Episode 10: CFA Research Challenge - UAE Winners
Wow RFM has now reached its 10th episode!
So, I decided to make this special. I usually interview CFA charter holders/ practitioners so that they can share experiences and views. But this episode is an exception. Because you’ve to make an exception for exceptional people.
Alan Mathew and Priyanka Awatramani are fresh graduates who have zero work experience. So why on the RFM? Because they recently nailed something noteworthy. Remarkably mature and resilient for their young age, they were part of the amazing Middlesex Uni Dubai team that won the UAE version of the 2020 CFA Investment Research Challenge, a project that Yours Truly managed. They even made to the EMEA finals, the first EVER team from the UAE to do so and one of the 8 teams (out of 45 from all of Europe, Middle East and Africa) to make it.
Plug in to their journey, their challenges (and solutions) and how to stand out. Essential listening for all youngsters out there.
Listen, learn, grow.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
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Binod:
This is Binod Shankar and you're listening to The Real Finance Mentor Podcast, from therealfinancementor.com. The Real Finance Mentor is your go-to resource for insight and inspiration on careers and finance, CFA and more. You would think, "Why this podcast?" Well, my goal is to deliver insight and inspiration for your finance career, but making it one, relatable. This is not theoretical stuff. We zero in on the critical practical issues. Number two, authentic. No bullshit, no sidestepping. The topics, guests and questions are all from that perspective. And number three, take a chartered accountant, CFA charter holder, add 17 plus years as a corporate warrior, mix in 10 years of entrepreneurship, throw in a decade of full-time CFA training, add speaking, mentoring, cycling, and mountaineering and that's me. Welcome to the Real Finance Mentor. Or as they call it, RFM.
[Tune]
Binod:
Normally I invite practitioners, soft skills experts, CFA charter holders to be on the show. Today, I made an exception because we have two exceptional interviewees or guests on my show. And the reason why they're exceptional is because they were part of a team that recently won the UAE investment research challenge and even made it past the semifinals of the EMEA investment research challenge.
Binod:
So they're going to share their experience, their learnings, college life, dreams, hopes, wishes, and things like that. So, welcome to the show, Alan Mathew and Priyanka Awatramani.
Priyanka:
Thank you.
Alan:
Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here.
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Binod:
It's exciting for you, right. I mean, having won the local research challenge, bidding out five other teams and then making it past the EMEA semifinals as well. So very well done. And I'm going to ask you quite a few things based on your journey. But of course, both of you are fresh graduates of Middlesex university.
Alan:
Yeah.
Priyanka:
Yeah.
Binod:
It's not common to see university graduates or finalists really signing up for the challenge. So tell me why you signed up for the challenge?
Priyanka:
So honestly speaking, signing up for this challenge was actually a big step for me. So in my school days, I used to not take part in competitions and I used to be very fearful about all these things. But when I stepped into university, I remember my senior telling me something that struck me really hard. He was like, in three years time from now, we all are going to graduate and all going to graduate with the same degree. So what makes us stand out from the crowd?
And honestly speaking that struck me hard and it's these competitions that give us the practical exposure, ultimately. So I started participating in competitions at university level, and this was the biggest competition I've signed up for. So initially I was actually a bit skeptical, but honestly, a big thank you to my lecturer, who was also the mentor for our competition. She encouraged us to participate in the competition and she was the one who saw the capability in me.
Binod:
So, why the skepticism, Priyanka? What was running through your mind when you heard about the challenge?
Priyanka:
No, honestly, I'm very scared when it comes to public speaking, but I think after participating in this competition I've improved quite a lot. But earlier I used to be very scared of some failure or the fear that I'd end up getting embarrassed if I don't do well, or someone might judge me. So I used to be like, it's better I just stay away from all these things.
Binod:
Right. Interesting that you mentioned what a senior said about graduating with the same degree and needing something to stand out. So that's quite interesting because most graduates don't think about that. They're just excited about graduation. So it's quite mature of you to have thought about that particular issue. Because that's true, there are floods of college graduates out there.
So what about you, Alan? What was your rationale for signing up for this beast of a challenge?
Alan:
Okay, so I have a small story behind it. So to begin with, I was an avid student in school. I was one of those students who would always have fun and pass my exams without too much hassle. And that attitude got carried into my first year of university as well. I was pretty chill about my career and I spent a lot of time playing video games and just proclaimed that I want to do CFA.
Binod:
So, I'm just curious, what kind of video games were you spending your time on?
Alan:
So I play a lot of online games. I used to play a lot of online games, so it's pretty addictive. Once you play one, you get hooked onto it and it just keeps going.
Binod:
Yeah, I've heard. Sorry, go on.
Alan:
And then in my second year of university, I was assigned this coursework of analyzing a listed company. And to my surprise, I was really interested in doing it. And my teacher at that time, Ms. Rashita, who was also the mentor for this challenge, made me realize that there is so much more I can do if I just focused on my strengths.
Binod:
So this is interesting. So why were you so keen about doing analysis of a listed company? I mean, this is not exactly every college student's dream assignment, right?
Alan:
Yeah. That's true.
Binod:
I want to dig into that. Why do you think that was interesting for you?
Alan:
So when I started doing it, it was supposed to be a team of four, and then I had only three people in my team and the company we had was quite big. So, me being me, I just found it way more challenging. I didn't get demotivated by it. So naturally I had this feel to go and keep digging and exploring more. And the more I went into it, the more interested I got on it. And then I made sure I gave my best. I'd never let people tell me that, okay, I can't do it because it's a big company and that's what drove me to give my best.
And then one year later the research challenge was announced in the university and I was more interested in it than actually completing my degree, because I did this before on a smaller scale. And it was a bit impulsive, I would say, given the fact that I was in my third year, but I really, really wanted to do something that I can call an achievement beyond academics. And I couldn't find a better way to do it.
And I thought it'd be really worthwhile. And it was indeed a fantastic opportunity to step outside my comfort zone and learn, given that I was in my third year and I had to balance everything. So, yeah, that was mine.
Binod:
So, I'm going to talk about what are the challenges and what you learned along the way. But this is a massive project, it's what, four to five months long, there is research to be done, financial modeling, presentations to be prepared, coordination among teams to be done. And of course, then you have your academics and the final exams happening. So I'm just curious, how did you plan and implement the project?
Priyanka:
So honestly, we began planning the project on the day of the kickoff event. When we came there, we saw around eight other universities and we saw them all geared up and they were all confident. And it looked like as if that was the competition day, and we could just feel the competition in the air. It was overwhelming, but the ambience was the thing that made us want to do our best from day one.
Binod:
I remember when you came for that session, everyone was looking very quiet and very stressed out.
Priyanka:
Yeah, honestly it was. Especially for us because like I said, because all of us were people who never had really participated in competitions in university. And this was the first major competition. And we were under the impression that other students who have come there have already participated in big things, we are the only small ones out there. So that kind of was intimidating, I would say.
But honestly speaking, it was also in a way it pushed us to give our best. So we started working from that day itself. And then we had the field trip day. So we started seeing what we have to do, we started understanding more and more. And then what we decided was that we would assign roles to every team member and this way our work would be clearly defined. So we could clearly concentrate on the work we are given.
So, our team members were Claudia and Zainab. For example, they took the role of evaluation and financial analysis. And Alan and I were doing the roles of economists and the market analysis. So this way we coordinated our work and we ensured that we have a team to add work basically, and whatever numbers that we present, they have a story behind it, which ultimately supports our recommendation. So it was a clear strategy.
Binod:
So, question here. So briefly, how did you decide these roles? It sounds very interesting, economist, market analyst and valuation. What was the thinking behind that?
Priyanka:
So the thing is, our teacher suggested us based on our strengths and weaknesses, but we also mutually coordinated what could suit us the best, Alan, like he said, he was always good with market analysis. Because I remember when he was doing this university coursework, I remember a teacher even joked to him saying that you can actually be a CFA because he was so detailed with his work. So he's very good with that. When it comes to numbers, Claudia is pretty good with numbers. And Zainab and I just simply said which part we should take, so we accordingly settled in our parts.
Binod:
So basically, that's a good idea, right? Identify the strengths of each team member and then allocate work accordingly. That's the basic idea.
Alan:
So once these goals are assigned, the next step was to really understand the company you're dealing with. So we looked at the annual reports for almost 10 years, and we tried to understand how the company operates, what are the key goal drivers and how they have been responding to competition and changes in the past years.
And that really helped us get familiar with the company and the industry and all sorts of these specific terminology. So that really helped us get a better grip on the latest updates as and when they came.
And eventually we got really engrossed to the research and it became a part of our daily lives really quickly. And I remember my early mornings during the research challenge, before I could even brush my teeth, I would be on my phone looking for the latest updates. And it leads to the point where I didn't even have to look at my phone anymore, it would notify me on its own. And that's how the work went. Whatever information we would yet, we would put it in together. And end of the day, it's really about how effectively you can work as a unit and contribute towards connecting all these dots. That is the industry, the company, and the economy to see the big picture and create a story to support your evaluation. So, that's how we went about it.
Binod:
Interesting, because yes, the company that you analyzed, I think was DP World, which is a listed company in the UAE. And I remember the site visit and subsequent reactions. The company management of course, was quite responsive and quite cooperative, especially the investor relations team. I must commend them for that, but still, it's a complex company. It's a large company with global operations, multiple businesses, and facing certain challenges as you will refer to later.
But what were the challenges that you guys faced in terms of basically running this whole challenge, project presentation, and how did you crack this?
Priyanka:
So honestly, there were many challenges that we faced and if I could just summarize them all. So I'd just say that life is full of surprises and challenges, and some challenges are known and we need to be prepared for them in advance, while some challenges are unknown. So all you can do is you can keep backup for these sort of surprises that come up in the way.
So given the fact we were juggling this along with our university, and we were in our final years, we had to strike a balance between these. And all of our members, we had never worked together. In fact, even our schedules were different. So we had to find out a way to come and meet together, even if it meant staying in uni late or even coming during our winter holidays to university to just discuss this work.
But most importantly we had to be ready for surprises from technical glitches on submission days to family emergencies, we faced them all literally. And we had to find a backup plan for all of these. The major surprise bombs, I think you might remember, one is the current situation of coronavirus but the other thing was our listed company was no more listed, it got delisted. So, that was another big thing.
Binod:
That's a real surprise bomb.
Priyanka:
Yeah, that was a big surprise bomb.
Binod:
Pretty much as you're analyzing it, it's delisted.
Priyanka:
Yeah, exactly. And the whole point of this research challenge was to analyze a listed company. So yeah, it impacted our research and we had to keep room for these surprises if we wanted to stay ahead in the game. So that was a big challenge, and especially with the current situation of coronavirus, even in fact our stage event was canceled and it was moved to an all virtual presentation. So that was a little difficult for us because stage events kind of give us a leeway to express ourselves through our body languages while talking.
But when it comes to virtual platforms, this flexibility is kind of reduced. So we had to ensure that our months long research work is presented in 10 minutes thought, in best way we can and it shouldn't sound robotic or something. So that was a big challenge.
Binod:
Yeah. I know. But you guys, the finals, right? The UAE finals, you did quite well in the presentation. I think it was all the result of constant practicing and seamless coordination that made that happen. Yeah?
Priyanka:
Yeah. We practiced a lot. We used to make scripts, we would scrap it off, make a new set of scripts. We practiced a lot for our UAE finals.
Alan:
I want to mention one very interesting challenge that we realized during the kickoff event. So Binod, you might remember on stage, you said, "I'm sure you all know equity valuation, but we'll be just brushing up the basics." And we just looked at each other and giggled because we didn't know anything about equity valuation.
Binod:
Well, that is a surprise when you say that, because I thought if you are in an accounting/finance degree, three or four years, you would have had some basics of equity valuation. So that was my assumption when I walked onto stage. But sorry, go on.
Alan:
We were studying more of accountancy in our third year, we just began with finance. In second year we started derivatives and all that, but we hadn't had a background of equity valuation. But now that we think about it, not knowing equity valuation was probably one of the best things about this competition, because it only made us more willing to bridge that gap. And we spent countless days and nights trying to incorporate things the right way and getting things right. Because I remember the first time Claudia, our valuation expert, did the valuation. There was an upside of over 200%. And we all laughed.
Binod:
Wow, that's big. The opportunity of the century, right?
Alan:
Yeah. We all laughed. But we're really happy because in such a short time, she did a good job understanding valuation and we got it there eventually. And another challenge, like you said, was the company in itself. DP World was extremely challenging. And during the time we were working on it, they were in a transitioning phase. So almost every week we would see major announcements that we had to include. And towards the end, I think we included almost 10 major announcements, including mergers and new projects and everything.
And even the port industry and their major markets were going through a lot of changes. So we had to decide on how optimistic we want to be with our valuation and what kind of growth rates we want to use, because that is very critical.
And so staying up to date and incorporating all these changes on time was the only way out, because we knew that if we didn't we'd lose competitiveness and the journey wouldn't be long for us. So yeah, that's the challenge.
Binod:
But it's actually quite useful, and that's the next question I'm going to ask you. But I want to make a point here about the fact that a lot of university learning is not exactly linked to real life. A lot of it is academic and of course that academics serves a purpose, but you don't go too much into modeling or valuations or presentations.
And so I think this was as close as you can get to the real life as possible, where if you're an analyst working for an investment bank or, you know, you would be analyzing a company, and the situation would be dynamic, things would be changing. There would be new announcements every now and then, you would have to rejig your presentation and change your financial model.
So I think it was good that it happened in retrospect. Probably at the point it happened you were not exactly happy bunnies, but probably ended well.
So it brings me of course, to the next question. Like I said, this is a learning experience, and you mentioned earlier it was a fantastic learning experience. But if I asked you, what are the top three things you learned and equally, or more importantly, how do you think this will help you in career and in life after college?
Priyanka:
So like I'd mentioned earlier, I never really participated in stage competitions during my school life. So apart from academic scores, I never really had any practical skills on my CV. So eventually I realized that my CV needed some work, but then I realized, no, it's not my CV that needs work, it's me who needs some work. I need to build my skills. And once I started doing that, my CV automatically started getting better. And especially like you said, it's like a notion that accounting and finance students, they are good with bookish knowledge and they lack the ability to see a bigger picture. And they are not very good with communication because that's not what's taught in university and all. But taking part in competitions like these, like the CFA Research challenge, they helped me build these technical and soft skills which we require in our professional or personal lives.
It helps you boost your confidence and teaches you to network in that successful career. So in future, for example, we may be put into random teams where people come from various backgrounds and we will have conflicts of opinions. And competitions like this, if we start taking part in this from now, we will learn to resolve these conflicts.
In fact, like I told you earlier, we had not really participated, all four of us, in any of these course works together. This was our first competition where we had participated. So we did have conflicts, but then we also learned how to resolve them and then we had good times with each other. But overall it was all nice. It was all rosy. It was hectic and stressful, but this is what it taught us. It taught us to work hard and we learned to stay determined until the end.
Binod:
Okay. So I heard the word 'conflict', so I want to dig a little bit into it. Because you had not worked before with each other, the four of you, you're all new to each other. Different classes, different schedules, different temperaments, different personalities. So briefly, what conflicts did you have and be completely open about it. I want to hear some masala here.
Priyanka:
Yeah. So even though we had not worked with each other, but you could group us as friends. So Alan and I are good friends and Claudia and Zanab are good friends. So earlier when we had conflicts, we would not really be open about it, thinking that what if the other person feels bad, we wouldn't really be vocal about it. But eventually we learned that if you're not vocal about it, then it's we who are losing out. And ultimately we as team lose.
So we started opening up about it. And there were conflicts, like for example, say timings. For me, I have to come back home on time because my mom is not really a fan of me getting home late but while other members are okay with staying in uni(versity) late. So this was one example. I would be scared to tell them, no, I cannot stay in uni late because what if they think something bad about me, that I'm not interested in it or something. But eventually we had to understand each other.
Alan:
Like Priyanka rightly said, it was mostly the experiences that taught us a lot of things. And it was amazing because a lot of these things we wouldn't be aware of until we started working. But even from a technical standpoint, we got a great understanding on how to analyze a company, how the economy works and how it can impact an industry and how it can affect the company's performance and how to translate that into numbers. We might have learned these things in isolation before, but to connect it and see the big picture was something we would have never done in school or university. And also, it gave us a mindset to always ask why, when we hear something new. And I feel that is something, that mindset is really important, regardless of the careers you want to pursue. Because we are now very willing to learn more. So I felt that way it helped us a lot.
Binod:
Okay. Now that the challenge is over, you have made the final presentation to the UAE, you guys made it past the EMEA semifinals, you made the EMEA finals, actually. So it's pretty much the journey's over.
Now, looking back, the journey started in what, November 2019? Now we are in May 2020. Now you're looking back in hindsight, what would we have done differently and why? I ask because I'm sure there are areas that you think now that you could have improved on, that could've done better. So honestly, from your point of view, looking back, what do you think?
Priyanka:
So honestly, I'm a very panicky person. And I think even in my team, we had Claudia who was very panicky. So if we could do it all over again, we would try to calm ourselves down. Because the thing is, panic just makes you feel more stressed and ultimately less productive. And we learned that the hard way. In fact, it could be clearly reflected in the EMEA finals.
Binod:
Yeah. But you guys didn't look panicky when I saw you in the finals. I mean, Claudia, looked as cool as ice. And you looked straight faced and poker faced. So maybe deep inside, underneath.
Priyanka:
Eventually we mastered that skill at least to not show it. Eventually we did master the skill to not show it on your faces. Earlier, if you would have met us, you could see us on the kickoff day, it was reflected on our faces. So at least this is something we learned intimately.
Because the thing is, you're going to be working on this project for around four to five months, as you had mentioned. So it gets frustrating because the number of edits you'll have to do to, to deliver that one final piece of work. And there'll be many critical comments from all of your mentors, whether its the industry mentor, or your actual mentor.
Binod:
So how was the comments from a mentor? And you mentioned something about tough comments made by the mentor and all those things. So what was that about?
Priyanka:
Yeah. Those comments will make you cry. There are many comments. You try to give your best and then you go all happy to your mentors, thinking, okay, they might appreciate you. But maybe that's not what they want because we might be beating around the bush, this is not the entire point of the research competition. Because it takes some time for you also to learn what exactly is it.
So earlier in that stage, you might find a little de-motivating, but actually if you go and revisit your own script, I mean your own report, you'd be like, okay, actually I'd written crap in my report. So actually these comments will actually be very disappointing. And especially if you're hunting for so much information to give your best. So it's all going to just make you stressful.
So in all of this, all you need to do is to stay calm, which is, I think, easy to say, and difficult to apply sort of thing. But that is the key to give the best in this competition. And like Alan had mentioned that you have to have a questioning mindset right from the beginning. And this is one mistake that we made in our EMEA finals. I'm not saying we don't have a questioning mindset, we did have, but we were just hesitant to ask questions to our mentors. And that actually cost us a lot. So honestly, one thing, don't shy away from asking questions. In fact, what we learned was even our mentors were learning along with us. So it's not a big deal. So we should ask questions.
Binod:
Yeah. I mean, I always tell people because the challenge is not just about presentation because there's a Q&A session, after you make your presentation to the judges. And they'll ask you all sorts of tough questions relating to your presentation and the company and the business. Very important to challenge yourself.
And I know of course, you are all finalyear degree students and you're quite young and dealing with senior finance professionals, like an industry mentor can be quite intimidating, to put it mildly.
Priyanka:
Yeah, it is.
Binod:
But it's good experience. So now you know that you should challenge and you can challenge senior people, and that's how you learn.
Priyanka:
Yeah. And you shouldn't be hesitant because sometimes we were under the impression, okay, fine, they are great. Whatever they tell us, we should just accept. And we should not question them much, but that's not the right attitude because ultimately we are the one on the stage answering the questions. So we need to know why to literally everything what we do there.
Binod:
Absolutely.
Alan:
So what I would say is what we could change was the way we updated the report and the presentation as we progressed. So once you reach the regional semis and the finals, you have such a short timeframe to accommodate changes. And since you're allowed to change as much as you want, in these changes it's really tempting to try and accommodate everything. So there was a lot of things that we included, especially the delisting and the coronavirus. We included that, most of it after the locals, so during the semis and the finals. But what happened was we didn't have time to work on a solid reasoning, and that modeled our five months of hard work.
Binod:
I mean, if I remember correctly, Alan, the time gap between the results of the semis being announced, the time cap is very little, right? Five days or something, less than a week you had to prepare.
Alan:
Yeah. Very less time. And they say that you can make as many changes as you want, but you need to work smartly to make the best of it. And that caused us to stumble in the EMEA finals, because in these stages, your confidence matters as much as your content. And it's very likely, the judges won't know much about your company. So you have to work hard on sounding more convincing and conveying the essence of your company in 10 minutes.
And we were pretty wobbly there because we tried to fit in a lot in a short time. And so to any future contestants, I'd say you need to judge whether it's worth making those changes, because if it isn't worth it, it's best to stick to what you've already done.
Binod:
I think exactly, you nailed it, Alan. I think one area of improvement could have been asking yourself more questions or asking someone to challenge you before you went, as a rehearsal, a dress rehearsal. What could go wrong? What questions could be asked? And that's a very good way of preparing for any presentation, right? Not just as a challenge. And I found personally that once you are prepared, before you go on TV, live TV or whatever, once you know your subject matter inside out, and you don't know what you don't know, then you suddenly have this confidence that, "I don't know it, I'll tell you, but what I should know, I know."
Alan:
Exactly. And yeah, it was something we could have really improved on, but we recommend future participants to keep it in mind.
Binod:
Yeah. I mean like you said, you guys said very clearly, this is a learning journey. It's not a journey of perfection or excellence. You're learning. And honestly speaking I'm frankly envious, I'm bloody envious. You know why? Because at your age I'd not even come close to such opportunities in my life. So the fact that you are in this university, this challenge, public company analysis, dealing with industry members, evokes mixed feelings in me of envy and admiration.
Alan:
We take that as a compliment. Thank you.
Binod:
So, putting behind the college, now that you have graduated and you have done the research challenge, two boxes ticked. I'm sure you're thinking forward. So in terms of what is life after college, what is career, et cetera? So, what are your career plans? Tell me a little bit more about what you have in mind.
Priyanka:
So now that we are, like you said, almost graduated from university, the next step is going to be we'll pursue a professional qualification. And honestly speaking, I'm still confused about that.
So I have good numerical skills and after this competition, I'm much more interested in finance as well. But the thing is, I've also done internships, which were more in accounting and auditing fields. So I'm still confused if I should go for say CFA or CA and there are so many options right in front of you. But I saw your recent webinar and it was very good, so at least I got to know some deep insights about the careers that you have within finance. So I'm actually even considering those. But overall I'm doing my bit of research in short to see what interests me the most and what fits my ability, because that's going to be my ultimate final decision.
And also apart from this, usually at this time we have our summer vacations. So I usually do internships. But with the current scenario, you cannot do all these internships because many of them are being canceled. So I'm trying to look for the remote ones. But even otherwise, I'm trying to actually try to build my skillset, like I'd mentioned earlier as well. And right now, if you open your LinkedIn, you will be bombarded with all these online courses. So I'm just seeing which one is the best for me, which is best for my career. And which fills those gaps I've been talking about for so long, ultimately looks good on my CV as well, not just for the sake of doing it.
Binod:
Yeah. I mean, that's a very good point Priyanka, because it's good to take a time to think about and decide what qualifications you want to pursue post college. Because there's always this pressure, do CA, do ACCA, do CFA. Because everyone else is doing it, there's a strong peer pressure to do it.
But although I'm a CFA charter holder, I wouldn't advocate you go either way, unless you're sure that, that's the career you want to pursue. That's what you're good at, that's what you'd like to do. But you wouldn't know whether you're good at something or whether you like something unless you try it, in terms of getting some work experience under your belt. So maybe internships and trying out a few jobs before jumping into qualifications is the way to go.
Priyanka:
Yeah. And honestly, like you said, even these competitions and internships are just simulations of real life. So you can just try them out for the time being. And if you feel that you're not actually interested in it, you'll just stop thinking about that and rather go and search for something new that you could go for.
Alan:
So for me, as of now, I'm not a hundred percent sure as to what the path is that I want to choose. I have a couple of interesting options that I'm considering, maybe investment banking or asset management, but right now, even the conditions are pretty volatile so it's hard to decide what to do. But nevertheless, I feel the next step for me would be to pursue my CFA. And I found that to be appropriate because it covers most of the relevant aspects required for both the fields. And hopefully I find the right job opportunity to develop more of my skills. And of course, even after my CFA, I'd love to continue learning, but that depends on what I do today. So for now my aim is to start with a CFA.
Binod:
Fantastic. So you both have plans. I mean, it's good that you're not a hundred percent sure, Alan, about what you want. I'd be a bit skeptical if you told me, I know exactly what I want to do. Most people are not like Steve Jobs, who knew at the age of 18 that he would want to do this for the rest of his life. So good to explore stuff.
So, college done, like I said, the challenge done. And now of course, lockdown. This tiny organism called the coronavirus has now got us all sitting in our homes, not venturing out. And of course, summer is going to come in soon. And it's going to be some idle time on your hands before you start your next job or the next qualification.
So I'm just curious, since you guys are very diligent and quite focused and have a strong work ethic, I'm sure you're working on yourself in some ways. I'm curious. What are you working on yourself right now?
Priyanka:
So actually ,to be honest, because of this competition and even otherwise it's been hectic for us for past one year. So I'm not overworking myself. I'm just trying to take some break and try to relax. And also most importantly, I'm trying to spend time with my family and friends who have been very supportive throughout this. Because we've been very busy and these people would always do everything for us, so I think now it's the perfect time to give back.
Binod:
So have you lost any friends over the years? Because typically, thanks to academics, at least I know from a CFA journey, you tend to be like an outcast. Sociopath basically, lose a lot of friends.
Priyanka:
Actually the thing is, we would cut down on our social events and everything, but true friends always stay, like you say. So these people have always been always understanding and they've always supported us. In fact, they always try to extend their bit of help wherever possible. So, no, we have not lost any friends in fact. Now we are trying to catch up with them. And it will be with my university friends or my school friends, now I feel it's the perfect time to catch up with them because they are also free right now.
But apart from all of this, when it comes to working on myself, I'm actually trying to learn some programming languages. I've always been interested in that. So in fact, even when I was graduating from my high school, I wanted to pursue a career in computer science. Accounting and finance was something I did not even think about getting in, but eventually I got into this and it's great seeing how these two professions are actually merging these days. Like FinTech, everyone is talking about, oh, machine learning is going to take over professions and other jobs.
But honestly I'm a very tech enthusiast as a person. So I'm trying to develop those skills which these technology can replicate. And at the same time, I know how to use technology in the best way and in the most efficient manner I can. So I'm also attending these workshops these days, which are being held on these topics.
And I've also started learning these basic Python, coding languages. In my school life, I had learned Java and MySQL. So I'm trying to build on these source coding languages, because ultimately in today's time, at least we being millennials we don't want to look like a caveman. We must digitally up skill ourselves because no matter what career path you choose, ultimately, this is the key.
Binod:
Interesting you talk about FinTech and programming and Python coding, because like you probably heard, in asset management, AI and ML are slowly merging. And whether it's in detecting sentiment or picking stocks or allocating assets for a client, robo advisory.
And if you're a finance professional with good programming insight and knowledge, the opportunities are, I think far more than just being a mere finance professional.
Priyanka:
Yeah. And it's never too late. Even though I had not taken that as my profession, but I can still learn this. There's nothing that's stopping me. We have access to internet and we have so many courses out there. So might as well learn now that I have free time.
Alan:
For me right now, I'm taking a short break to relax myself now that I just got done with my exams. But I noticed that after participating in this competition, I'm always excited to learn new things. So I try to make sure I'm aware of what's happening around the world regularly. And I'm also working on a couple of online courses right now in finance, on topics that I find pretty interesting. And apart from that, I have been spending time with my family, like Priyanka said, and I'm brushing up on some of my hobbies, like drawing, cooking, training and stuff. But yeah, I try not to overwork myself and keep myself relaxed because this year I was a rollercoaster. But it was definitely worth it and it was an experience I'll never forget.
Binod:
Hold on. Did you say cooking? I mean, I'm just curious, can you dig into the cooking side of that?
Alan:
Yeah, I love to cook. I don't cook too often, but I like to look up on the internet or even help my mom with whatever she is cooking. So I love to do that.
Binod:
And what about the drawing part?
Alan:
Yeah. I'm an artist, I draw and I sketch a lot.
Binod:
We never saw this cooking and drawing side of you obviously during the challenge.
Alan:
Yeah. I couldn't show it, but yeah, I have that side of me too. I'm working on that.
Priyanka:
I've seen the drawing side of him when lecturers take our lectures and he's been drawing on our lecture sheets.
Binod:
That's right. Doodling is quite demotivating for a lecturer. I'm quite impressed by your cooking skills, Alan. Coming from a person like myself who can't even make a cup of tea, it's awe inspiring anyway.
Binod:
All right. Thanks guys. So, that brings us to the end of this particular episode. It's been a very interesting chat. Like I said, for a change, having students, fresh graduates on board, getting their perspectives, their experiences, their hopes. It's something I always look forward to.
Congratulations once again, on winning the UAE challenge and making it through the semifinals, which you were one of the eight out of 45 teams, right, to make it to the EMEA finals. That's really a significant achievement I think, in the history of CFA to achieve that, it was a fantastic achievement. And like I said, you have your whole life ahead of you. For the qualifications, internships leading to a career. I'll watch your career with considerable interest, do let me know what's happening. I wish you all the best and thanks again for coming to the show.
Priyanka:
Thank you so much.
Alan:
Thank you so much. We are glad we're here, sharing experience.
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Binod:
This podcast is brought to you by The Real Finance Mentor. Thank you so much for listening and I hope you found it insightful and inspirational. If you did enjoy this episode, please drop us a review and spread the word and be sure to check out more exclusive content on therealfinancementor.com and my LinkedIn profile, which is Binod Shankar CFA. Let's keep in touch. Just add your name to the mailing list on therealfinancementor.com and we'll tell you about new episodes plus book reviews, upcoming events, and blogs. Till the next time - onwards and upwards.
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