Alumni Profile: Financial Analyst

Interdisciplinary coursework at the INI is a big draw for many incoming students who may wish to dabble broadly in outside interests or deepen their knowledge on a particular topic. At times, the elective course options may profoundly change a student's career path. For Preston Mesick (INI, '08), the electives he took steered him to a job offer in New York's financial district upon graduation.

When looking into graduate programs, Mesick veered away from places that focused solely on engineering. He sought out an interdisciplinary curriculum and then decided on Carnegie Mellon because the faculty in computer security was "second to none."

Mesick, a computer engineering major from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, joined the INI's Master of Science in Information Security Technology Management program immediately after college with the support of a Homeland Security Fellowship. As he completed the program's core courses, he made plans to shape his degree based on an interest in business.

"I decided to build a curriculum for myself that allowed me to go into an area of business in some depth—not just take a single class on a topic," said Mesick. "The INI's elective and restricted elective course options allowed me to put several consecutive courses together in order to learn the breadth of a topic, but also enough depth that I could take to an interview and really know what I was talking about."

He sought electives from the Tepper School of Business and Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, including Tepper's Stochastic Calculus for Finance course, which was taught by a professor at the top of his field. Natalie Strintzis in Enrollment and Jennifer Burkett at the INI Career Center gave him support by helping him enroll in the electives he wanted and prepare him for job searches and interviews.

When the job hunt began, Mesick was interviewing alongside graduate students in business and finance, but he shone above the competition by offering a unique skill set in both programming and finance. He accepted a position at Citigroup in as an Analyst in the Quantitative Trade and Analysis Program, where he will build systems for the pricing of financial instruments.

Looking back on his time at the INI, Mesick advises incoming students to lose any fears about taking classes on new topics. "I had no idea what math finance was about and how it related to computer science. I happened to take one class and thought, 'Oh, my goodness, this stuff is fascinating.'"

During his foray into business courses, Mesick never lost focus on his career path. He considered how he would present himself to potential employers and saw danger in being perceived as unfocused if his electives varied too widely.

"It's important to take time to really figure out how you want to portray yourself to companies. I positioned myself as a hybrid of two focus areas because I had strong programming skills and several courses in math finance," said Mesick, whose positioning was well received at Citigroup. "In the job hunt, I think students should be eclectic. And be different."