Reply to: Breaking into banking and finance

[yamamma]

What sort of contract rate would you be happy with?

Is it worth working in finance for 550 a day when you can get that elsewhere with less grief?

550? i wish......
Maybe 3-4 years ago...
Basically for my line of work finance seems to be paying around £50-100/day more than other private sectors. There also seems to be more contracts in finance and banking than in other places. Also tbh the finance company where i work - they arent too bad in terms of hours they expect you to work. Only thing is if you make a giant cock-up expect to get walked out, but as i mentioned earlier this would only happen if you're a real cowboy and ignore processes......if its just human error, people are understanding.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

I am starting a gig next week in financial sector oop north. It means I will have big name on my CV but I won't be working in the core business (i.e. banking data). Anybody got an idea if that makes a difference or is it just the name that helps you move into the financial sector e.g. investment banking, hedge funds etc.

[Scrag Meister]

I've been a developer in banking for 4 years, 3 contracts and all of them have been very fair, no expectation of superlong hours and a good rate to boot. I suspect that it depends on your business managers view of contractors whether the contract is enjoyable or not.

Personally I work 8 hour days, but am willing to put the hours in if some exceptional circumstance arises.

Pay has always been punctual, personally I would recommend it.

[DeludedAussie]

yeah i've heard that as well, i figure i might as well have a crack before i have kids etc. I'll probably want something less stressful once im there's a family in the equation

What sort of contract rate would you be happy with?

Is it worth working in finance for 550 a day when you can get that elsewhere with less grief?

[yamamma]

Is the reason you want to get into banking just for more money?

be careful what you wish for. it can be painful. This has been discussed many times before. The standard of people required in banking tend to be higher IMHO, but also you need to have the patience of a saint to get anything done, be fairly aggressive to stay alive, be able to play the political game but also, put all those use cases you looked at in any certification exams you have done into action, where other companies have never needed them.

Working in a banks great experience for your cv, fairly good rates, but be prepared to give your pound of flesh.

yeah i've heard that as well, i figure i might as well have a crack before i have kids etc. I'll probably want something less stressful once im there's a family in the equation

[eek]

There is nothing stopping you putting your CV out and see if you get any bites. That's probably the best test.

Make sure its a proper bite with an interview not just an agent expressing interest. They usually have a crap idea of what really interests a client.

[BoredBloke]

There is nothing stopping you putting your CV out and see if you get any bites. That's probably the best test.

[JoJoGabor]

Is the reason you want to get into banking just for more money?

be careful what you wish for. it can be painful. This has been discussed many times before. The standard of people required in banking tend to be higher IMHO, but also you need to have the patience of a saint to get anything done, be fairly aggressive to stay alive, be able to play the political game but also, put all those use cases you looked at in any certification exams you have done into action, where other companies have never needed them.

Working in a banks great experience for your cv, fairly good rates, but be prepared to give your pound of flesh.

[pastalista]

Irony detection fail!

Enormous fail.

I am in my last month at current client and am wildly applying for any and every contract to do with the world of finance, just to get a foot in the door again (used to work for investment banks but a long time ago). I'm going after jobs at £200 per day less than my current rate just to get the name on my CV as the rates in banking are sooooo high right now.

You never know.

Good luck all

[fragglerock]

Irony detection fail!

[yamamma]

crawl back to your public service job and leave banking to the experts

Lol......got to love the inflated sense of importance, muppet......I'm working in the finance sector and its no more difficult than any other large private enterprise. Only different is one big mistake and you're out the door, but there are enough processes to prevent this and you have to be a bit of a cowboy for this to happen.

[Stan.goodvibes]

Dont know why - It is a load of kek, a finance environment is not any more complex than any other large organisation from a network / network security point of view..........

Now now, banking is incredibly difficult and you have to be so clever to do it, that's why they get paid so much. And when they make a teensy weensy mistake (because it's so difficult) then it's only fair that we (not as clever taxpayers) should bail them out so they can carry on doing their incredibly difficult and important work. It's pointless thinking you can do banking without at least 10 years previous experience, it's just too difficult. Could you come up with something as genius as CDOs??? No, no you couldn't.

crawl back to your public service job and leave banking to the experts

[fragglerock]

Am I being stupid... you now have financial experience so... fill you boots!

No harm in applying and they will say if they don't think your experience is enough.

[yamamma]

Not a developer but a network/security - consultant/monkey. Unfortunately most of the jobs in my field on job sites always state - finance exp a must, only candidates with finance exp will be considered. If 6 months is enough i'll start applying now.....

Dont know why - It is a load of kek, a finance environment is not any more complex than any other large organisation from a network / network security point of view..........

[Scrag Meister]

Hi,

I'm currently in a contract with a Global finance company, been here for 6 months and have been offred another 3 mth extension. I'm keen to find work with another bank/finance company as the work is pretty dull and I think for what I'm doing I could get £50-100/day more somewhere else.

The problem is that my previous experience has been in the public and private sector but never before finance. Most finance jobs ask for "previous finance" experience, is 6 months sufficient or would most of them be looking for 1 year minimum? Should I stick around for a full year before bothering to look for another contract?

What do you do?

From a dev view point, it does depend on the area you are trying to move into.

Front Office, pay the bills, but want the skills. Hard core maths always helps, as well as extensive business knowledge. DV01? Greeks?

Middle Office, good pay compared to perm, good start if you have a basic understanding of the markets. Bond Yield v Price? What is a coupon? How do you price a bond? what is a credit event?

Back Office, generally not so market heavy. Can you code? What have you done in the past?

As always the more experience and knowledge the better.

GL in your search