Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I'd imagine financial certs would be the most useful (CFA in particular).

I’m similar to you - have a ton of certifications and I’m an insanely good test taker.

Several years ago I signed up for the Level 1 CFA exam in late August to take it on December 5th. So I had a little over 3 months to study for it.

My first inclination that I made a horrible mistake was when one of my portfolio manager coworkers said to me, “I got my bachelor’s in finance, got my master’s in economics, studied for that test for 6 months, failed it and gave up. It’s just too hard.”

350 hours of studying later, I was the only one from my company that passed Level 1 that year. 33% pass rate.

I’m in software engineering. It has provided no discernible career benefit even though I work at an investment bank.

I’m happy that I proved I could do it but the CFA program is not a certification to collect on a whim. It’s literally a 3+ year commitment and you will come close to killing yourself studying.



Thanks for the feedback, yeah that matches what I thought about the exam. I don’t think it’s likely I’ll pass but I’ll give it a go.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: