Hi all, I will try to keep this brief. I’ve been working in banking for 5 years on the credit/lending side and trying to move to fintech. I haven’t had much success yet, always make it to final rounds and then something goes wrong. I’m learning a lot but also starting to get worn out. I’m having a hard time finding roles since I’m not a pure sales person or a data analyst. I’m coming from a corporate banking/credit risk type background. I interviewed twice for @ramp and for two other smaller fintechs. Ramp experience was mixed, I applied for a risk role and then an account manager role 9 months later. I really love the company but thinking that it’s not a fit for me if I applied twice and didn’t get an offer. I’m at a weird crossroads right now with a couple of upcoming interviews at another Fintech, in consulting and at a big bank on their payments team (think it could help me pivot to fintech). I feel really burnt out from interviewing and am trying to figure out if I’m grasping at straws, if I should get my MBA? Do a SQL bootcamp or some other training. I so want to move to fintech or startup side and just feel like I’m doing something wrong. #interview #finance #ramp Any feedback would be so helpful! YOE 5 TC 152k EDIT - took a little break from this app and came back to all of these amazing responses. I feel really grateful and your messages have really helped me feel supported.
Take a break from interviewing, and work on ur programming skills then come back to it later in the year. Usually post bonus payout lot of good talents are out and exploring so it’s super competitive.
Yeah that makes sense. Thanks for your feedback. When you say programming are you referring to data analysis? I l would love to do something credit/data related
When u say fintech that means they want to see someone who can code python, build dashboards and stuffs, so a data science bootcamp should be good(they usually teach u sql as one of their modules too) also make sure to check maybe ur company sponsor some of these programs
You have to invest into a technical tool box of programs especially for data analyst and business analyst roles. Programs like Python, R, SAS and SQL is a must.
Definitely Python *or* R. Learning both is a hat on a hat IMO. Side: I don’t know why anyone would bother to learn R these days, not sure what you can do there that you couldn’t do in Python but there are plenty of things you definitely shouldn’t do in R that you can do in Python.
I'd learn it just to avoid using Python 🐍
I am from banking credit risk side primarily and currently working at Freddie Mac in credit risk. I am joining Oportun (FinTech) for Data Analyst position. My advice to you is to get some sort of experience in SQL because in consumer credit even on credit risk side you will have to deal with big data and everyone wants someone who can pull data, perform some analysis and come up with recommendations for things like impact of credit policy change or marketing campaigns etc. My experience in SQL and Tableau along with analytical experience helped land this position. Hope this helps! Good luck with your search.
Thank you! This was so helpful, starting a SQL bootcamp this week :)
Try a more mid sized startup rather than something larger. Startup investing / alternative asset area is interesting. StartEngine, Rally road, Vinovest etc.
What are the smaller places you're interviewing?
What is the reason you’re interested in fin techs? Without knowing this it’s hard to answer your question
I know it makes sense to try fintech from where you are. But I found that the fintech hype is pretty much gone as fintech companies in general are not doing crazy well. I would broaden my search in tech outside of fintech. Basically following the money.
Im currently looking for business analysts at my fintech. I sit as director of product. Dm me.
$152K in finance with just 5 YOE is pretty great. May be you are targeting $250K which is just not very easy to get in finance career unless the title is director.
It’s easy to get 250k at a large fintech, but it’s going to be competitive, especially without solid hard skills
250K with paper money based on private valuations that don’t make sense. Private valuations will start doing what public valuations are doing which will make a lot of the paper money worth way less
What kind of roles are you applying to? Your goals seem really broad (join a Fintech) and there's no real advice to give. Getting an MBA is totally different from a SQL boot camp (btw wtf is a SQL boot camp???) and pull your career in 2 completely different directions. So my feedback is to answer: what on earth do you really want?
I agree! I’m still figuring it out. I’ve applied to business analyst and account manager roles. I mentioned SQL bootcamp because they seem to be a huge plus for risk/data roles which I’ve applied for. What I really want is to work at a Fintech or startup but feel like I’m in this no man’s zone with my background. I’m not SWE, PM or sales so it’s hard to find the right fit.
Two aspects to add on to the above comment. What on earth do you really want and secondly what did you do for the 5 years. If both aren’t related, there is the gap. If they are, then see how to elevate your experience and results better and focus on the search. If you interviewed for account manager (sales) but also data analyst roles, these are very different from each other right. Also, check out affirm and reach out if you need a referral (stock is low but I guess almost all others are taking a hit) good luck!