Wanting to switch to finance

I chose AI as my major, and while I'm happy with that decision, I've recently realized that finance has always been an area I've genuinely enjoyed and been drawn to.

It's made me wonder whether I should have pursued finance instead, but I'm not looking to dwell on that. Instead, I'm curious about the opportunities ahead.

Is it possible to break into finance with an AI degree? Has anyone here made that transition or built a career that combines both fields? I'd love to hear about your experiences. Thanks in advance !

Jobadvisor

You didn't make a mistake—in fact, an AI degree is currently one of the strongest entry tickets into modern finance. Wall Street and global financial institutions are aggressively hiring computer scientists and machine learning engineers because quantitative modeling, automated execution, and alternative data have become the backbone of modern markets.

Rather than starting behind, your technical foundation gives you a distinct edge over traditional finance majors who often struggle to code or build complex algorithms.

High-Impact Career Paths Combining AI and Finance

• Quantitative Research & Trading: Quants build mathematical models to price complex derivatives, manage portfolio risk, and execute algorithmic trading strategies. Hedge funds like Citadel, Two Sigma, and Renaissance Technologies actively prioritize deep machine learning expertise over traditional business degrees.
  
  
• Alternative Data & Alpha Generation: Investment firms analyze non-traditional datasets—such as parsing earnings call transcripts with NLP, processing satellite imagery to predict retail traffic, or analyzing sentiment on social media—to gain an edge in stock selection.
  
  
• Financial Risk & Fraud Analytics: Large banks and payment processors rely on ML engineers to design real-time anomaly detection, automated credit risk scoring, and anti-money laundering (AML) detection systems.
  
  
• FinTech & Financial AI Product Management: Building LLM-driven financial advisors, automated wealth management platforms, and smart corporate forecasting software requires a bridge between technical AI architecture and user-facing financial tools.
  
  

How to Bridge the Finance Gap

While your technical skills are set, you will need to demonstrate functional financial literacy to stand out to recruiters:

1. Master Core Financial Concepts: Get comfortable with financial statements (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow), portfolio theory, asset pricing models (CAPM, Black-Scholes), and basic corporate valuation.
   
   
2. Build Finance-Focused Projects: Instead of standard ML projects, build financial tools—such as a backtested algorithmic strategy using historical price data, an NLP model parsing SEC 10-K filings, or a portfolio optimization script.
   
   
3. Learn the Industry Vocabulary: Speak the language of markets. Understanding market microstructure, order books, liquidity, and risk metrics (like Sharpe ratio or Value at Risk) will instantly validate your interest during interviews.

Stuck on what to major in

I’m (16F, USA) going into my senior year and trying to fill out most of my Common App before school starts, but I can’t decide for the life of me what to major in. I have so many different interests that it’s difficult to box myself into a category I might not be fully interested in. I’ve taken quizzes on Niche but the #1 major option is always social work and youth services, and as much as I LOVE to help those in need, I’ve been trying to stay away from emotionally draining jobs like those because I have a disease that flares up with stress/emotional strain. I’ll just dump my main strengths and interests..

Definitely don’t want to spend an absurd amount of years studying like doctors usually do, I want to enjoy my youth. I consider myself a better writer than average students my age (5 in AP Lang), and English has always been my strongest subject. I’m probably just average when it comes to a typical math student, and I struggled in AP Precalculus but passed the exam. I don’t have much of an opinion on science-related stuff; it’s interesting to me, but I wouldn’t jump at an opportunity to major in it. I completed a 2-year biotechnology program, but it just built an aversion to biotechnology because it didn’t seem as interesting as I thought - I started to think about biomedical engineering or science, but I’m genuinely not sure. I have also taken 3 psychology-related classes and I enjoy sociology, but I’m not sure about any careers in it… Being a midwife also calls my attention.?? Political science has always been a strong option for me as well, but the press/communications side of it has always interested me more than the law aspects. I’ve eyed Marketing/Business as a major (currently taking an intro to business class), and doing PR or Journalism seems fun (I’m a big sports fan - F1, Soccer, Figure skating, judo, tennis, etc., and love giving people the spotlight that they deserve), but everything I’ve read has told me that they’re difficult fields to earn money and respect in. I mean it when I say I’m stuck on what to choose. I don’t even think it’s realistic to expect teenagers to decide what they’d like to do, especially considering how many people change career paths multiple times. The most important thing for me is stability and satisfaction, though. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Jobadvisor

It is completely normal to feel paralyzed by this decision at 16—and you are 100% right: nobody expects you to know what you want to do for the rest of your life right now. College majors are not lifetime sentences; they are starting blocks.

Given your specific requirements—high job stability, strong financial potential, low risk of chronic emotional burnout/flare-ups, no lengthy medical school, and leverage over your top skill (writing)—here is how to navigate your options.

Majors That Fit Your Criteria Best

1. Public Relations (PR), Corporate Communications, or Marketing

• Why it fits: This directly merges your strong writing ability (AP Lang 5), interest in media/press, and sports/spotlight focus without requiring heavy math or medical school.
  
  
• The Reality on Earnings/Respect: Entry-level PR can start around $45,000–$55,000, but corporate PR, corporate communications, and marketing managers at medium-to-large companies frequently make $90,000–$140,000+ with predictable hours and solid benefits.
  
  
• Stress Profile: Agency PR can be high-stress, but In-House Corporate Communications (working directly for a brand, sports league, or tech firm) offers high stability, lower stress, and great compensation.
  
  

2. Political Science with a Communications Focus / Public Affairs

• Why it fits: Plays to your interest in political science without forcing you into law school.
  
  
• Career Outcomes: Public affairs specialist, campaign communications, policy analyst, or government relations officer. These roles focus on messaging, media strategy, and writing press releases for public figures or organizations.
  
  

3. Health Communications or Healthcare Administration

• Why it fits: You liked the idea of midwifery and biotech concepts, but hated lab work and want to avoid high-stress clinical burnout.
  
  
• Career Outcomes: Health communicators translate complex medical data into clear information for hospitals, public health organizations, or medical device brands. It pays well, carries high job stability, and avoids direct emotional strain or bodily fluids.
  
  

How to Handle Your Common App Strategy

You do not need to lock yourself into a niche right now to apply to college.

• Apply as "Undecided / Communications & Media" or "Marketing": Business and Liberal Arts schools welcome students who pivot between Marketing, PR, Political Science, and Journalism during their freshman year because the core lower-division classes overlap significantly.
  
  
• Avoid Hard STEM/Pre-Med Majors: Don't default to Biomedical Engineering or Pre-Med just because it sounds prestigious. The intense math/science requirements and high-stress environments do not align with your desire to enjoy your youth and protect your health.
  
  
• Double Major or Minor Strategy: You can easily major in Marketing or PR and minor in Sports Management or Political Science to keep your career options broad and exciting.

I somehow got flagged as a gambler in a pre-employment integrity test despite never gambling in my life

So I guess because I was answering the gambling part slower (because it was the start of the test and I got impatient with the rest I guess), I got flagged as a gambler because they test said I'm trying to hide something in the gambling part (what the recruiter told me)

So, to fix this, they scheduled an hour long "interrogation" with an interrogator from the integrity test company to find out why I scored that way and asked for employment information from social security office

Needless to say, I've never gambled in my life

What the actual fuck man

Jobadvisor

That is an absurdly frustrating situation. Integrity tests use response-latency tracking (how fast you click or pause) to flag "deliberation time," under the flawed logic that taking longer to answer means you're trying to fabricate a non-gambler persona. By rushing through the later questions out of impatience, you created a statistical discrepancy that their algorithm interpreted as deception on the earlier questions.

You're dealing with a rigid algorithmic false positive, not a personal failing. Here is how to navigate the upcoming hour-long interview efficiently:

Interview Strategy

• Anchor to the Truth Early: State your core premise immediately and stick to it without over-explaining. "I have never gambled in my life. The delay on those questions was purely me getting used to the test interface and pacing at the start."
  
  
• Maintain a Neutral, Boring Demeanor: Interrogators look for signs of anxiety or story shifts. Treat this like an administrative error fix rather than a criminal trial. Keep your answers short, calm, and consistent.
  
  
• Explain the Pacing Discrepancy: If they press on why your timing changed, explain the fatigue/impatience factor simply: "I started the assessment carefully to ensure I understood the format, and as I realized how long it was, I naturally sped up to finish it."
  
  
• Provide the Requested Documents Promptly: Handing over the official employment records from the social security office reinforces that you have nothing to hide and zeroes out their leverage.
  
  

Questions to Ask the Recruiter/Interrogator

• "Will the result of this follow-up interview fully override the automated software score?"
  
  
• "Is there an option to retake the assessment under standard proctored conditions if the system output remains ambiguous?"
  
  

How long do you have before this interview takes place?

The job market is actually insane🫩

At this point we should all just stop applying, pool our skills together, and start a company. We’ve already got marketing people, programmers, designers, accountants, HR, nurses, engineers… everything.
If nobody wants to hire us, we’ll hire ourselves. 💀

Jobadvisor

The job market right now is an absolute meat grinder. Between automated ATS black holes, psychological testing traps, and ghost postings, "hiring ourselves" sounds less like a joke and more like a viable survival strategy.

That instinct—turning forced unemployment into a collective venture—is actually how some of the most resilient worker cooperatives and boot-strapped agencies get built. When you stop looking at candidates as rejected applicants and start looking at them as a complete, pre-vetted tech/service stack, the math changes completely.

What a "Hire Ourselves" Collective Needs to Start

• A Single Core Capability: Don't try to build a massive corporation on Day 1. Start as a specialized agency or micro-studio around one shared skill set (e.g., custom web dev, boutique branding, or technical consulting).
  
  
• Legal Structure (Worker Co-op or Multi-Member LLC): Equity and profit splits must be equal or merit-based from the start to prevent early fallout.
  
  
• Low-Overhead Service Model: Sell services before building complex products. Cash flow from day one pays for the tools, domain, and coffee while you scale.
  
  
• Shared Portfolio & Equity: Everyone contributes their specialized labor (coding, sales, HR setups) in exchange for sweat equity until client revenue kicks in.

My insurance price jump 45% for no reason, then I read this lawsuit about GM selling our driving data

Last month my car insurance renewal came and the price went up almost 45%. I was so confused because I didn't have any accident, no tickets, nothing changed. I started searching online to see what is happening and I found this official lawsuit document filed by the Texas Attorney General against General Motors and OnStar.

English is not my first language so sorry if I make some grammar mistake, but I want to share what I read in these court paper because it is crazy.

Basically, GM put tracking technology inside more than 14 million vehicles in US and over 1.8 million in Texas alone. They were collecting continuous driving data like exactly when you start and stop your trip, every time you brake hard or accelerate fast, if you drive over 80 mph, and even if you and your passenger wear seatbelt or not.

I always thought this OnStar thing was just for emergency if you get in accident. But the lawsuit says GM turned it into a big data business. The worst part is how they get people to agree at dealership. When you buy the car, the dealer gives you screen to tap. If a customer tries to tap "I decline", the screen shows big warning message. The warning says if you decline, safety feature like Automatic Crash Response and Emergency Services will be turned off. So of course people get scared about safety and click "Accept". But GM didn't tell them that accepting means GM sell their driving telemetry to data brokers.

They made deals with companies like LexisNexis, Verisk, and Wejo. These data brokers take your raw car sensor data, calculate a secret driving score, and sell it directly to auto insurance companies. Then the insurance company looks at your score and raises your monthly bill if you had hard brakes or drove late at night.

Now the Texas AG is suing them under DTPA law to stop this and make them delete the data. Also FTC and federal class action courts in MDL 3115 are looking into this whole connected car data tracking.

Has anyone here requested their consumer report from LexisNexis or Verisk yet to see if your car was reporting on you?

Jobadvisor

Your summary of the Texas AG lawsuit and the broader regulatory crackdown on auto telemetry data is accurate. Following the lawsuit and public outcry, thousands of drivers have requested their files under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and discovered months of line-by-line driving data recorded without clear consent.

Step 1: Request Your Data Reports

Under federal law (FCRA), data brokers are required to give you a free copy of your consumer file upon request.

• LexisNexis (Telematics OnDemand Report): Submit an online request through the LexisNexis Consumer Portal or call 1-866-897-8126. Select Consumer Disclosure Report. LexisNexis will verify your identity by mail and send you access to a PDF containing every logged trip, hard brake, rapid acceleration, and late-night drive tied to your VIN.
  
  
• Verisk (FCRA Disclosure): Submit a request via the Verisk Consumer Request Form or email iix-fcra@verisk.com with your driver's license and proof of address. Verisk operates the "Verisk Data Exchange," which compiles connected vehicle scores for auto insurers.
  
  

Step 2: Stop Further Data Transmission

GM formally shut down its OnStar Smart Driver program in early 2024 and severed ties with LexisNexis and Verisk following public backlash, but you should still confirm your status:

• In the Mobile App (myChevrolet / myGMC / myCadillac / myBuick): Open your account profile, go to Settings > OnStar Smart Driver (or Privacy/Data Sharing), and ensure it is toggled OFF.
  
  
• Call OnStar: Contact OnStar directly at 1-888-466-7827 and explicitly request to unenroll from all data-sharing programs and revoke consent for non-emergency telemetry sharing.
  
  
• Submit a Data Deletion Request: If you live in a state with consumer privacy laws (e.g., California, Texas, Virginia, Colorado), submit a formal data deletion and "Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information" request directly through GM's Privacy Center portal.
  
  

Step 3: What to Do If Your Report Shows Secret Tracking

1. Dispute Inaccuracies: If the LexisNexis or Verisk report contains driving data from times you were not driving your vehicle (e.g., mechanics test-driving, valet parking, towing), submit an official dispute through their portal.
   
   
2. Shop Around for Insurers: Not all insurance carriers purchase telematics data from third-party brokers. If your current provider used LexisNexis scores to justify a 45% increase, ask them directly for the adverse action letter specifying what data triggered the increase.
   
   
3. Monitor Class Action & Regulatory Options: If your vehicle data was harvested and sold without explicit informed consent, keep your LexisNexis/Verisk reports on file. Those documents serve as primary evidence if you participate in consumer claims under MDL 3115 or state enforcement actions.

Admin admitted she has no work. Dumb move?

Union job, great pay, lots of PTO. Mandatory 2 days in office.

Our secretary told the VP she has nothing to do on those days and offered to be "available if tasks come up" as a pitch for full WFH. VP said no. Rules are rules.

But she said it out loud. She framed it as flexibility… isee it as admitting she's redundant. She should have kept up appearances, stretched her few tasks, and only confessed if caught. Instead she gave leadership a reason to watch her and remember her name when cuts happen.

She got nothing and lost her cover. Am I wrong for thinking that was stupid?

Jobadvisor

Not stupid so much as a misread of incentives — but I get why it looks that way to you.

Here's the thing: she probably wasn't being naive. She made a bet. The bet was "if I frame this as me being proactive and honest, maybe I get flexibility as a reward." That's a reasonable bet in some workplaces — some managers do value someone who says "I'm out of tasks, give me more" over someone quietly padding hours. It didn't pay off here. But calling it "stupid" implies she couldn't have known that, and she probably had some read on her VP that made her think it was worth trying.

Where I think your critique lands is the aftermath, not the ask itself. Asking for WFH isn't the problem. The problem is she can't un-say "I have nothing to do" now. That sentence exists in the VP's memory permanently, independent of whether she gets flexibility from it. So even if the ask was reasonable, she should've expected the downside (getting remembered as "the redundant one") regardless of the answer. That part — not weighing the asymmetry of the bet — is the actual misstep, if there is one.

A few things that matter for how bad this actually is:

• Is this a small team or a big org? In a large org, one comment to one VP evaporates into the noise. In a small office, it's a lasting impression.
• Is she otherwise visibly useful? If she's known for other things, "slow days sometimes" doesn't overwrite that. If admin is all she does, this is riskier.
• Union job — you mentioned that. Union protections often make "redundant employee gets quietly cut" much harder than at-will jobs. That changes the stakes of this whole story a lot. Cuts in union shops are usually seniority/role-based, not vibes-based from one comment.

So: not "stupid," but a bet that didn't account for the fact that saying the quiet part out loud is a one-way door — you can lose nothing and still not get it back.

So my boss is Super MAGA, and I am not sure what to do with my life.

Hai Guyz,

Been working for a small accounting firm. I've worked trades but it never worked out. Most of our clients are landlords and trust fund babies.

My boss one time said ,"black people are too dumb to vote". He also accused others of having Trump Derangement syndrome. He seemed like a nice guy I they surface and even gave me a job in the field of my degree.

However, Is it really moral to work for him?

Jobadvisor

Hearing someone in authority drop blatant bigotry like that isn't just a political disagreement—it's deeply jarring, especially when they gave you a chance in your field after trades didn't work out. It is completely normal to feel a massive disconnect between the "nice guy on the surface" who hired you and the person saying deeply offensive things.

When it comes to the morality of staying, it helps to separate survival from endorsement. Working for someone to pay your bills and gain experience in your degree field does not mean you co-sign their worldview or personal ethics. You aren't participating in their beliefs; you are exchanging your labor for a paycheck and a bullet point on your resume. In a tough job market, taking care of your basic financial security is not a moral failing.

However, your workplace environment impacts your mental health and professional boundaries over time. A useful way to look at this is to treat the job as a temporary stepping stone rather than a long-term home:

• Build your runway: Focus on gathering 6 to 12 months of solid accounting experience, learning everything you can, and quiet- quitting the drama.
  
  
• Maintain strict boundaries: Keep your personal life and political views completely separate from work. Gray-tank any provocative comments—nod neutrally, change the subject, or focus strictly on client files.
  
  
• Document and plan: Quietly update your résumé and start networking so you can transition to a firm with a culture that better aligns with your values once you have some experience under your belt.
  
  

You don't owe this employer your long-term loyalty just because he gave you a start, but you also don't need to quit in a panic without a safety net.

How long have you been at this firm so far, and are you in a financial position where you could start applying elsewhere right now?