Graduation Season | Kai YIN from SAIF MF: Stay Focused

▍毕业季 | MF尹凯：高金让我坚守初心

Kai YIN, SAIF MF Graduation Class of 2017

尹凯,SAIF MF金融硕士2017届

At the very beginning of my SAIF MF Program, we were asked to write down our vision, and I still remember that my version was a decent life, a career with recognition and fulfillment and a well-being family after 10 years. After two years of study, my vision becomes even clearer, that is, to stay focused and contribute my learning to the world.

高金MF入学之际，老师曾让我们写过对未来的展望。我当时写的是，希望十年后，可以过上体面的生活，有一份自己认可的有成就感的事业，有一个美满的家庭。经过两年的学习，我觉得自己对认知更清晰了。我希望能坚守初心，希望能用自己学的知识为社会创造价值。

As one of SAIF MF 2017 graduates, Kai YIN is known for his remarkable performance, full scholarship and the honor of “Distinguished Graduate”, who secured an offer from Huatai Securities as early as in August 2016. In this graduation season, he expresses his gratitude to SAIF MF Program and also his expectations to the future journey of financial startup.

尹凯是上海交通大学上海高级金融学院金融硕士2017届毕业生，在校期间学业优异，曾获全额奖学金，优秀毕业生称号。2016年8月，他早早拿到了华泰证券的录用函。这位帅气的90后，在毕业季来临之际，对高金的硕士学习旅程充满感恩，对未来金融创业之梦充满期待。

选择高金开拓全新视野

Brand New Landscape

Recalling his enrollment in SAIF MF, Kai YIN regards it as a natural decision. Graduated from the Mathematics Department of Fudan University, he often heard about the admissions of earlier graduates at Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) in his sophomore year. “SAIF is highly recognized among us. It is widely agreed that SAIF MF is one of the best education programs in Shanghai and even in China, in terms of resources and future prospect,” said Kai YIN, “and it is even a more persuasive case for me because a transition from mathematics to finance would bring me more leverage and possibilities.”

回忆起就读高金金融硕士，尹凯觉得几乎是水到渠成的选择。本科就读复旦大学数学系的他，早在大二时就已经不断听闻学姐学长陆续入学高金——“高金在我们学生心目中的知名度都非常高，大家的共识都认为高金金融硕士项目在全上海，乃至全国，是最顶级的教育项目，无论是学习资源还是未来的出路，都非常好。“尹凯说，”对我而言，更是如此，从数学转向金融，既有学习能力上的优势，未来可以选择的可能性也更广。“

He categorized the program taught in English into three parts, two of which are more specialized and focused. The first part of quantitative finance is most challenging and time-consuming, including Derivatives, Financial Mathematics and Quantitative Finance. And the second part of corporate finance involves Accounting, Corporate Valuation, M&A and Financial Management.

尹凯把高金金融硕士的全英文课程分成三大类。其中涉及专业方面的主要是两类，一是最具挑战的，学习时间最多的——量化金融。比如：衍生证券，金融数学，计量金融学。第二类是公司金融类，比如：会计、企业估值、并购、财务管理等。

According to Kai YIN, PE & VC taught by Prof. Fei WU impressed him most. In addition to classroom lectures, Prof. WU also invited experts from various financial domains to share their real-world practices. Ranging from head of investment from a listed company, former filmmaker and today’s investor through to investment director from a well-established PE, these guest speakers opened up numerous windows to the financial world, covering the profitability model of cinemas and the structured design of M&As for PEs, to name a few.

尹凯说，在专业课程里PE&VC“私募股权和风险投资”是对自己影响最大的课程之一。这堂课程的主讲教授是吴飞老师。除了课堂常规授课外，他还为学生们安排了来自不同金融领域的权威人士分享实操案例。从上市公司旗下投资部负责人到从事电影拍摄，现在做电影投资，以及老牌PE投资总监，他们从各自专业的角度分享院线如何盈利，PE如何做并购交易结构设计等等。

A Moment in the Classroom (Kai YIN sitting at the right end of the 2nd row)

课堂瞬间(2排右１为尹凯)

He admitted that it was the first time for him to interact with industry experts in such depth and breadth. And such experience was valuable to his future career. “During my prior internship at a financial institution, whenever I faced obstacles, I searched relative information online and sought for answers from experts. However, it was complicated and time-consuming, while the results were full of uncertainty. But this course guided me into a world of experts and expertise.”

尹凯坦言，这是人生中第一次这么有深度和广度地接触到业界专家们，对自己日后的工作也具有真正的指导意义。“我以前也在金融公司实习过，在碰到不太清楚的地方会上网找一些权威人士的解释资料，但这个过程不仅繁琐，搜索的知识结果也没有保障。上了这门课就会有比较通用或者说比较权威的一个解释。”

从高冷的数字王国走向真实的金融世界

From Cold Mathematics to Real-world Finance

Beyond knowledge, the campus life at SAIF also revolutionized Kai YIN’s way of thinking and personality. 

高金的学习还给尹凯带来了知识结构以外翻天覆地的变化，甚至包括思维方式的成熟，以及性格的开放。

Kai YIN joked himself a “nerd” dealing with numbers in the past, who was poor at presentation and communication. Nonetheless, he faced a number of courses highlighting business etiquette and communication skills at SAIF. For example, the course “Presentation Skills” guided him how to make eye contacts, prepare presentations and balance his speech rhythm and tone. “These skills liberated my potentials and made me more open-minded and proactive,” explained Kai YIN with a smile.

尹凯自嘲自己以前更多是个和数字打交道的“书呆子”，自我展示和表达能力都完全没有机会得到训练。来到高金学习后，他大量学习了包括商务礼仪、演讲等诸多强调人际沟通交流的课程内容。据他介绍，高金有一节《presentation skill》课，教如何与人眼神交流，如何制作PPT，如何调节语速语调等。“这些内容都挖掘了我以前从未尝试过的潜能，通过这些内容，我变得比以往更积极和开放。“尹凯笑言。

“In many cases of group discussion, each team often contained a foreign student, which increased the difficulties and challenges of communication. We had to seek for interactions, deployment, collaboration and even proper competition in a diverse workspace.”

“我们很多课堂分组讨论的Team，基本上都会有一个外国同学在，这样就增加了大家沟通的难度，也为大家提供了更逼真的锻炼。大家需要真正像在一个多元化的工作环境中充分地沟通，寻求分工合作，甚至适度的竞争。“

As the financial sector focuses on practical operations, the frequent sessions of group discussion in the course “Corporate Finance” highlighted the complexity of financial theories in hands-on applications. “In the classroom, the theories might seem to be simple and straightforward. However, when you actually get down to review a company, it’s totally different. For example, the valuation of a company involves plenty of variables and factors,” said Kai YIN, who learned valuable lessons in the process. 

金融是一个运用性很强的行业。通过公司金融的分组讨论，尹凯更是深深体会到了金融理论在实际应用中的复杂性。《Corporate Finance》的授课形式最常见的就是分组讨论。 “课堂理论是比较简单的，大概就是几步，用到的原理也很清晰。但是当你真正着手分析一个具体公司的时候才发现，根本不是想象中的样子。比如，计算公司估值时，要考虑到很多的变量因素。”尹凯说，”这对自己的触动非常大。”

“For instance, there are many ways to calculate risk-free rate. Should I use 1-year, 10-year or 30-year maturity? The interest rate in US or in China? The present rate or the average of last 10 years?” To Kai YIN’s surprise, it was totally different from his previous study of mathematical theories, which drew a definite line between right and wrong. 

“光一个计算公司折现率时的无风险利率，可能就有很多种方法。到底是用一年期、十年期还是三十年期；是用美国的还是中国的；用的这个时点的、还是过去十年的均值。“尹凯感叹，这和以往学纯数学理论时的思考方式很不相同——数学学习要么对要么错，没有一个模棱两可的答案。

好兄弟，一辈子

Lifetime Friendship

Fortunately, these practices, debates and conflicts consolidated the unique friendship between Kai YIN and his peers. He strongly disagreed the common perception that the 90s generation was a self-centered and lost generation. “We came to class and hunted jobs together. We are close.” He attributed such “closeness” to highly similar values, which led to the mutual supports within and between cohorts of SAIF MF Program. “We have a lot of topics to talk about and a lot of future to anticipate. We all hope that we would have the opportunity to fulfill our dreams together.”

正是课堂上一次次的磨合，实战，使尹凯与同学们之间建立了异常特别的友谊。他完全不认同90后像外界定义的那样很自我，是很“垮“很”丧“的一代。“我们一起上课，一起找工作，关系很好。”尹凯把这种‘好’归因为价值观的高度相似，这种价值观的相似使他们不仅在同级同学中相互扶持，也包括不同年纪之间的相互支持。“我们有很多话题可以聊，有很多未来可以一起期待。也希望将来有机会可以一起实现共同的梦想。”

从高金毕业，走向新征程
A New Journey Beyond SAIF

After two years of challenging study, Kai YIN received an offer from Huatai Securities before the graduation season of 2017. In the future, he will be busy providing financing services to growth businesses.

在经历了两年颇具挑战的学习之后，尹凯在2017年毕业季前提早拿到了华泰证券的offer。尹凯未来的工作重心主要是为成长企业提供融资服务。

And he is well prepared for this new journey. Thanks to the sound foundation of knowledge and expertise, along with the efforts of SAIF Career Development Center (CDC), his job search was smooth and fruitful.

虽然是新征程，但尹凯已经做好了准备。学院课程打下的理论基础、高金职业发展中心老师们的努力都让尹凯在求职过程中颇为顺利。

“We received many emails from CDC team, regarding public and private recruitment information. They also invited previous graduates and industry experts to share their internship experience and interview skills. Given the awareness of SAIF MF, remarkable academic background and in-depth and ongoing training sessions hosted by CDC, SAIF graduates often stand out in the job market,” highlighted Kai YIN, explaining that almost all of his classmates succeed to find their desirable jobs.

“职业发展中心的老师会经常给我们发邮件，不管公开还是非公开的招聘资料，平时学院的老师还会给我们介绍学长学姐，业界的大佬来分享非常实用的实习经历和面试技巧。“有了高金金融硕士的招牌，再加上扎实的理论和职业发展中心对学生们深入而较长周期的培训，高金的学生在找工作的时候的确更容易脱颖而出。”尹凯说，自己身边的同学们都不难找到自己喜爱的工作。

Though the new journey would soon start, Kai YIN will still return to SAIF at weekends and holidays for self-improvement.

即便即将迈入社会，尹凯仍然会在周末或假期回高金自习。

Sitting at SAIF Lab on the ground floor and looking at over 10 Bloomberg terminals in the front, he considered himself as a lucky guy, who had the opportunity to access such outstanding educational resources in his youth. “As an SAIFer, we are always part of the School. My best wishes to my classmates and also to SAIF. I hope the School would continue to enhance its performance, presence and influence in the academic community, in the financial sector and among alumni.”

坐在一楼的高金实验室里，望着前两排的十余台彭博终端机，他总觉得自己非常幸运，能在这么年轻的时候就有机会得到这么好的教育环境。“作为一个高金人，我们已经和学院割裂不开，希望自己和同学们越来越好，希望学院越办越好、越来越有影响力，不管是在学术上还是在业界，甚至是校友之间。”

Today, looking back at his prior vision about a decent life and a career of recognition and fulfillment, Kai YIN is more confident in his future. His advice to himself and other students: stay focused, keep trying and leaving no regrets.

想到刚入学时写的十年展望，如今，他觉得自己对未来更清晰了。走上工作岗位，更要时时告诫自己，坚守初心，趁年轻多多尝试，不要留下任何遗憾。