I have 10 years as a business analyst/project manager working primarily for service providers such as Tier 1 telcos here in Europe. I would like to make a move into finance and I wanted to explore my options.
I would be keen on hearing other people’s experiences of moving into finance from an IT perspective.
I believe my IT skills are transferable and I would be keen to be an IT PM or BA in a bank or a software house providing into a bank.
I am considering doing the CFA level 1 to supplement my knowledge and be more relevant to the role.
If anyone can shed light as to whether they feel this would be valuable or can provide alternative options/input, it would be greatly appreciated.
I think writing the L1 would be a waste of your time and your talents. If you want to move into finance, leverage your IT knowledge by doing IT for financial companies. Some parts of IT networks/infrastructure are the same in telecom as in banking. You don’t need to take the L1 to demonstrate your interest in finance. The L1 won’t help you do diddly squat if your job is in IT. The pay is better and steadier in IT anyway so I’m not sure what good reason you could possibly have to throw away 10 years of experience in a lucrative field.
Thanks for the responses. As an IT professional you want to diversify your industries. The idea is when you go contracting you can jump between industries and that gives you greater breadthe of opportunity.
@kurtosis - Are you in IT? If so, how did you get around the finance experience query? My idea is to do CFA Level 1 and use that as a basis to move into IT finance contracting. Would you really consider that a waste of time? Appreciate your input.
“Why do so many people in IT want to move into finance?”
I’m from London - have you seen the daily rate for IT Contracting in Finance?
Knowing the material that’s in the CFA program isn’t going to help you get a job doing IT in finance because the CFA material has ZERO to do with that. The CFA program is about learning to be a financial analyst, i.e. how to pick what stocks or bonds to buy/sell so you can manage client portfolios. They don’t do ANY programming beyond writing tiny programs in Excel.
The question that you have to answer for recruiters is why you want to do IT for finance firms when you’re doing IT for telecoms now. “Because more money” isn’t a good answer. “Because I completed the CFA program” isn’t an answer either. The former would just show people that you have no idea what CFA chartholders (i.e. the end users of your work) do - something that’s going to count against you.
Look at the job descriptions in finance IT. Do ANY of them say that you must have a finance background and/or degree? No. The vast majority of IT jobs require what you probably already have - a degree in computer science and previous programming experience, network security, etc. ETA: As for how you answer the question of why finance IT - well you answer it the same way you answered the why telecom IT. You had an answer for that which got you the job, so…
“I want to do it because there’s more money.” Honest, but sounds like you’ll do anything for money.
“I want to shift because it pays better.” Basically the same idea, but implies you’ve come to a rational conclusion as opposed to just sniffing for dollars.
“I want to do it because I can add substantially more value to the company I work for.” Puts the focus on what you are going to be doing for them, which means that a higher pay scale for you is aligned with their interest.
IT to business (in finance) is a tried and true method. I myself have done it, and so have a few of my friends.
There are business-side BAs and tech-side BAs, as I’m sure you know. A finance background is becoming more and more relavent in IT positions at financial institutions, even on the tech side; it helps you do your job better. When I interviewed candidates, progress in the CFA program was something that we looked for. I have worked with traders on order management and portfolio managers on rebalancing models - having the business knowledge really made my job a breeze. Even if a person has no interest in working in the field but just wants rudimentary knowledge, Level 1 CFA is probably the best and most comprehensive course out there.
Onto the transition from IT to business: if that’s your goal, don’t work as a PM - work as a BA. When picking projects/contracts, work on the application’s front-end/functional aspects and avoid any data/system integration work; the latter is not relevant for getting into business. And when selecting sub-projects, always work on the ones that require the most business knowledge. Near the end of the project, present yourself to business as a viable candidate who already knows the system very well. Networking is very important throughout the entire lifecycle of the project.
I hope this helps.
ramos4rm,
Why do so many people in IT want to move into finance? They don’t. On a team of 36, I was the only one who wanted to and did.
I really appreciate your input. You’ve succintly aritculated exactly what I have discovered having done some further analysis of senior IT people in finance positions on Linkedin.
When interviewing candidates would a CFA level 1 candidate be of interest to you or would you be expecting a CFA level 1 pass. Naturally every situation is different, but just wanted to gauge your perspective.
Prestige (This might be less true nowadays though).
Compensation. Thing is, FO finance people get paid so much that it drags up the compensation for everyone else. For instance, developers at investment banks will generally get paid more than they would doing similar or more advanced work at tech companies, unless they are super stars. I don’t know if this has been your experience.