Alex Ansuh-Amponsah | PwC UK
Mechanical Engineering
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How has having a STEM background helped you to make the transition from engineering to a business and financial environment?
What we do is very fast paced. Working in Financial Decisions and Analysis and having a STEM background means that I usually don’t have to worry about the computational side of the things we do. In Deals you need to be able to think about processes, apply methodologies and think quickly using quantitative information. Yes, being able to analyse the meaning of charts or finance reports is important, but in terms of summarising, collating and finding trends, STEM naturally sets you up to think that way, so I spot trends faster. I can learn data analytics tools very quickly and if I do get bogged down with some of the financial fundamentals there are always people to help.
My STEM background has given me the confidence to point things out and the reassurance that I know what I’m doing.
How did you find the Professional Qualification?
I didn’t find the Professional Qualification too daunting; revising for exams in a short time frame and doing a lot of calculations are things that I was used to from engineering. The difficult part was more qualitative, learning the tax code, certain law fundamentals and business best practices. Essentially the rewiring towards a Business and Finance mindset. Having a STEM background, however, meant that I could focus on those sections as I was able to take my computation and calculation skills for granted.
“I work with a large number of people who are driven to solve problems and they genuinely enjoy finding out why something does or doesn’t work.”
