Hello,
I have been trading for the past year and I would like to build a career as I have enjoyed the experience, however i have a lot more to learn.
I have been looking for jobs in the industry and as I have no experience there is always an upfront cost to complete a course where you may be chosen at the end and be given a full time job (London Academy of Trading, Amplify trading). Has anyone taken these courses as I would like to know if these courses are scams or if they work? I am yet to find a company that is willing to take on someone who has no experience without taking these expensive courses?
Some are undoubtedly scams (someone more skeptical than I would perhaps say “many” are.)
As to whether they work, it depends on what you mean by “work”. They’ll be a big mixture.
Given the inflated and extravagant claims often made in their online marketing materials, my own suggestion is that many of them don’t, in the sense that the benefits portrayed and implied in their marketing typically don’t materialise.
Doubtless, there’ll also be a few which “do exactly what it says on the tin”, if people’s expectations are reasonable to start with, and those may have some genuine educational value. But even then, whether it’s educational value [I]which will help you to get a job[/I] (something anyone would genuinely call a “job”, within the normal, everyday meaning of the word) in the industry is another matter altogether.
I’d advise you to be [I]extremely[/I] careful of people offering “jobs” (and look at the terms and conditions and a specimen job contract with a [B]very[/B] fine-toothed comb, and talk [B][U]independently[/U][/B] (i.e. without relying on the strength of prepared testimonials), to [U]several[/U] former participants of any course you’re considering. If the people holding the course have any objection to that, or plead “impracticability” or anything else which prevents your doing so, I’d [I][U]run[/U][/I], personally (even in these shoes).
I’ve never heard of a bona fide company offering anything I’d consider a “job” on the strength of anyone having completed a paid-for course which is open to all who can afford the fee - many of which are grotesquely exorbitant for the content/tuition provided.
It’s [U]certainly[/U] an area in which a very high degree of skepticism is generally healthy, James. If you’re at all suspicious, in any individual case, that any company isn’t [I]really[/I] offering[I] real[/I] jobs but is actually just making money from all the course-fees, I’d say that you’ll probably be right. It’s a [I][U]very[/U][/I] murky “industry”.
Thank you for the reply Lexys. The dream of taking a course, going straight to the trading floor and becoming the UK’s/World’s top trader may not be so straight forward.
The more I think and read about these courses the more risky they seem. To spend thousands on a course with no widely recognised qualifications and no guarantee or opportunity of a job seem silly.
Working within the industry would speed up my knowledge and help me progress a lot faster, however, I need to get my foot in the door, courses don’t look like the answer, I have no experience apart from a year privately trading, so maybe building a portfolio with a good track record would help.
It can help to get into a prop-shop … but that’s also a “murky world” in which one needs to be very careful and to know exactly what one’s doing.
These days, appropriate university/academic educational qualifications tend to be the first stage of getting onto a financial institution trading-floor (though they’re still not the [I]only[/I] route).
If you can make yourself a good trader then why are you looking for a job in the industry, make your name in the industry and start teaching others who want to learn from you.
From what I’ve heard most courses are too expensive and generally they do not give you any different knowledge and information, you could easily find it in free videos, books and forums. And some of them are definitely highly paid scams. So perhaps it would be better if you spend some more time gaining experience and educating yourself. Alternatively if the desired company offers some courses, you could take them if this will help you get a job there.