You're right - I was generalising a little, but glad you 'sort of' agree! Don't get me wrong, there are some excellent IT staff working in the banks in Singapore but the issues I have seen from experience is that the good staff tend to get the enthusiasm and creativity knocked out of them by managers who feel threatened and have their own political agenda. Excellent developers and BA's become run of the mill and restricted in what they do and work on monotonous run the bank projects - you know the decommissioning pieces etc. and it creates a vicious circle until that tier of management is removed and someone new comes in with fresh ideas on how to change the bank.revhappy wrote:Excellent post there by Billy!
I too work in a global top tier investment bank as a permanent employee. Prior to this job I have worked in several software companies. Everything that Billy has said is true to a large extent. But then you are generalising a bit as well. You can have good projects/teams in banks that work in latest technologies(luckily I do) and at the same time you may have software companies especially the consulting generalists that you just wouldnt want to be associated with.
I will tell you why I would still continue to work for a bank
In banks everything is long term. The business vertical that you support is fixed. You build a relationship with them, you work on a couple of projects and prove yourself and they like you and then you have just established yourself after that its a cake walk and you can have several years of easy life ahead of you. Thats what I am having at the moment
In a software company your clients keep changing. The techologies you work on keeps changing. You need keep proving yourself again and again and again. I hate that kind of role. May be I am lazy, I hate change, I hate to learn anything new. Whatever you may want to call it. But thats just me and a role in bank just suits me perfectly
Thats simple. Please your boss. Basically, if your boss says the sky is green, you just say, "Yes I agree" and you will have a brilliant career in the bank.orbita wrote: how to navigate the complex politics in investment banks!
Good 1st post!Trip Down Memory Lane wrote:My $0.02
Given the current economic climate personally I would not bet on stability of any organization. One can be forced to look for a job sooner then one thinks.
Personally I would look at learning opportunities, location and pay to evaluate any job.
I would look at pay on an absolute basis, and then pay on a risk adjusted basis i.e higher pay because you join a smaller org is not really higher pay. I would also look at pay on the basis of number of hours actually spent in the office, for eg if you get a 30% hike but expected to work 50% harder, I wouldn't call that a hike. Everything else is secondary
IT is a field where one has to always update knowledge or risk being obsolete. In the financial IT world, learning the latest technologies is important but more important is to understand the business. So the more a job provides such opportunities, better for me
Yep, I agree, money is the most important thing in anywhere, no company can offer a permanent full time bullet proof job and no one will tell you they want you to work 18 hours a day! Make sure you take the job with the best cashrevhappy wrote:Good 1st post!Trip Down Memory Lane wrote:My $0.02
Given the current economic climate personally I would not bet on stability of any organization. One can be forced to look for a job sooner then one thinks.
Personally I would look at learning opportunities, location and pay to evaluate any job.
I would look at pay on an absolute basis, and then pay on a risk adjusted basis i.e higher pay because you join a smaller org is not really higher pay. I would also look at pay on the basis of number of hours actually spent in the office, for eg if you get a 30% hike but expected to work 50% harder, I wouldn't call that a hike. Everything else is secondary
IT is a field where one has to always update knowledge or risk being obsolete. In the financial IT world, learning the latest technologies is important but more important is to understand the business. So the more a job provides such opportunities, better for me
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