Understanding my interest in the financial markets, my grandfather gave me a grant of Rs.50000 to invest in the market. This was at the time when I was still in the 10th standard. He had watched me analyzing the markets day in and day out. Though I got this money quite easily, I took this opportunity very seriously. I started making speculations by constructing my own theories.
These theories didn’t work all the time but they gave me lessons each time I poured money into the market. I grew up investing and by the time I completed my schooling, I realized the importance of good education and professional degree from great Institution to maintain a prominent position in the financial markets. I have always had natural talents with numbers and analysis that sparked an aspiration in me to be a finance professional with great knowledge, qualification and reputation for solving problems. To accomplish my goals, I started my journey with a very reputed college that pioneered in finance education – St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, India where I was able to get in only after scoring in the top percentile range in my 12th standard board exam.
During the same time, to have a wide exposure, I started pursuing the Charter course of Chartered Accountancy (CA) in India. My training could not have been more arduous since the beginning of the compulsory 3-year articleship period with Deloitte India under the Audit & Assurance domain. This was while I was still in my second year of graduation. A typical weekday began at about 5am with the college starting at 6am which got over by 10 am followed immediately by the rigorous articleship training under qualified Chartered Accountants. Ever since the articleship journey took-off, 15-16 hours of college cum work life became a practice and not to forget, we also had to be abreast with the college and CA study. This was a journey that taught me great lessons about building a thriving career at a very early stage while also getting trained at the painstaking job of an external auditor.
Though the days were long and tiring, I was getting polished at business acumen, business strategy and gained knowledge about various Industries by having the exposure to audit some of the Titans in the Metals, Media and Hotel Industry. This period of hard work and earnest discipline was an incredible experience that imbibed in us time management skills and work responsibility that made us look as example for those who were not pursuing their full time articleship. With the ongoing exposure to the book keeping techniques and business strategies built and followed by the Titans of some Industries, I still had the urge to be in good touch with my academics and learn about the Financial Markets, hence I entered the CFA candidature during the 3rd year of my graduation with high hope to accomplish it.
I cleared my exams and gained the Chartered Accountancy qualification two years post completing my graduation. During the stint of preparing for the CA and CFA exams, I had learned about my unfathomable desire to never settle on the path to acquire and behold greater knowledge and skills that can make an impact. Post-qualification, I started my career working for a Multi-National with decent earnings but was more interested to invest on my education and character building than buying a car or settling with a home loan. At this juncture, I have invested 4 years post qualification in building a good rapport in my organization, climbed the career ladder and have displayed matured professional skills. Several times, being recognized with Making an impact, Learning & Adapting and results through teamwork certificates and applauded for my contributions and demonstration of next level skills. Working at HP Inc. for the last 4 years, I have had the chance to be mentored by some shining stars of the organization and learnt a great deal from them. What I learned the most from them was to challenge the status quo and be a valuable individual contributor with a mind to innovate and create value.
One such instance worth calling out was an initiative to create a Country Risk Ranking Model based on a Heat Map with financial metrics, Ledger Triangulations and correlations driving such analysis. It was a painstaking effort that gave a completely different perspective on analysis of Financials and on time detection of anomalies. Being with the reputation of erudition, another thing that I enjoyed in the last few years of my career was sharing my knowledge and skills with a wider team. I made several presentations and imparted trainings on subjects of importance.
Few of them were on Derivatives Accounting, HP Legal Entity structure etc. In last few years of work experience under different profiles that banked primarily on analytical skills and an eye for detail, though I have made a worthwhile contribution, I have also critically understood the importance of making constant initiatives to be on the path of “Finance of the Future” that is based on a digital era of automation, predictive modelling, statistics and programming. In this effort, I believe to capitalize my knowledge of statistics, accounting, core finance, and financial reporting and top it up with the skills of the future to take a step ahead in making an impact. With such intention, I keep myself aware of and share the insights of further education and skill-building with my colleagues and friends in Industry. This is precisely how I was in a looking stage when I luckily advanced in the direction to discover about the Master’s in Financial Engineering program that best suits my objective to enter the era of skills for “Finance of the Future”. This program also best suits my interest in and through the algorithmic trading, quantitative Trading, Corporate Finance, valuation, and predictive analytics coursework.
I have a belief that the Lab work, fieldwork, projects and being associated with people with similar goals and skills would keep me motivated and build a better understanding of the subjects. My aim to have global exposure and work with people from various communities who bring so many perspectives to the table is kindled by the exposure offered by your Institute. Post completing the MFE program, I intend to work in the consulting space with experience in Portfolio/Fund Management, Valuation, and Individual Finance. This university is a great fit for my professional goals and aspirations.
