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FinTech Certifications and Certificates

If you’re looking for a way to demonstrate your FinTech skills, you might be overwhelmed by the different certifications and certificate programs available. You may also have some questions, like:

This article aims to provide answers to these questions so you can efficiently choose the right path towards a FinTech certification. Keep reading to find out more.

What is FinTech?

Financial technology, or FinTech for short, encompasses products, services, and FinTech companies themselves. Advances in financial technology can be traced back to the first national and international money transfers, but today it refers to various entities. In the 21st century, most people associate FinTech with embedded finance, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and banking as a service (BaaS) platforms.

Examples of FinTech products and services include:

FinTech skills apply to virtually every industry, but some of the most common include:

Finally, many positions within this massive field require high-level training, including:

What Can You Do with FinTech?

FinTech refers to the many Financial Technology products and services you can use today and some of the companies that offer them. Consider FinTech as an umbrella term referring to three main categories:

  1. Services - On a basic level, many FinTech services may be considered products, and vice versa. PayPal is a service, but the platform of services PayPal offers may be called a product itself. To simplify matters, look at services that are now commonly provided and named as such: Banking as a Service (BaaS), payment services like Venmo, and investment services like Robinhood.
  1. Products - FinTech products range from the payment app you use on your smart device every day to robo-advisors and digital banking. Currencies aren’t typically referred to as products, but cryptocurrencies certainly fall into the product category as opposed to a service.
  1. FinTech Companies - Organizations like Visa and Mastercard top the list of major FinTech companies in the U.S., followed by Tencent and Ant Financial in China, then U.S. companies Intuit, PayPal, and Stripe. These firms offer FinTech products or services, and people generally refer to the companies themselves as “FinTechs.”

Additional FinTech products, services, and technological innovations include wealth management, insurance (a.k.a., “insurtech”), and credit reporting/identity theft protection services.

Certifications vs. Certificates: What’s the Difference?

Unfortunately, anyone who Googles professional certifications will find a long list of irrelevant links. The reason? The words certificate and certification are so similar, that the search engine does not differentiate between them, even among advertisers. As a result, they will find many certificate programs that do not include a certification process.

To better understand the differences between the two, define them as follows.

A certificate is typically a completion-based program. Upon graduation, students get a verified certificate of completion. A good example is the Data Science Certificate from Noble Desktop. Here you receive a NY-state licensed certificate of completion, verifying that you have mastered the curriculum.

On the other hand, with a certification program, students typically must sit for an examination administered by a third party to demonstrate their mastery of the subject. Several certification programs are known throughout multiple industries. Examples of a few of the best-known include:

Some of these certifications are popular among FinTech professionals, especially the CPA designation and PMP certification. Other professionals holding the CAPM or PMP designation include Technical Project Managers, Marketing Project Managers, and Software Project Managers.

Top Certifications & Certificates for FinTech

Beyond the differences between certificate programs and certifications, take a look at top alternatives for both.

For certificate programs, Noble Desktop offers an in-depth FinTech Bootcamp. You can complete this course in four weeks full-time or four months on a part-time basis. Topics include SQL and Python for data science, automation, and machine learning.

Noble’s Python for Finance Bootcamp is another popular certificate among FinTech students. It covers subjects like regression analysis, financial APIs, and calculating VAR. Students can take this course separately or save by taking it as part of the FinTech Bootcamp.

Those who prefer training as part of a broader data science curriculum should consider the Data Science Certificate program. It includes the same modules as the FinTech Bootcamp, except for the Python for Finance Bootcamp.

Some certifications can be helpful but aren’t usually required to find work. However, you might want to train for a particular certification exam, and Noble Desktop can help here, too.

Management pros in the FinTech field can benefit by adding the highly desirable Project Management Professional designation to their CV. The PMP Certification Bootcamp prepares people to sit for the exam. Contact Noble Desktop to be waitlisted if sessions are full.

A person on their way to project management can benefit from the CAPM Certification Bootcamp. This course will prepare you for the Certified Associate in Project Management exam, a precursor to the PMP course for many professionals. If you’re beginning your FinTech management career, you might learn the fundamentals through Noble’s Project Management Bootcamp.

Should I Get Certified in FinTech?

Tech pros who learn FinTech skills and principles often decide to expand their expertise through professional development. This can include anything from certification programs to taking courses to earn continuing education units (CEUs).

Before exploring the idea of certificates, certifications, or CEUs, consider the most popular FinTech roles. Here are a few of them.

Because the range of positions open to FinTech professionals is so vast, certificates and certifications for FinTech pros can differ significantly. In the same way, the variety of professional organizations they join, publications they read, and even networking groups they attend differ as well.

How to Get Certified in FinTech

To get certified in FinTech, one needs to know which certifications are the best for the specific role they have or want to have. Microsoft offers a host of certifications, many of which can be beneficial for FinTech pros. These include:

Depending on a student’s position, they might need advanced MS-Office skills. In that case, consider Microsoft certifications like Excel Specialist or Excel Expert. For these exams, students may need to train extensively in programs in addition to Excel, like PowerPoint.

Check out Noble Desktop partners like NYIM and Career Centers for MS Office course packages that include the certification exam. You can also take Noble Desktop courses to prepare for Adobe certification exams.

Lastly, consider the following three certifications, among the most in-demand in business today in certain FinTech roles.

Key Takeaways

Top positions for professionals with FinTech training include:

Top certifications include:

Additional training can include Microsoft certifications like Finance Functional Consultant Associate, Excel Expert, and Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect; CompTIA Security+; Certified Financial Planner; and Certified Business Analysis Professional.

Learn FinTech with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Some people think there’s only one path to training for a FinTech career, that of a lengthy degree program, but there are other alternatives. Among the most popular is the bootcamp or certificate training model.

Noble Desktop is a leading provider of online education in areas directly relevant to the booming FinTech field. They provide multiple educational options for students, both those who are new to FinTech and others already working in tech. The following are some of their most popular programs.

  1. FinTech Bootcamp - This comprehensive FinTech course is open to beginners and can be completed in four weeks full-time or four months part-time. Topics include SQL and Python for data science, automation, and machine learning.
  1. Python for Finance Bootcamp - The 18-hour Python for Finance Bootcamp acquaints students with financial models, managing portfolios with Python, and other Python-centered topics. Students can save by taking this class as part of the FinTech Bootcamp. See course listings for prerequisite information.
  1. Financial Modeling Bootcamp - A 21-hour program, the Financial Modeling Bootcamp includes topics like Discount Cash Flow (DCF), Leveraged Buyouts (LBO) Modeling, and financial analysis with MS-Excel. Check course listings for details, including prerequisite information.

Other Noble Desktop programs to consider are the Python Programming Bootcamp, Data Science Certificate, and Python for Data Science Bootcamp.

How to Learn FinTech

Master FinTech with hands-on training. Financial technology, or FinTech, refers to technology supporting financial transactions and institutions, including banking, investments, and loans.

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