Fresh Graduate - opinions needed!

[bux2011]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a Computer Science student due to graduate at the end of this year, and I hope to eventually be an IT contractor in the Investment Banking industry. I have done internships as a software engineer at a big software house, and as a business analyst at an IB, so I have some idea of what I can go into, and what it's like

Since I am starting on a 'clean slate' as such, and have lots of options of which routes to go down, I was wondering if I could get your opinions on a few of these questions:

- go straight into contracting, or go on a graduate scheme at an IB? If the latter, how many years is ideal before starting to apply for contracts? how about technology consulting at a consultancy (e.g. deloitte, pwc, accenture)?
- business analyst or software development - do you think there'll be an equal demand for each of these roles in the coming years?
- what to specialise in, if you had the choice, (in terms of future job prospects and interest) and how important is certification? Equities, Derivatives, Fixed Income? Prince2? Agile? Six Sigma? C#? Java? Security?

Thanks so much in advance!

B

[filthy1980]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a Computer Science student due to graduate at the end of this year, and I hope to eventually be an IT contractor in the Investment Banking industry. I have done internships as a software engineer at a big software house, and as a business analyst at an IB, so I have some idea of what I can go into, and what it's like

Since I am starting on a 'clean slate' as such, and have lots of options of which routes to go down, I was wondering if I could get your opinions on a few of these questions:

- go straight into contracting, or go on a graduate scheme at an IB? If the latter, how many years is ideal before starting to apply for contracts? how about technology consulting at a consultancy (e.g. deloitte, pwc, accenture)?
- business analyst or software development - do you think there'll be an equal demand for each of these roles in the coming years?
- what to specialise in, if you had the choice, (in terms of future job prospects and interest) and how important is certification? Equities, Derivatives, Fixed Income? Prince2? Agile? Six Sigma? C#? Java? Security?

Thanks so much in advance!

B

don't ask a lot of questions do ya?

initial advice would be that if you can get any job at the moment in any sector then thats a bonus, but no harm in aiming for specifics

my advice would be try your hardest to get in on a grad scheme somewhere, anywhere stick it out for a few years, make yourself available to do anything and everything, push them to send you on every training course imaginable (not health & safety), get about 5/6 years experience under your belt then dip into the contracting market (it might be healthier then)

alternatively you could put yourself up for jnr or grunt work contracting roles (deployment engineer etc) the money will seem decent but you'll be lucky to get opportunities to advance your skills, you might have to sleep with lots of middle to upper tier management

[Scrag Meister]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a Computer Science student due to graduate at the end of this year, and I hope to eventually be an IT contractor in the Investment Banking industry. I have done internships as a software engineer at a big software house, and as a business analyst at an IB, so I have some idea of what I can go into, and what it's like

Since I am starting on a 'clean slate' as such, and have lots of options of which routes to go down, I was wondering if I could get your opinions on a few of these questions:

- go straight into contracting, or go on a graduate scheme at an IB? If the latter, how many years is ideal before starting to apply for contracts? how about technology consulting at a consultancy (e.g. deloitte, pwc, accenture)?
- business analyst or software development - do you think there'll be an equal demand for each of these roles in the coming years?
- what to specialise in, if you had the choice, (in terms of future job prospects and interest) and how important is certification? Equities, Derivatives, Fixed Income? Prince2? Agile? Six Sigma? C#? Java? Security?

Thanks so much in advance!

B

Well that is quite a selection of varied skills.

Banking business area doesn't really matter. You need to be flexible with the tech skill you have.

What do you enjoy doing? Dev? PM? BA? Ops?

Do what you enjoy. And get some years perm experience/training before moving to contracting.

Programming was a hobby when I was in my teens, some years ago now. It just happens to be my job too now.

[monobrow]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a Computer Science student due to graduate at the end of this year, and I hope to eventually be an IT contractor in the Investment Banking industry. I have done internships as a software engineer at a big software house, and as a business analyst at an IB, so I have some idea of what I can go into, and what it's like

Since I am starting on a 'clean slate' as such, and have lots of options of which routes to go down, I was wondering if I could get your opinions on a few of these questions:

- go straight into contracting, or go on a graduate scheme at an IB? If the latter, how many years is ideal before starting to apply for contracts? how about technology consulting at a consultancy (e.g. deloitte, pwc, accenture)?
- business analyst or software development - do you think there'll be an equal demand for each of these roles in the coming years?
- what to specialise in, if you had the choice, (in terms of future job prospects and interest) and how important is certification? Equities, Derivatives, Fixed Income? Prince2? Agile? Six Sigma? C#? Java? Security?

Thanks so much in advance!

B

Definitely get into a grad scheme if you can. as another response said, you are not *likely* to get opportunities to progress as a contractor as you are mainly there to backfill/pick up the slack.

Hmmm, BA or Development? well, this is yin and yang imho. Great developers and BAs are like comparing Wayne Rooney to Einstein imho. What are you "good" at? what do you enjoy?

I mentioned this on a previous post, but IT has shifted and will continue to shift, to a world where 10 years from now we (as in corporates) should mainly be consumers of commodity services (mail, CRM, DM etc) with a bit of specialist private cloud left where competitive advantage or risk is seen to high to move it out.

Most IT managers will be contract & law specialsts, but project managers, BAs (I guess) and service management professionals will also be in demand.

Good Luck!

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a Computer Science student due to graduate at the end of this year, and I hope to eventually be an IT contractor in the Investment Banking industry. I have done internships as a software engineer at a big software house, and as a business analyst at an IB, so I have some idea of what I can go into, and what it's like

Since I am starting on a 'clean slate' as such, and have lots of options of which routes to go down, I was wondering if I could get your opinions on a few of these questions:

- go straight into contracting, or go on a graduate scheme at an IB? If the latter, how many years is ideal before starting to apply for contracts? how about technology consulting at a consultancy (e.g. deloitte, pwc, accenture)?
- business analyst or software development - do you think there'll be an equal demand for each of these roles in the coming years?
- what to specialise in, if you had the choice, (in terms of future job prospects and interest) and how important is certification? Equities, Derivatives, Fixed Income? Prince2? Agile? Six Sigma? C#? Java? Security?

Thanks so much in advance!

B

I graduated not too far back in 2005. The best thing I did was to go straight into a technical role. The learning curve was steep and within 2 years I had become a good database developer. I switched to another permie role and did another 2 years this time in a mix of C# and SQL and BI. Then I made my jump into contracting. Having technical skills means you have a strong foundation and can then go on to be a PM/BA etc. Then again maybe you want to skip all that and get into a graduate scheme so you are a qualified BA etc. That would mean you can get higher rates than us poor developers but maybe you won't enjoy it as much?

[northernladuk]

As contractor you have to have marketable skills, you are a specialist in your field (cue the smirks and laughter) so you have to ask yourself what skills do you have that firms want. You have to be honest with yourself here, none of this I am a graduate I am worth millions. The answer you will get is currently none but lots of potential. This doesn't cut it in contracting.

The graduate scheme is an excellent choice, fast track learning and experience is priceless. To be fair you still probably won't come out with any marketable skills after the first few years as you will still be being moved around the company to look at roles and understand the whole picture (if it is a good scheme) but will certainly put in good stead to rocket your career in the next couple of years. It is this point you will probably pick what you want to do as a career. See that through until you reach your ceiling and then consider contracting.

You are the start of a very steep learning curve leading to any number of career options where the sky is the limit. Try that first before contracting. IMO

[jmo21]

I agree with what most have said, it will be difficult to jump straight into contracting.

What I would say however is, if you can decide up front what you want to be, a small software house *may* be better, especially from a dev point of view.

I wasted the first 2 years of my career in a tulipe graduate program, the following 2 years I was in a small software house and learned tons more.

[Lolas Cat]

Graduate schema at IB is a good choice.

Developer of BA? Developers are easier to outsource offshore, so I'd go for BA.

[northernladuk]

But remember your career may not end at coding or tech work, it depends on your outlook. Use the grad scheme and permie land to rise through the ranks and end in a middle to senior management position if that takes your fancy. Dropping out of permie land at some point would always be a good move but I would say try be the best you can first before you jump. Career progression in contracting can range from diffficult to non existent. Why aim for tech or BA roles if you believe you have the potential to be Programme Management or higher with a bit of work.

[d000hg]

Graduate schema at IB is a good choice.

Definitely. IB is lucrative but traditionally a bit hard to break into since they tend to want people with IB experience. So getting in now is a good move, apart from anything else IBs are seen as hiring the best people so it will look good on your CV to have worked in one.

As a student this site isn't really aimed at you but I think you ask pretty well thought-out questions and seem to be approaching this in a sensible way.

Straight to contracting from graduation is a bad plan. If you can't get a placement in an IB, a job for a consultancy who works with IBs is a decent plan too because you'll still gain IB experience and be able to mention big-name banks when talking about past projects.