FINANCE DEGREE VERSUS FINTECH DEGREE

should you get a regular finance degree

or should you get one of the more recent

fintech degree that's a question a lot

of people both students and

professionals looking to advance their

careers are continuously beginning to

ask the finance landscape has changed so

much and continues to evolve as

technology becomes more and more

immersed in the space fintech is

beginning to increasingly dominate the

finance landscape as we transition into

a more digital first world so in this

video i'm going to discuss the

differences between the two educational

options the considerations that you

should make in deciding which is best

for you and whether even having a

finance degree is still relevant if that

sounds like an interesting topic then

let's chat about it

[Music]

hello friends welcome back to the

channel my name is jeremy and if you're

new here and haven't yet subscribed

please consider doing so because on this

channel i speak about fintech digital

transformation personal and career

development deciding on which degree is

best to facilitate your career ambitions

is always tough back in the day it was

pretty much a no-brainer that if you

wanted to work in the finance industry

you got a finance degree however in this

day and age it's really not that simple

anymore the finance industry is now

heavily integrated with the technology

industry and has become normal to find

professionals who possess technical

degrees working comfortably in finance

spaces the dilemma for most people then

becomes should i get a traditional

finance degree or a fintech degree and

there's even a consideration for whether

to get a technology degree and augment

that with finance courses so let's

discuss what both degrees actually offer

and what you can expect from each option

should you decide to pursue them

starting off first with what both

curriculums typically offer a finance

degree is the more popular option be it

a first degree or a master's degree the

curriculum has been pretty standard for

decades traditionally the finance degree

has been the facilitator for anyone

looking to pursue a career in any of the

finance subdomains such as in accounting

and commercial banking investment

banking insurance asset management

venture capital financial advisory

actuary stock broken and a whole host of

others it is considered one of the

fields with the highest compensation

packages especially if you're looking to

rise through the ranks to become a

c-suite level executive such as a chief

financial officer now obviously there

are many benefits to pursuing a career

in finance even in the traditional

institution it's a dynamic and

forward-thinking industry that is

constantly changing and growing the

actual jobs within the space require

more technical skills and qualifications

so there is a demand for dynamic finance

savvy candidates it's also a global

industry so regardless of geographic

location there are lots of opportunities

and transferable skills that make for a

good fit across the globe almost every

job within the finance space involves

problem solving and the day-to-day

activities require fixing complex

problems for large and small companies

also there are varied career paths and

options for different people as

mentioned there are several sub-domains

and it's normal to see people transition

from one field to another within the

space there are working opportunities

worldwide because companies need

financial professionals you could find

yourself working in an entirely

non-finance related industry because the

transferable skills obtained in the

space are to an extent agnostic and

finally because the finance industry is

integral to global economic growth it

tends to offer a more stable and pretty

predictable career path so the typical

subjects covered in traditional finance

degree courses are pretty standard you

have accounting economics both micro and

macro statistics financial management

international business business law

business ethics calculus marketing

strategic and operations management

there are a few other niche topics that

may be covered and you do get to select

electives all the majors you wish to

specialize in now moving on to the more

recently popular fintech degree there

are definitely lots of overlaps between

fintech and finance since of course

fintech is an iteration of finance

infused with technology fintech has

become a booming industry and has

continued to grow every year globally

the fintech market is worth over 200

billion dollars and this growth has made

fintech a popular career option for both

graduates and professionals looking to

make the transition there are a number

of reasons why getting a fintech degree

right off the bat is becoming a

consideration for many aspiring finance

professionals fintech is generally

accepted to be the future of finance

hence educating yourself in that regard

is seen as a way to ensure your career

against redundancy and prepare you for

the future of work in finance fintech

introduces new markets new technology

new laws and legislation and a more

globalized finance market which all

indicate that the fintech industry is

moving in a newer more exciting

direction fintech degree programs do

include traditional finance models but

you also get to learn about the evolving

technological aspects such as machine

learning data-driven financial modeling

data mining and recent innovations like

artificial intelligence cloud computing

and blockchain additionally another

great addition to the emerging course

landscape is the inclusion of soft

skills training such as problem solving

analysis and teamwork all of which can

be applied to many roles and are

transferable to different industries

several of the top careers in the

fintech industry for fintech graduates

include cyber security blockchain data

analytics and artificial intelligence

the course curriculum for a fintech

degree typically includes subjects such

as data science ai for financial

modeling blockchain cryptocurrencies

fintech entrepreneurship algorithmic

trading banking regulations rec tech

enabling fintech fintech governance and

fintech compliance now in deciding which

of these degrees is the right one for

you there are a number of considerations

that you need to make or rather

questions that you need to ask yourself

if the career path you want to pursue is

substantially traditional with

principles that are hard-coded and

haven't changed in years such as

accounting or economics because you want

to either be a career accountant or

economist then you might better be

served by a traditional accounting or

economics degree and the associated

professional certifications such as the

acca the cpa or cfa that are recognized

by employers in that field you could

augment that with a fintech second

degree or a fintech course if you really

do want to broaden your horizon about

the evolving fintech space additionally

if your preference is stability and you

want to have a more predictable career

path with relatively less turbulence and

change again a finance degree might

serve you well to achieve that however

if you prefer to go down a different

more innovative path within the finance

space where not all your courses are

finance specific and you get to imbibe

unconventional technology courses then a

fintech degree might be it for you if

you consider yourself a tech savvy

finance person or a finance savvy tech

person a fintech degree will be an

exciting blend of both worlds and a

great foundation for the new wave of

innovation within the finance industry

however it's important to bear in mind

that you will still need to find a

specialization because similar to

finance there are different sub-domains

and careers in fintech so you need to

pick a track lastly i would say that

it's important to bear in mind that a

degree alone may not be all it takes to

land a job in finance or fintech

wherever you can you should try and get

as much practical work experience as

possible be it via internships or

attachments whenever you get the chance

that counts for a lot and gives you a

stronger foundation which gives you the

best chance of making that career

transition across the financial services

industry organizations are evolving and

finding new innovative ways to offer

their services there is a growing demand

for finance professionals as there

always has been but now with the advent

of technology fintech professionals are

becoming more and more in demand i hope

this video has given you some insight as

to which educational option between the

two would serve the career path you wish

to pursue if you found this video

available remember to hit the like

button and leave me a comment as always

you can grab your african themed outfit

from where ghana with the link in the

description have an amazing week and

i'll see you in the next video cheers

guys

you