Financial IT Consultancies vs Investment banks

[Aragorn2000]

I've been offered a job with a consultancy specialized in Financial IT. My experience so far is only with banks.

If you were me, would you go for it, provided the pay is decent enough?

Are there any horror stories that you wish you had known before signing up for such a role?

I've done my own research but I'm really interested to hear the stories from our forum's veterans.

Thanks
P.S. This is not a survey!

[Wd40]

You mean the likes of DerivIT? I know someone there, a Murex expert implementing risk solutions at IB clients onsite, salary is pretty good like $130k.

The risks are same as in any consultancies. As long as they can find a client for you to work at your job is safe. If not...

Also travel might be involved, depending on where the client bank is.

[Brah]

Depending on your role, this is beyond a trend and now the rule rather than the exception.

People in those roles are the now expendables as these companies, especially banks, prepare for their exits from Singapore. Many of these roles were internal before.

Who knows - your client might be the company where I'm now working.

So it becomes less of a question of whether or not to take such roles - this will increasingly be the only choice or to leave.

Like WD said, you are only as safe there as long as the reason the host company hired your company for - and subject to immediate cancellation from budget cuts, other vendors bidding, further offshoring, etc.

Having said that, these roles are now safer than a lot of internal roles, which are dropping like flies.

[BillyB]

It's quite a broad question, and dependent on so many factors such as:

Differentiation against the many firms in the same space
Size of the consultancy
Range of services
Staff strength
Engagement model - e.g. bodyshop vs. projects
Niche area within FS or front-to-back / very broad
Client base / existing relationships
Gravitas of the firm / brand name - ability to open doors
Nature of the role - is it pure delivery, advisory, principal, weighted toward heavy business development / targets (i.e. how is your performance measured)
Technology partners they work with in the region / globally
Career development plan - where's next in the firm if you are successful
Ambition of the consultancy to expand / capability to innovate
Management's understanding of Asia

[Wd40]

I've been offered a job with a consultancy specialized in Financial IT. My experience so far is only with banks.

If you were me, would you go for it, provided the pay is decent enough?

Are there any horror stories that you wish you had known before signing up for such a role?

I've done my own research but I'm really interested to hear the stories from our forum's veterans.

Thanks
P.S. This is not a survey!

This question is very personal one and varies from people to people. Consultancies can be high pressure, you are expected to work only 8 hrs and perform miracles, if you stay beyond 8hrs your internal manager expects you to bill the exact hrs worked so that they can charge it on the client. So sometimes if you are slow then its like being b/w a rock and a hard place.

Also, like once an interviewer at a consulting firm told me, consulting is just like renting out your house, if there is no tenant for a month, you will never recover that revenue back unless you increase billing rate.

The consulting company takes a chunk out of the hefty billing rates and the client, expects you to perform miracles because they are being charged a fortune.

If you are a direct employee of the bank, its slightly more relaxed as long as the market is good and the budget is in place for the rest of the year. Also you are looked at as if you one of them and not like an expensive external guy who is there temporarily to fix the issue and then buzz off.

But for someone very sharp and brilliant and can handle the pressure well, a consulting role may be perfect.

[Aragorn2000]

They repeatedly insisted in the interviews that they are no bodyshop. I don't find any specific negative opinions from neither online resources nor personal contacts. I guess it's just too small compared to the likes of Accenture or Deloitte.
In terms of exit options, does working for a consultancy look bad on a resume? I would certainly try my best to get assigned critical front office trading projects, but then there would be no more banks on my resume.

[Sergei82]

When it comes to resume, everybody cares about what you were doing on your job, not about the way you were employed (contract/permanent?) Being contractor can be used by some HRs though to bid down the offer during negotiations.

[Aragorn2000]

Thanks for the advice. I've decided to try it out.