In this episode of CFI Member Spotlight, we sit down with Russel Tan, a dynamic professional from Singapore who’s bridging the worlds of engineering and finance. Join us as Russel shares his unconventional journey from aerospace engineering to pursuing a career in finance, highlighting his passion for problem-solving, private equity, and the power of networking.

Russel’s early dive into financial modeling and his plans to pursue an Accounting and Finance degree at Durham University set him up for a promising career in investment banking and consulting. Whether you’re a finance student, a professional exploring career transitions, or someone curious about global perspectives in finance, this conversation offers inspiration and practical advice on blending technical expertise with business acumen.

Transcript

Meeyeon (00:11)
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of CFI Member Spotlight. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be joining us from, whether you’re listening or watching us in person. We have a guest today here, all the way from Singapore, Russel Tan.

Welcome, Russel, to our podcast.

Russel Tan (00:34)
Thank you for having me today.

Meeyeon (00:37)
So this is now, I want to say, the third guest I’ve been able to have from Singapore. So I’m hoping that one day I’ll be able to go to Singapore because I’ve heard such great things about the country and all the delicious food you have over there. I’m really excited to talk to you because, the, thanks to LinkedIn’s algorithm, I found you because I interviewed two people from Singapore. And I think basically LinkedIn starts at, she likes Singapore. Let’s recommend her more.

Russel Tan (00:43)
Okay.

Meeyeon (01:07)
And when I saw that you had completed a couple of our CFI programs and that you were now a police officer for a temporary period of time, I just thought it’d be so interesting to get to know you. I think a lot of our members would love to hear about your story so far. ⁓ We interview people in all different parts of their career, all different parts of their life. So I think it’s really fun to get different perspectives and you’re kind of just…

Russel Tan (01:15)
Yes, that’s…

Meeyeon (01:34)
starting, you’re going to be starting your career. And I think it’s a really interesting time to start a career, in the sense that when I graduated, and when I was looking for work, technology was a very different place than it is today. So with that said, I would love to just ask you about how you got your interest in finance, like how did you get interested in, you know,

Russel Tan (01:41)
Mm.

Meeyeon (02:00)
FMVA, CMSA, all of this kind of stuff, all the stuff that’s in those programs. And yeah, was it, did you have a parent that was maybe working in finance or how’d you get your interest?

Russel Tan (02:12)
Thank you for the question and thank you for having me in the podcast today. To answer your question, can I give a little bit of background of where I studied and how… Hi, I’m Russel. I’m based in Singapore and I completed a diploma in aerospace engineering,

Meeyeon (02:24)
Yes, of course, do so.

Russel Tan (02:38)
which is quite unconventional for people entering the world of I did aerospace engineering and polytechnic for three years. Liked some aspects of it, didn’t really like some other aspects of it, but all in all, I did pretty decently. So I had to look at what I wanted to do for university, because I think…

I think you had an interview with one of the other Singaporeans, right? He was speaking about the different education paths in Singapore. So, Polytechnic is one of the education systems you can go through before university. So I chose aerospace engineering before because I thought aerospace was pretty cool. I planes and rockets are pretty, pretty interesting. So that’s why I chose it. But back then, I was only 16 and I didn’t really think…

through carefully what I wanted to do as a career. So I just chose the first thing that sounded interesting to me. And I was pretty good in math and science, so I decided to do aerospace. Went through it, liked it, but there were some aspects I didn’t really like as well. ⁓ But throughout the course, I realized that I enjoyed topics in statistics, probability, and

overall, just like the mathy parts of engineering but not really like the engineering math kind of like topics So that got me thinking of what kind of career path I can go into after aerospace engineering so Yeah, so so afterwards. Okay, so so funny story. So during my aerospace engineering diploma,

there was a period of time where I was like working, I was doing like some work around my dad’s office and he was telling me about a private equity firm kind of acquiring his company. I shall not disclose what it is but yeah, a PE firm essentially purchased his company and did…

some internal corporate restructuring and I felt that the process was pretty interesting because I’m like damn how can a company just come inside just budge in and just change everything so I was like damn that’s pretty cool and then I learned so I looked into what private equity was I realized that it was something that I think I would enjoy and found out that

like career in private equity would require lot of probability statistics and a lot of math as well on top of like all the soft skills but that’s something that kind of piqued my interest at first, yeah…

Meeyeon (05:29)
That’s such a…

So it’s funny that you mentioned that you think it’s unconventional and it might be unconventional, but from the people that I’ve worked with that have been my colleagues, for example, I used to work on a trading floor in debt capital markets and one of our mortgage backed securities traders, I’ll mention his name, just first name, Fred. Hey Fred, if you ever, I always think that maybe once in a while some of my old colleagues will find this

and a little dropping little Easter eggs so they could hear their name. But he did a PhD in aerospace engineering and he ultimately ended up being like trading mortgage backed securities. But there’s so many of these people that I meet that are really, really at the like kind of like top of their game in terms of being in trading and they come from engineering backs.

Russel Tan (06:04)
No way.

Meeyeon (06:25)
And I find that the way that you’ve explained to me how you’ve come to gain your interest in finance is very similar in that everyone from engineering comes from this problem-solving perspective, where it’s like, okay, we have to start somewhere. So it’s like, I’m interested in aerospace, seems really interesting, I like the topic, let’s try it out. And then from there, you realize you like this, you don’t like this, and then you start going on this problem-solving mission and thinking like…

Russel Tan (06:37)
Yes.

Meeyeon (06:52)
Where could I find a job that has most of the aspects of what I like, maybe including some business in there. And the another person that so a friend of mine I interviewed recently, she works at a venture capital company, so not dissimilar to PE. And she was also an engineer. And I want to say she was also aerospace. So she did a master’s in it. And her family had some background in

aviation, which is very interesting. But she also got exposure to the business side of things. And like that’s how she gained her interest. But similar to you that she has this like problem solving mindset, which I think is so important for any career in finance and banking generally. I think the aspect of being a natural problem solver and always looking for solutions is so important in finance. So I just want to say I think that was

Russel Tan (07:31)
Mm. And…

Meeyeon (07:51)
while it might seem unconventional, it’s typically a very successful path to come from.

Russel Tan (07:57)
That’s good to hear. Yeah, I mean I absolutely agree with what you Yeah, no like yeah as you were saying, I absolutely agree with what you said about engineers having to have that, what I call like the engineering mindset, it’s a way of kind of looking at an issue and trying to deconstruct it to its base before building it back up to find like a more holistic solution.

Meeyeon (08:01)
And so. 

Yeah.

My gosh, it’s so funny the way that you say, okay, so my husband is an engineer. He says the exact same things. So yeah, I find that everyone has like this really fundamental mindset of taking things down to like bare basics and like taking it to a wire frame and then understanding it, understanding it well before you try to build things back.

Russel Tan (08:27)
No way. No way. It’s Yeah. Yeah.

Mmm.

Yeah, 100%.

Meeyeon (08:48)
And so you have lots of different interests. You’re also a tennis coach. Singapore has a national service and you’re in that point in your life where you’re done your ⁓ university degree, you’re gonna go and do your national service. And then, you what’s after? Or Polytechnic is, Polytechnic is university. It’s like a kind of an in-between.

Russel Tan (08:53)
Thanks.

Mm.

No, sorry, let me correct you. So I haven’t done my university degree yet. I’ll be doing my university degree after my national service. So…

So a polytechnic degree is a pathway you can choose before university that kind of streamlines you into a career that you want to do in the future. It’s a way in Singapore that kind of gives people what they want, like people that know what they want to do, like a direct pathway to where they want to go. Yeah, so I haven’t done, I haven’t ever been to university yet. Yeah.

Meeyeon (09:46)
What do you think you’re gonna do for university?

Russel Tan (09:49)
Definitely something finance-related. Like it’s different from engineering. Maybe, yeah. Right. So, actually, I’m thinking of maybe going to the UK because I have some offers from the ⁓ UK universities already. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Meeyeon (09:54)
You’re probably gonna do like a business degree then, right? Like maybe economics and finance.

So nice. You’ve already applied. That’s so exciting. That’s so exciting.

Russel Tan (10:09)
I have, and yeah, and I do have offers.

I’ve offers from the universities already. I’m quite inclined on going to Durham University for accounting and finance. It’s something that I’m interested in. That might change but as of right now I’m kind of set on that. Yeah so university is something business finance related.

Meeyeon (10:31)
And so how long is your national service?

Russel Tan (10:33)
Two years.

Meeyeon (10:36)
And you’re allowed to accept an offer from university and have it pending for that period of time? wow.

Russel Tan (10:38)
Yeah, yes, correct.

So for universities in Singapore and also globally, internationally, they recognize Singapore,

Singapore’s National Service. I mean, many people from Singapore also apply. Yeah, so many people from Singapore also applies to universities in the UK, Australia, most commonly Australia and the UK, sometimes in the US as well. I think Canada to a certain extent. And these countries recognize Singapore, Singapore’s National Service, and they do have like deferments for their offers. So I can have an offer now, but start my university two years in,

Meeyeon (10:53)
Well, that’s nice. It’s convenient.

Russel Tan (11:20)
two years time. Yeah, so that’s Yeah, it is.

Meeyeon (11:22)
Wow, that’s amazing. And so today,

where do you think, like, where do you see, if you were to watch this interview in kind of three years time, where do you think you’re gonna be? Are you, I’m curious to see where you think your career path is gonna go and then see where it does go.

Russel Tan (11:32)
Mm.

Hmm.

Okay. So, in serious time, I do hope that I break into

high finance somewhere in the UK since I’m probably going to the UK for university and during university I’m going to be joining many clubs and societies and connecting with so many people because I love networking so I hope through all this I end up in either investment banking or consultancy because that’s one of the areas I’m really passionate about so hopefully one of these two industries in the future.

Meeyeon (12:24)
And consulting, find it, the line of work lines up really well with an engineering background generally, because it is, it’s like, you want to say almost like life is a problem-solving exercise. But with consulting firms, like whether you want to talk about, know, McKinsey or BCG, or Bain, they’re all hired for very specific, they’re hired very specifically to consult on

Russel Tan (12:28)
Mmm.

Yeah, yeah, it does, it does.

Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Meeyeon (12:51)
specific problems and provide very specific solutions at the end of the day. So I think that might be a path that you’d really enjoy. But I’m curious. So when I was in university, and when I was going through the whole investment banking analyst interview phase, internship, and getting hired, we did not have things like ChatGPT or anything even close to that.

Russel Tan (12:56)
Right. Right.

Yes, definitely.

Meeyeon (13:21)
Have you been able to make use of it during your polytechnic and do you find that the interview process is a bit different? Actually, no, you haven’t gone through the interview process yet. But have you been able to use some of that technology in your polytechnic? Are you familiar with it? you comfortable?

Russel Tan (13:34)
Not yet.

Yeah, great question. So when I did my polytechnic,

it was still slightly before the introduction of ChatGPT and AI. So throughout the span of my polytechnic degree, I wasn’t able to use AI that much because it wasn’t that mainstream yet, but definitely in the university, I’ll utilize it even more. ⁓ However, I would say even though even if I had access to AI during polytechnic time, 

I’m not sure how much I can use it because engineering degrees, engineering diplomas, sorry, my engineering diploma had a lot of hands-on coursework. So yeah, so it’s very difficult right to do it, to utilize AI when it comes to like actually building something or like do it completing a project. Yeah, but if I had to use it, what I would do is,

Meeyeon (14:27)
Yeah.

Russel Tan (14:42)
is what I’m doing right now actually during my national service which is using ChatGPT to teach me certain subjects and certain topics that I’m a little bit poor in like some concepts that I’m a little bit rusty in yeah so if I could go back in time and use ChatGPT that would definitely be what I’ll be using it for…

Meeyeon (15:05)
It’ll be really interesting to see because I can’t exactly tell you when Excel became like the number one key skill, probably kind of when it was born, right? Like in the eighties, but ⁓ the idea of ChatGPT becoming a key skill now, where people say, I have Excel skills, PowerPoint skills, financial modeling skills. Another thing to add on will be, could be extremely proficient in chatgpt because it makes

Russel Tan (15:11)
Right. Yes, right.

Mmm.

Meeyeon (15:35)
you so much more productive. I have a backwards-looking lens in that I kind of think about the things I did in my first role as an investment banking analyst, how much time it took me. And I just kind of look back and say, hey, I’ve used ChatGPT over the past year. And I’ve become pretty good at using I refer to chatgpt as a her. But I just think about how much more productive I could have been and would have been

Russel Tan (15:40)
Okay.

Ha!

Meeyeon (16:04)
had I had her back then, but it is through the lens of someone that knows what that work was like. I’ve already done it before, so I know how I would use it, but it would be really interesting to see once you land in university and then you have your first internship and start your first full-time job, how integrated that piece of technology becomes into your role. Maybe that’s gonna be your next thing. You’re gonna learn all about how to use Trapped.

Russel Tan (16:12)
Right.

Yes, yeah. Could be.

Meeyeon (16:37)
And I guess the other question I have for you is just generally, what is your favourite topic in finance that you’ve learned so far? Yeah. You’re going to have an opportunity to go and explore it in university. And I find that university, you know, when I was going through all the courses, I was always like stressed. I would have both exams, know, midterms and finals and that you kind of forgot to I forgot to enjoy it a little bit more. And so whenever I see someone that’s going into university, I’m so curious about

Russel Tan (16:42)
In finance. Currently. Mm. Mm. Right.

Hmm.

Great.

Meeyeon (17:06)
what are you most excited to learn about? And especially when it comes to topics that you could potentially apply towards a full-time job, it’s just interesting to see what gets you most excited currently.

Russel Tan (17:08)
Mm.

Okay, so currently I’m still doing my… I’m currently doing a course in DCF building, like the building of DCF models, and that’s pretty interesting. I’ve been…

Yeah, I’ve quite liked that course. Because from what I’ve heard, lot of these analysts when coming in, they would have to be quite proficient with all these models and stuff. actually learning how these models work prior to actually, you know…

Meeyeon (17:36)
Yes, yes.

Russel Tan (17:57)
Going to university, going into the field. I think it prepares me to kind of see if I would actually enjoy the type of work I’ll do in the future. So that’s pretty interesting.

However, if you were to ask me what specific modules I’m interested in in university, because I’ve taken a look at some of the modules that I’ll be potentially doing, it’s very interesting because I’m kind of a math-y, science-y kind of guy because I did engineering. I’m actually quite interested in econometrics like Econs and Math, like how like…

Economists can use like like data and stuff to predict like future trends and stuff I think that’s pretty interesting and another thing that I’m interested in is Derivative derivative pricing and financial engineering. It’s something that I’ve been looking into and something that I think I’ll enjoy quite a fair bit.

Meeyeon (18:54)
Thinking of a fun question so that you might be able to look back at this after you finish your national service and see in hindsight if you could give one piece of advice to your future self.

Usually, I ask for one piece of advice to people like yourself, five to ten years ago. But I would love for you to give future Russel one piece of advice. What would it be?

Russel Tan (19:28)
It would be…

no matter where you are in the future, just be proud of where, like how far you have came, and also that everything you’re doing currently right now in National Service and leading up to university will definitely pay off in the future, and that wherever you are, that younger Russel will be proud of you.

Yeah, that’s it.

Meeyeon (20:05)
Well, you’re certainly to have to come back to this in a few years. It’ll be really fun.

Russel Tan (20:09)
Yeah, for sure.

Meeyeon (20:12)
Well, that has been our podcast for today. Thank you, everyone, for listening. And if those of you out there are from Singapore, hi. And I hope that you found this relatable. I know that national service is not something that every country has, but I think it’s so wonderful to hear perspectives from people that are going through a similar path. And until next time, see you later, everyone. Yay.

Russel Tan (20:35)
Thank you. Bye-bye.