How did you come to work for a bank as a computer scientist?

I studied computer science in Germany, Finland, the Czech Republic and Spain and graduated with a degree in engineering. It was in Finland that I met my future wife. After studying IT, I worked for a smaller company in Germany for a year and then moved to Switzerland because of my wife. Shortly afterwards, I started working for ZKB, where I have been employed since 2008. Fun fact: I didn't even apply for the job, but was recruited by a headhunter.

Why did you decide to do further training?

Internally at ZKB, we had a great department with numerous good further training courses, which I regularly attended. Because I was hungry for more knowledge. I wanted to understand how a bank works. In my early days at ZKB, I worked in a risk team where we developed and operated rating, operational risk and market risk systems. I was very interested in this area, but no courses on risk were offered internally. I therefore decided to enrol on the CAS Risk Management for Banking and Finance at the University of Zurich. In the meantime, an internal course had awakened my interest in investment topics, which is why I subsequently registered for the CAS Derivatives. After I had also completed this, a lecturer advised me to go straight for the MAS in Finance, as I didn't need many more credits. And that's exactly what I did a short time later.

Why did you choose a program offered by the University of Zurich?

Our internal department recommended the University of Zurich to me and referred me to the high-quality range of continuing education courses in finance. I have to say that I was not disappointed.

What did you particularly like about the MAS Finance?

I really enjoyed the program in general!

Firstly, I found the compatibility of work and study ideal. I always worked full-time and studied at the same time, which worked wonderfully. I found it particularly practical that all the information could be found on the OLAT platform and that you could do a lot of things at home, at your own pace and when it suited you. There were plenty of references and tutors who you could ask at any time. I found it ideal that interest was aroused at home and then you met on site to discuss any questions. Just sitting in school and listening would not have appealed to me.

Secondly, I thought it was great that the content was very business-oriented. There were many experts from banks and financial institutions who lectured on their specialist areas. In general, the lecturers and professors were all very knowledgeable in their fields. I was impressed that they were even able to answer all kinds of specialized questions in detail and classify them. One of my highlights was the Behavioral Finance module - since then I've viewed everything as a real option: buying a car, buying an apartment, etc., that's stayed with me. It was also great to broaden my horizons and meet people from other disciplines and industries.

What was the biggest challenge?

Fortunately, I didn't have any problems, neither in terms of content nor organization. Everything went very smoothly. I studied for a total of six years, from the first CAS to the completion of the MAS, and the credits remained valid during this time. The most challenging part was definitely the Master's thesis. I found it extremely interesting, but also very extensive. One positive aspect, however, was that I was able to write a large part of the thesis on the beach in Portugal when I was visiting relatives. That was easy to combine.

What topic did you write your Master's thesis on?

The topic is in the field of corporate finance, it was about financial market data. It is known how much this market data costs, which we buy from providers such as Reuters or Bloomberg. However, it is unclear what the value of this data is. As part of my work, I set up a company analysis and anonymized the metrics so that people could talk about them. I had a lot of fun doing that - only my wife didn't after reading through it for the fourth time! (laughs)

What were your key takeaways from the MAS?

Firstly, I personally gained a lot from learning what the core business of a bank is and how the banking industry works. That broadened my perspective enormously.

My second key takeaway is that there is an urgent need for more knowledge about investing in society. I come from East Germany and the attitude towards investing there is extremely defensive; people are very risk-averse. I know the same thing from Portugal. At most, money goes into the bank account and is saved for less interest than inflation. People do not invest profitably. In Switzerland, on the other hand, or at least in the greater Zurich area, things are very different. You can talk to a lot of people there about investment issues. It seems important to me that people know about their own pension situation and that they protect themselves. Unfortunately, I don't see many people in eastern Germany and Portugal doing that at all. I think it would make sense for there to be more investment literacy.

What did you gain from the further training?

A degree from the University of Zurich definitely gives you credibility. There are plenty of people who do a great job in the field of IT but don't know what's happening to the left and right of it. With an MAS Finance, you also understand other specialist areas in the bank and are therefore taken seriously. The training also helped me to find new approaches to certain tasks and problems.

You regularly attend our alumni events, what do you like about them?

On the one hand, I enjoy meeting up with contacts from my student days. There are colleagues that I only see at these events and it's always nice to bump into people you haven't seen for six months. On the other hand, it's also exciting to catch up with new people who have just started further training, for example. I'm interested in finding out their motivation for the course. In general, I find it exciting to discuss problems from the job and get new input. I've been with the same employer for so long, at some point you get tunnel vision. The exchange gives me new perspectives.

What advice would you give to current MAS students?

If you are planning to complete an MAS from the outset, I would recommend completing it in a relatively condensed form. With hindsight, I wouldn't let my studies “drag on” for six years, but would complete them in a shorter period of time.

How was your experience with the finance team?

Positive across the board. From the tutors to the professors, you could always tell that they knew exactly what they were talking about. They were also always well prepared, which was noticeable.

Would you recommend the MAS in Finance and if so, to whom?

For anyone who works in a bank or a large insurance company, the whole MAS definitely makes sense. I think the effort and return are really very positive. And the CAS programs or single courses on investment and derivatives can really be recommended to anyone and everyone, this knowledge is generally very useful.

Thank you very much, Thomas Büttner!

(Here you will find further information on the MAS Finance.)