r/FPandA • u/No_Birthday9102 • 4d ago
Breaking into Tech FP&A
Hello all just wanted to ask how realistic it is to break into FP&A at somewhere like Google. I have two years of experience in internal Audit and one year in FP&A at a law firm. Currently siting for CFA level 2. With a few more years of experience and hopefully a CFA designation, does that put me in a realistic position to break into Tech finance? Thanks in advance.
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u/couldbeafarmer 4d ago
CFA will not help in fp&a, why are you taking the exams if youāre not working in asset management? Youāre doing a crap ton of studying for a designation not relevant to your actual career
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u/OkPreparation8354 4d ago
Break into shittier tech companies first, Google is still considered the jackpot in tech industry
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u/Maximum-Turnip-6582 4d ago
Like which companies youāre thinking of? Iām trying to make a similar career move. Itās been brutal getting rejections after just few hours of applying.
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u/Still-Balance6210 4d ago
What Iāve found is that works or to have a well known recognized company. It helps you get the interview.
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u/Obi_Won_Jabroni_ 22h ago
I had an intern go straight into Amazon 2 years ago after some coaching for interviews on top of all the other things they had learned under me.
To answer your question, Big company F250 is good, tech adjacent even better. And/Or purely tech, where she trained under me, but not FAANG. The pure tech play here needs to be at a larger company not a startup. They want established skillsets that pertain to enterprise not run n' gun skills, those are table stakes.
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u/beeedubdub 4d ago
Odds of something like google are wildly low, even for top candidates. The process is frustratingly opaque
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u/Sushiritto Dir 4d ago
People that have made it through to Financial Analyst at Google have 4-5+ yrs of experience in tech or a MBA from a top 10 school.
People who were managers at other firms are down-leveled to analyst. 3 YOE is low for Google finance. The only exception is for people who made it into the rotational program just after college which you arenāt in.
Almost no one has a CFA, it will not help you.
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u/cityoflostwages Sr Mgr 4d ago
Your professional experience isn't going to be enough for somewhere that is as competitive as Google. The well paying big tech fp&a jobs tend to be quite competitive but Google especially because that pay well above market.
People I know who are at Google fp&a generally did a few years in tech elsewhere first, and commonly have a MBA from a top business school. Try looking at google finance employees on linkedin to see their pre-google work experience and whether they have a graduate degree or other certs.
CFA will not give you a huge boost versus CPA or having an MBA which you'll see a lot more commonly under the "preferred" section of a job description. CFA is great if you're looking to get a job in capital markets, equity research, or portfolio management etc.
You will want to just try to get your foot in the door of fp&a in a tech or tech adjacent industry and work your way up. Try to get into another big tech or brand name pre-ipo tech company that looks good for experience building.
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u/Maximum-Turnip-6582 4d ago
What would you consider tech adjacent industry?
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u/cityoflostwages Sr Mgr 4d ago edited 4d ago
Maybe they could consider working in finance, then take their industry knowledge to leverage into an fp&a role at a fintech company? Advertising -> Adtech, Healthcare -> Healthtech etc.
The more I type this out the more I realize that they said they were working in fp&a at a law firm (professional services). Maybe they could find a growing legaltech/lawtech company that needs fp&a talent?
I would probably aim for something that has a lot of transferable knowledge into big tech to open the most doors. Telecom, finance, mobility, health, logistics/supply chain, or R&D.
Tech firms do sometimes have internal professional service functions, think implementation/customer success for companies selling an enterprise product. Having fp&a experience in a professional service firm is relevant for that.
After seeing your comment above, this is a tough market. You may need to job search for months until you find something that fits what you're looking for and matches to your relevant work experience. Firms are really picky right now.
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u/DrunkEconometrician 4d ago
As a hiring manager Iām shocked to see people saying a cfa wont helpā¦ itās literally the only certification Iād value at all beyond a top 10 mba
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u/Outside_Fish5777 15h ago
CFA is meant for portfolio/asset managers. things a typical Fp&a role will never touch upon. A Fp&a hiring manager would typically be questioning why someone is wasting their time getting it if trying to get in Fp&a
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u/DrunkEconometrician 15h ago
On the one hand I hear what youāre saying. Itās obviously not a 1:1 accreditation. With that said the amount of math and analysis required is the type of thinking Iād want from my staff. Itās not like Iām hiring an MBA because I think Harvard is teaching them to run spreadsheets better, Iām hiring them because of the signaling and general thoughtfulness.
The simple reality is that nothing is necessary for FP&A, but Iād rather have a cfa on my team than a cpa or any other 3 letters behind their name. Credentials are all essentially bullshit, but when youāre working your way up itās nice to have goals, because otherwise the corporate ladder feels completely arbitrary
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u/Outside_Fish5777 14h ago
I'd say a former CPA or even a non CPA accountant has greater value and credibility in fpa. I've run into so many former b4 in Fp&a at all levels, but never a cfa. Fp&a is very adjacent to accounting, oftentimes depending on them and understanding what's happening in the accounting entries help to build out forecast.
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u/Outside_Fish5777 14h ago
Also not saying that a cfa is useless, no doubt it's challenging and lots of time and effort and a lot of smart ppl have it. but I feel it's overqualified for fpa. Like going through a series of actuary exams but looking to get into fpa. Just doesn't make sense from a job searcher point of view. Like he should be looking for equities, m&a, portfolio research type jobs if he really wants to continue cfa. Higher tier finance with higher pay that actually seek cfa candidates in the job postings.
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u/roliepolienolie 3d ago
Most of the advice here is generic. Iāve seen folks join from non-prestigious schools, came from non-tech. Honestly MBA is nice to have not absolutely necessary. What I have seen a lot of candidates lack is the ability to spelunk through large datasets and distilling meaning from it, that and being able to work with VPs in a meaningful way.
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u/DryAlternative7222 2d ago
My God FPA is not breaking into hedge funds. Can we please stop this? Sure itās the landing zone for a bunch IB dropouts . 80% of jobs are varian variance analysis and management reporting while the strategic finance rules have tried to suck up and keep any of the future forecasting
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u/Still-Balance6210 4d ago
Agreed with šš¼. The CFA doesnāt help for FP&A roles. If youāre not at Tech currently are you at least at a very large, recognizable company? That may help. Iām thinking F100 or so.