
Very random – you might pick it up quickly, or you might never become good at it. That’s why it’s a risky offer to take.
hello,
i am an electrical engineer and recently joined a finance company. i really like this job but as i am from engineering background, peoples usually ask me what an engineer is doing in a finance company. i really got tired of answering them and these days my mind got messed up with these type of questions. I really want to concentrate on my job but sometimes i got struck in between and starts to think am i right? Please help me, hw could i handle this type of situation.