Suresh Varma, a 2nd-year Post-Graduate Programme (PGP) student at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Rohtak and an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduate recently cleared his CFA Level 2 exam. Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) is a highly regarded professional certification for Finance aspirants that is awarded by the US-based CFA Institute. Varma shares how he balanced his MBA studies and CFA preparation.

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You are an IIT graduate. Was your technical degree of any help when it came to finance?

It will be beneficial in future when I will be able to connect it with competitions where you have to build trading algorithms. That is when my technical degree will come into play.

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You switched from IT to finance. What are the factors that influenced this decision?

Before joining IIM Rohtak, I worked for 3 years and realised that you need something to keep you motivated at your workplace. The appraisal was not performance-based but hour-based. I liked it when there was work, even for 10 or 12 straight hours but there were times when there was no work and I still had to sit it out in the office for 8 hours. That was a pain, and hence, I started exploring several courses on Coursera to while away my time. It was there that I stumbled across courses on finance and I liked it. I realised that finance is the thing for me.

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MBA is a hectic course, especially at IIMs and so is CFA. How did you strike the perfect balance?

There are several common subjects. I had already learnt the basics from Coursera such as basic valuations, time value of money, etc. This gave me a head-start, and hence, diving into finance was not that tough for me. Then I came across topics such as Derivatives that I found extremely interesting but tough at the same time. It was challenging, but challenges are what I love. It was pretty tough to balance MBA and CFA but the head-start really helped me there.

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What kind of profile are you striving towards?

I am thinking of getting a Ph.D. in Finance. If I have to get into a job, then an equity research or a consulting job would be my preference. I like analysing the workings of the equity market. After a Ph.D., my dream job would be a combination of a consulting job and that of a professor.

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When did you start preparing for the level 2 exam and what according to you is the ideal time a candidate needs to devote to clear level 2 of CFA?

There is no such thing as the ideal time. Everyone has their own approaches towards learning. I believe in studying on a regular basis; I spent a lot of time in the library reading up on various topics, including finance. I do not believe in studying just to get a degree. That does no value addition. One should study to acquire knowledge; the degree is a by-product.

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Any suggestions or message that you want to broadcast to other MBA pursuers and CFA aspirants?

I would say, especially to the first years, that they should not look at finance only as financial accounting. The interesting part – the analysis – comes later. You will start seeing the application in everyday life. For example, when watching a cricket match, you will start analysing the number of balls left, the strike rate of players and do a mental ratio analysis to predict which team will come out on top. So I would advise them to stick it out and not perceive it as a subject which is mundane, but look at the broad application of it. Finance is not just accounting, it is much more than that.