Engineering -> Finance (Algorithmic Trading)

[JinXi]

Hey guys, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what I want to do lately. After interning for nearly two months in a civil based engineering consultancy firm, I’m not so sure anymore if I would want to work in engineering for the rest of my life. Maybe it’s because I’m dealing with bridges instead of aeroplanes which is one of my main interests, but it seems that engineering consultancy firms can’t seem to ignite the fire in my stomach. Many of my colleagues call me crazy but I think that this type of work isn’t fast paced enough for me. It takes months to years to design something, and while it is satisfying to complete a project, I still can’t see myself doing this for a long period of time.

I’ve been reading a lot about the finance sector and it another topic other than aerospace and astronomy that had interested me since I was a kid. I’m definitely interested in the sector and had been consistently reading a lot of financial magazines/articles, which I never get bored of. I’ve initially planned on studying actuary but switched to aerospace engineering at the last moment. However, I do not regret this as I believe I will be able to get back into the finance field should I want to.

There’s this new job that I recently read up on in an article. Algorithmic Trading. The more I read up on it, the more and more excited I get. It seems that the job is tailored exactly for me (High stress, high work hours, algorithm/maths etc all ticks my boxes)
Now on to my question. I know that major investment banks would be my target to work as a Algorithmic trader, but

1.How would I be able to convince the finance sector that I am truly interested in making the switch?

2.Would a basic engineering degree allow me to climb up the ladder in a financially based company, as I am indirectly less qualified for higher positions compared to commerce graduates?

3.Following from above, I would be planning to complete an MBA anyway, but should I have work experience in the engineering field or finance field before undertaking my MBA, then ultimately ending up in the finance sector?

I know that AN isn’t the best place to ask all these questions, but I still want to know what currently finance students (if there are any here) and possible recent graduates think about this.
Thanks for reading through all that chunk of text I couldn’t resist typing it all out...

[spectroscopy]

Definitely search around wall street oasis and mergers&inquisitions, tonnes of info on there. If you want high hours high stress high pay and nearly infinite room to move up you should look into investment banking, try an for internship as soon as you can. Here's a page you might find useful http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/getting-a-finance-job-from-engineering/ but seriously google around and you'll find tonnes of info on those sites, and if you want to develop algorithms and stuff look into quantitative analyst jobs - but they seem to require PhDs in math or physics or computer science but seem fitting, best of luck !

[Greatness]

Investment banking sounds like something you'd be interested in! Really competitive to get internships/grad positions - from what I've read grades and networking count for a lot, but so do extracurriculars... So really, you need to do be great at everything! lol
The quantitative skills you gain from engineering is very valuable and IBs definitely do employ eng grads. In your case you would probably have to explain that you've got a genuine interest in finance and you're capable of performing well and willing to learn.
Experience is experience, I don't think it would really matter too much. You can work in both industries imo with your engineering skills. I've been told that there are quite a few engineers tend to get into management or the finance sector once they've got some decent work/real life experience.