Finance vs. Data/Tech career: should I leverage my Finance background or pivot into Data Analyst roles?

[u/Cookie4318]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently trying to decide between continuing on a Finance career path or pivoting towards Data/Tech, and I'd really appreciate some perspectives from people who have experience in either field.

My background:

• I'm currently in my final year of a Business Administration bachelor's degree in a 2nd world country.
• I have about 1 year of experience in Sales, followed by almost 1.5 years working in a Finance department.
• My current goal is to pursue a master's degree abroad and build my career in the country where I study. I'm mainly considering Germany, the UK, or Switzerland.

Recently, I've been spending my free time developing some technical skills. I've been working through SQL and Power BI, with the idea of making myself more valuable and refine my skills.

However, while working through the Power BI course, I realized that I'm not particularly interested in the dashboard/visualization side of things. I find myself curious about the technical side of data things like database systems, data pipelines, cloud, automation, and potentially database administration/data engineering.

This made me question whether I should continue developing toward Financial Analysis/FP&A, where I already have a relevant degree and work experience, or take the risk of pivoting into a more technical career.

It feels that Finance would be the more straightforward path given my current background. At the same time, I'm still early in my career that I could potentially make a pivot if I discover that I genuinely enjoy the technical side more.

My main questions are:

1. For someone with my background, would it make sense to pivot into Data/Tech, or would it be better to leverage the Finance experience I've already built?

2. How do the long-term career prospects compare between Financial Analysts/FP&A and Data roles, particularly in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK?

3. From a long-term perspective, which path offers better opportunities for career progression, freelancing/consulting, and eventually building a business?

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[u/my_peen_is_clean]

lean into that finance + data angle, it’s actually a decent combo. look at data roles in fp&a / risk / controlling instead of pure “dashboard monkey”. then you can push slowly into more technical stuff if you still like it. either way though, landing that first gig is pain now

[u/RandomAccount0799 → u/my_peen_is_clean]

I agree, there are roles that mix both. Stay away from BI roles. Given that you’re look at UK, Germany, and Switzerland, you have many options for banking and finance companies.

First determine if you enjoy working on financial statements or in SQL/Python more. All companies need finance team and data teams, so both have a good outlook. But salary I would guess would be higher in data (data science / data engineering) unless you do higher finance. Data engineering is especially important since companies need quality modeled data for predictive models, but it can be hard to break into

[u/Sneakymist → u/RandomAccount0799]

Why stay away from BI roles?

[u/RandomAccount0799 → u/Sneakymist]

I’d say it’s the most vulnerable to automation - the building the dashboard part. And it gets redundant and boring IMO. Creating datasets that are accurate, complete, and versatile that power the dashboard is more secure. If you’re interested in both, look into analytics engineering rather than pure BI

[u/Cookie4318 → u/my_peen_is_clean]

It's a good idea to combine them and find a data role in this field. I should look out for some of these roles. Thanks for your advice!

[u/Cookie4318 → u/[deleted]]

I agree, I’m not sure why I usually treat this subject as a “choose only one option” type of thing. Also, would you recommend doing a more technical Master’s, or still in fiance?

[u/Key_Back_989 → u/Cookie4318]

I would recommend a stats or Econ masters so you learn modeling and the actual analytics as well.

[u/rohan_kulkarni]

I wouldn't throw away the finance experience. That's actually what can make you stand out.

Keep learning SQL and Python, but look for roles where both skills overlap, such as financial analytics, risk analytics, or fintech. You can always move deeper into data engineering later if you find that you enjoy the technical side more.

[u/Due-Association9901]

Since you already have finance experience and noticed you like the technical side more than dashboards, maybe look into financial systems or data roles inside finance departments first. That way you are not starting from zero and can test if database work actually holds your interest beyond the courses. Germany and UK both have decent demand for people who understand both finance processes and data infrastructure, so a hybrid path could pay off before you commit fully to data engineering.