When Sukrit Ganguly (ChemE 0T5, MaSc 0T8) finished his undergraduate program, he set out on a traditional career track in oil-and-gas consulting. “The job was very technical,” says the 27-year-old, “and required me to work on models all day long.” Bored after a year, Ganguly wanted to try something new. So he returned to the University of Toronto for a Master of Applied Science degree, this time focusing on applied engineering in banking and setting his sights on Bay Street. “I wanted a job that looked at the bigger picture, and in finance you have to follow what’s going on all over the world,” he says.

The chemical engineer is now working on the trading floor for equity derivatives at TD Securities—on Bay Street. Instead of modelling pipelines and heat exchangers like many of his former classmates, he spends his days structuring financial products, reading international market commentary, and researching the activities of TD’s competitors. And he says an Engineering degree was the best possible training for the job. “As an engineer, you’re taught how to solve problems. The finance part I could learn on the fly.”