Versatile Professional Designations

[ExtraSlow]

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Forgive me if I'm unfamiliar with your circumstances, but are you bitter because you have a CFA that hasn't delivered what you'd hoped? Or are you bitter because you have another designation that's proven to be futile?

I'm on board with your view of MBAs. It's a designation that I've looked into in the past and decided against, partly due to the reasons you outlined - not opening any doors that wouldn't likely open anyways - but mostly due to the fact that it seems to be getting very watered down from the prestige it seemed to carry ~10 years ago, with every unemployed Tom, Dick and Harry engineer getting one in Calgary over the last 3 years (or so it seems).

I didn't mean to sidetrack this thread. No, I don't have any of these designations, well aside from P.Eng. I'm bitter because every time I've looked into anything, I've had people (HR people) tell me that even with a designation, they would consider me "too old" to start at any junior or mid-level position, even if I found the salary acceptable. So the designation would not open any doors for me at all. I'm talking about PMP and MBA specifically. I didn't look into the finance stuff for my own career.

Anywhoo, Not trying to sidetrack, I already have a thread where I bitch and moan.

OP, (or anyone else) if you want a coffee, PM me and we can chat.

[Buster]

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@Buster what you got for letters?

I do not have any designations. I have an MBA, but I don't consider that a designation. It's just a degree. I find the debate around MBAs boring. If you find a person who is successful with an MBA, you don't often hear them say they regret the degree. And if you hear a person who isn't successful complaining about the "value" of their MBA...well, I don't give a shit what unsuccessful people think with our without an MBA, so fuck them. It is perfectly acceptable for people to conclude they don't need an MBA. People who go on to success after that rarely say bad stuff about the degree because they have seen successful MBAs in their travels, and they get that. People who don't have MBAs but run around talking loudly about how useless they are tend to be people without the balls, bank, or work ethic to actually do one. And they know it. So they spend their spare time wanking instead of getting to work. /MBA rant.

Any of the main professional designations here are identical, just with different material. The career path is the same: go to school, graduate, be someone's bitch for your 20's. Be middle management for a while in your 30's. Maybe make partner/own your own company, whatever. In all cases, it's just a big dues-paying game where you are shown some dreamy partner job and told to "work hard enough and you will get there." Good career paths usually, if you are able to be a grinder and make shit happen. And you're happy to be making rich people richer around you, regardless of how much money you are making. Not my cup of tea, but hey. You can throw medicine or IB in to that mix too, for what it's worth. So in that regard, they're all the same. School, grind, slowly get more responsibility, grind grind grind grind. I would never have succeeded in that path. The point is that NONE of these paths involve just going and getting the designation and then getting to work. You gotta pay your dues and be somebodies bitch. For a long time. It's how the entire structure of those industries is setup. For what it's worth, a Law degree is quite useful in business. But you couldn't PAY me enough to be a lawyer. Stuff of nightmares. I work with lawyers and accountants all the time, and every time I come away from the meeting, I'm reminded at how much I'm glad I'm not doing that work. Some people love it though. I'm happy they exist.

I wouldn't do the CFA if I were you. I'm not even sure you would be in a position to complete it. It's a designation that is truly useful to a relatively narrow slice of the investment and asset management world. If you're not sure if you need it, then you don't need it. The material is seriously fucking boring. You're not learning as much a skill, as you are learning information. Level 1 doesn't mean much (in my view), because all you need to do it is time. And there are lots of jobless unsuccessful people out there that have nothing BUT time.

Here's my unsolicited advice: your biggest asset is your work experience in the real world. The stuff you know about in your industry. Figure out where the money is flowing around in those areas, and make your practical, industry level knowledge useful to people who are operating on a higher level. They might be lawyers, accountants, bankers, whatever. Make yourself useful to people who are investing in the space with capital. Make yourself useful to them. The only way to skip the grinding-bitchwork phase of the professional degrees is to inject yourself into the professional levels from the industry side. There are far more accountants and shit running around the world than people who are experts in your field. Your knowledge is a scarce resource. Make use of it.

[killramos]

Amen my friend

[max_boost]

Buster is like Beyond's Gary V

[themack89]

Lots to respond to, but I am noticing a general theme of my demographic/motivations:

A) Yes I am getting bored. Even though I have a great opportunity here, sometimes the struggle [of dealing with idiots, pardon my french] is too much to handle.

B) I am 29 years old, so I guess I am still a baby. I have a girlfriend who is doing a PhD in Pittsburgh right now. We are talking of having children within the next 5 years.

Buster's distillation was quite nice. Basically every path appears to be laden with shit that I wanted to get away from in the first place (climbing the ladder while simultaneously making rich people richer).

I originally tabled the CPA idea because I have a fantasy of becoming a master at evading taxes and all sorts of accounting wizardry.

[Buster]

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I originally tabled the CPA idea because I have a fantasy of becoming a master at evading taxes and all sorts of accounting wizardry.

If you are successful enough to make those kind of shenanigans worth it, then you are successful enough to get the hired guns who are pros at that. Corporate Tax Lawyers get paid a shit ton for a reason.

[Buster]

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Buster is like Beyond's Gary V

Thanks. But Beyond is full of successful people that could provide similar comments, or better insights. I'm just a guy who happens to blab.

Edit: ninja edit

[ExtraSlow]

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Thanks. But Beyond is full of successful people that could provide similar comments, or better insights. I'm just one who happens to blab.

I for one appreciate your insights, even if we are on very different paths.

[max_boost]

ExtraSlow go work for Buster

[ExtraSlow]

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ExtraSlow go work for Buster

You come with me. We'll start the same day.

[killramos]

Not sure any single organization can contain so much win.

[ExtraSlow]

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Not sure any single organization can contain so much win.

You look more like Jonah Hill than me though. Well hair anyway.

How about you join us, and the three of us revolutionize Busters business?

[Buster]

If you guys are willing to do all of the work, I can just sit on the beach somewhere with a smaller cut.

[killramos]

I expect nothing less.

Maxboost is the brains of the operation anyways.

[ExtraSlow]

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I expect nothing less.

Maxboost is the brains of the operation anyways.

And the brawn, that dude is stoooong.

[The_Rural_Juror]

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If you guys are willing to do all of the work, I can just sit on the beach somewhere with a smaller cut.

Deal. When do I start and does the work involve a mannequin?