Finance ops (BCom/CA/CFA) - 2 yrs to act before Claude Excel plugin takes over

[Arvind]

Started as a Tier-3 BCom graduate -> EY audit at 18k per month -> IIM -> bulge-bracket IB -> Big-3 PE firm. It took 8 years. Every move needed one thing - I had to move up before the firm moved me out. In the last 2 years AI has started stealing the work I used to do: slides at IB, financial models, benchmarking, audit financials - AI does it better and faster.

Here's what's scaring many people in my DMs:

Claude is already inside Excel. Not coming later, it's already there. When it launched in January it automated about 25% of my tasks and turned hours of work into minutes. I had to reinvent myself (check my Substack below for the full story).

The plugin can do in 4 minutes what an analyst does in 4 hours - reconciliations, MIS reports, three-statement models from templates, KYC checks, benchmarking, chart creation, etc. These aren't whole jobs disappearing, they're tasks slated for deletion. Companies are already buying Claude enterprise and testing it to unlock its full potential.

The window to move up the value chain is roughly 1-2 years. After that firms will hire leaner - one person managing AI can do the work of three ops people.

What survival looks like:

- Pick ONE direction - equity research, IB, valuations, or credit. Not all of them.
- Dive deep into 2-3 sectors and know them inside out.
- Start learning and executing real skills yourself - nobody will train you, that's a myth.
- Use AI to go faster, not to replace your thinking. First-principles thinking will always beat AI.

The last skill that matters isn't Excel or even the CFA. It's judgment - knowing what to do next because AI needs context. Human problems are identified by a human, then AI helps solve them. So you must be obsessed with spotting problems before they appear.

I've written more on this in my recent IDBlearning Substack - it's free to read.

Happy to help anyone here with advice on their current job, process, and next steps. Drop your background below - ops, Big 4, mid-office.

Open to DMs for anyone truly struggling to make the switch. I'll give real advice, not generic gyaan.

[Harendra]

Hey, I'm a 3-year gap after 12th because I was preparing for NEET. Now I'm a BCom graduate from a Tier-3 college and feel lost. I need advice on how to move forward. Is a 3-year gap after 12th okay or a problem? What should I do to succeed? How can I get a job with this kind of resume? I'm aiming for a 5-6 LPA job, but I'm also okay with a 2-3 LPA non-voice role for my first job. Please help, I'm feeling hopeless.

[Shivendra]

I'm happy to chat with you one-on-one - no random gyaan. Forget the usual exam-centric mindset that expects a job just because you cleared a test or got a degree. Drop me a DM and we'll discuss your situation.