Graduated from target school, seeking career advice

Hi folks,

I recently graduated from a target, am currently working as a software engineer (SWE), and have no applicable finance experience.

I want to realign my career trajectory to maximize my current and future potential comp. From what I've gathered reading the threads on this forum, here are my options:

  1. (My current course of action) Keep interviewing for better SWE roles. After 2-3 more years as SWE, get admitted to M7 MBA, complete a pre-MBA internship followed by an SA stint, and break into IB as an associate
  2. Apply for MFin at Vandy or the like by this Fall and take advantage of strong OCR to break into IB as an analyst 2 years from now (again, not sure if possible). Saves time over option 1 since full-time MFin is 10 months and no prior work experience is required.
  3. Get out of software engineering immediately and 
    1. apply for less-competitive roles in finance that can provide tangentially-applicable experience to IB, following the same MBA path outlined in option 1, or aim to get in directly as a lateral hire. Better than the options above in terms of accruing relevant experience to make me more competitive for IB positions.
    2. apply to local, small IB boutiques and lateral into better firm later

Please let me know which of these is the most viable.

 

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