Little thought before diving in…

Question

Hello and Happy New Year everyone!

(originally posted as a comment but I'd like more people to see it and provide their views).

Although I live in London, I find myself completely stuck in a mediocre job and I don't know how to break out of this circle. London indeed offers more opportunities than any other city in the UK and probably in the entire Europe. However, it seems that a lot of it is based on pure luck and personal connections/non-transparent recruiting (aka "networking").

I have seen young people making brilliant careers (Bachelors Degree => 2 years in a bulge bracket bank => credit hedge fund), being less than 25yo, no Masters, no CFA exams, nothing.
Others get into front desks of the bulge bracket banks straight out of the uni without seemingly being better or smarter than many other guys.

Many of them didn't even do the L1 CFA exam and some of them don't even know what this is (especially traders).

Let's face it - most of the candidates pursue the gruelling exams to eventually land a well-paid job (let's say £70k+) and a good bonus (let's say 40%+), at Associate level.

I am about to start preparing for an exam an June. And I think about it: the amount of time, health, nerves, managing your work/study/life balance that goes into it is HUGE. How do I know that in the end of the day it will worth it? Football analogy: that's like training every day to become a top goalscorer in the world and then just sit on the bench. In my circle, there is very limited evidence of landing well-paying job/prosperity and passing the CFA exams. Although such examples do exist, I must admit.

I am facing a dilemma here, my choices are: 
1) take the exam and subscribe to no weekends, very little time off, putting more strain on relationships with colleagues and friends;
2) shun the exam and spend the time on hard networking, extending personal relationships, attending industry and career events and applying to every opportunity there is.

Not an easy choice, would love to hear your opinions. Thanks.

CFAcharterwannabe · Answer

@agent1 Maybe it's just me but I think that besides having great skills one needs to acquire a solid education. When I was a kid, things like 'A' levels were like big deals. But now, you see young people with 2 or 3 degrees minimum and many of them still can't find jobs. Its very important to move with the changing times. I think even though experience and networking are very strong points, you need to have very good qualifications as well. I know that this means at this point in time it will mean sacrificing your social life. Basically it will be social suicide. But it is truly a good investment for your future. You have to make sacrifices in your present to have a future. And friends seriously good friends are going to stick no matter what :)

tacheman · Answer

I think it's always a personal choice. It's difficult to decide for others whether a social life comes before career development. But the easier comparison is when comparing with networking etc - generally networking practice should be prioritized...they don't come around often (for me anyway) and they don't take a lot of time!