Not every career journey begins with a clear destination. Some take shape through choices, detours, experiments and moments when you realise a path simply isn't yours.
Aditya Bhatia's journey is one of those stories. He started college planning to pursue CA and build a career in finance, but along the way, he began questioning that plan. He explored marketing, took up internships, joined a startup, moved to Bangalore, worked across functions and eventually found his way back to finance.
CFA, FRM, research, networking and an MBA then shaped his path towards investment banking. Through it all, he kept moving, even when the next step wasn't obvious.
So, what did he choose, give up and experiment with along the way? Let’s find out, in his own words.
I Started as a Very Different Person
Growing up as a perfect introvert in Kolkata, I was comfortable with a small circle and hardly felt the need to step outside it. However, my college changed that. I started participating in group activities and joined AIESEC, where I met people from very different backgrounds. Slowly, I became more comfortable putting myself out there, trying new things and, importantly, questioning some of the assumptions I had grown up with.
One of those assumptions was what I would do with my career. For a long time, CA seemed like the obvious path. I was good at accounts, and in school, classmates would often come to me when they got stuck. So I cleared CPT and started preparing for IPCC, assuming I was on the right track.
But with time, I realised the path didn't excite me the way I had expected. That was difficult to accept after spending years thinking CA was what I was supposed to do. Still, I had become more comfortable with questioning the obvious choice. So I decided to leave CA and figure out what I actually wanted.
Leaving CA forced me to rethink everything
I didn't have a clear answer at that moment. After my experience with CA, I didn't even want to look at finance anymore and decided to move towards marketing in college and started trying different things.
I took up internships and worked across roles, not because I did not have a fixed plan back then. I did this to figure out what suited me. After spending years in CA, I could not afford to lose. One of those opportunities was at a startup in Kolkata. What started as a three-month internship kept getting extended and eventually turned into a larger role in business development.
Then came an opportunity to move to Bangalore. By that time, I had become comfortable with the idea of not having everything figured out. So I grabbed the opportunity without overthinking it.
Moving cities changed my perspective
For a long time, I wanted to leave Kolkata to be in a more ambitious professional environment, around people who were building things and a city where something was always happening. So when the opportunity to move to Bangalore came, I took it.
Bangalore gave me exactly the exposure I was looking for. The startup ecosystem pulled me into a completely different world. I attended startup events, constantly met and networked with people, and got exposure to sales, operations, marketing and finance. For the first time, I wasn't just studying theoretical concepts or preparing for a career, rather I saw how business actually worked.
That experience took me back to my early days in Finance that I thought I have left long back. And I realised despite everything I had tried, I realised I hadn't really been able to walk away from it. Right then, I decided to return to Kolkata, pursue CFA and FRM, and rebuild my career around finance. Simultaneously, I was nurturing the idea of being financially independent.
I wanted to know that I could stand on my own feet
By then, I had already left my father’s business, so I knew I couldn't keep falling back on home whenever things got difficult. My family supported my education, but I wanted to take responsibility for my other expenses myself.
That meant taking internships and jobs even when they weren't the most glamorous opportunities. Once, I took up internships through October and November simply so I could celebrate my birthday in December without asking my father for money. It sounds like a small thing, but to me, it meant something bigger that I had done for myself.
The transition wasn't always easy. When I first moved out, I was living alone, didn't know how to cook, and sometimes struggled to make my money last through the month. But I never wanted to go back home just because things had become uncomfortable.
These years taught me how independence builds confidence. Once I knew I could manage on my own, I no longer felt trapped by any particular situation.
CFA and FRM gave my career a direction
However, my decision to pursue CFA and FRM wasn't part of some master plan. I had read Raghuram Rajan's Fault Lines and became genuinely interested in finance and the way financial systems work. That curiosity eventually led me to CFA.
I chose FRM first partly because the exams were more frequent and the cost was lower at the time. But unlike some of the things I had tried earlier, I didn't have to force myself through these programmes. I actually enjoyed the material and that made a huge difference. I had previously quit CA because I didn't see myself continuing on those paths. With CFA and FRM, the opposite happened. The more I studied, the more interested I became and eventually I completed both. In fact, that was the starting point where experimentation turned into consistency.
Then COVID tested everything
By the time I was progressing through CFA, I had decided on investment banking. The plan was to finish my studies, move to Mumbai and start working in banking.
Then COVID disrupted everything. I had left my job expecting to clear CFA Level III, but the exam was postponed, hiring slowed and even internships became difficult to find.
Instead of waiting, I used the time to publish research papers. One helped me secure an investment-industry internship. I also cleared interviews at a global financial institution, but the offer was put on hold because of a hiring freeze. Months later, when hiring resumed, they came back with the offer without making me repeat the process.
It reinforced a lesson I still carry: when opportunities aren't available, keep building until you are ready for them.
Networking became one of my biggest advantages
With opportunities limited during COVID, I also started networking more deliberately. I reached out to professionals on LinkedIn, asked questions and tried to understand the investment banking recruitment landscape. Most people didn't respond, but I only needed a few conversations to learn.
Those conversations helped me realise that an MBA would be important for the path I wanted, which led me to start exploring business schools.
One LinkedIn connection eventually became a mentor. He helped with my application essay, interview preparation and supported me through my MBA journey, even though we had barely met twice when we first connected.
That experience changed how I see networking. It's not about collecting contacts; it's about building relationships where you can learn, contribute and eventually give back.
The MBA wasn't the beginning of my journey
By the time I entered business school, I wasn't starting from zero. I had explored different functions, completed CFA and FRM, worked across roles and, through those experiences, figured out what I didn't want.
The MBA was a deliberate step towards investment banking. After years of experimenting, I finally had a clear direction and that clarity made all the difference.
Today, I see the value in everything I tried
If you looked at my CV along the way, it wouldn't have looked very linear. Marketing, sales, operations, business development, finance, research, CFA, FRM and an MBA, everything has been a part of my journey. But each experience gave me something I eventually carried forward.
I’ve learnt that you don't always figure out your path by knowing exactly where you're going. Sometimes you find it by experimenting, making mistakes, walking away and starting again. I quit CA, changed functions, moved cities and eventually found my way back to finance.
Mentors like Aswini Bajaj reinforced that for me, the value of having someone who can challenge your thinking, share perspective and help you see possibilities you may not see yourself.
The important thing is to keep moving, keep learning and know when experimentation needs to turn into commitment. For me, that moment came when I found finance again. Once I knew where I wanted to go, I was ready to put in the work to get there.
Lessons from the journey
- It’s okay to walk away: CA wasn't the right fit, and leaving it opened the door to new possibilities.
- Experiment with purpose: Marketing, sales, operations and business development helped him understand what worked for him.
- Keep building through setbacks: COVID disrupted his plans, but research and networking kept him moving.
- Independence builds confidence: Taking responsibility for his own expenses gave him the freedom to make bolder career choices.
- Know when to commit: After years of exploration, CFA, FRM and an MBA gave him the clarity to commit to investment banking.