Banking Industry Careers

Hello TE:

Does anyone have any experience with the banking industry in IT? Looking to get some thoughts as I have only been working with military, DOD contractors, and enterprise company's. Are they relaxed and easy to work with? I know the economy is still crap, and banking Im guessing is still struggling.

Thanks...

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SteveJ16

Hello vanquish23,

I've worked in the IT section of an international banking firm (they don't know how to spell "City") for the past 7 years now (transferred from Help Desk). That said, it's just a paycheck to me and I am considering jumping ship. There are constant security audits, redundant training (Anti-money laundering 2014 for everyone, including the security guards), extremely tight PC use policies (no Facebook for you) and thanks to the recession numerous layoffs and very small to no raises or bonuses.

If possible, target local banks with an IT need rather than national/international. If you're interested in a particular company, check to see if they received any TARP funds during the recession. If they did, and haven't yet paid back the loan, they're under government audit reviews and will have very small bonus/raise pools available for employees.

That said, things ARE starting to recover and many banks are starting to hire again (the people who can't spell "City" among them).

Best of luck to you in your job search!

ajs1976

I work for a small bank in a Sr tech / Sec Admin / IT manager type role. Getting good experience, but the frequent audits are stressful.

paul78

vanquish23 wrote: »

Are they relaxed and easy to work with?

I have always worked for companies that provide technology solution to financial services - specifically the brokerage industry. As far as IT and technology functions go, banking, brokerage, insurance, lending, and similar segments of financial services are probably not the most relaxed environment; especially the larger data processor. Companies that custody millions of accounts and process trillions of dollars are some of the most formalized and rigid organizations.

But that said - the right company and job in the industry can be a great long term career with some of the higest compensation packages. Surprisingly, it can be quite a small group, over the years, I run into the same people at different companies within the industry.

NotHackingYou

I work a credit union. One of the things to keep in mind if you get into IT at any financial institution is that they are heavily regulated. Statments and tax records must be generated and sent out on time.

paul78

Carl raises another good point. System availability and performance is another huge concern besides data protection. The SLA's are very tight and the penalties can be substantial. Outages impacting access to a consumer's money is a big deal.Where I work we have fired people that caused outages for not applying due-diligence or executed negligent changes.

NotHackingYou

+100 for what Paul said. He's dead on accurate.

phaneuf1

If you like dealing with bunch of strict policies, you're gonna love it. If you like having to wait for approval for every little task you have to do, this is your place.

The advantages of working in a bank are the benefits they have to offer. They are paying for my entire degree, they have a nice retirement plan, a lot of opportunities every month, they offer paid training, etc. If you want to specialize in one particular domain, it's the best place to work because there is no jobs where you touch to a bit of everything (ok maybe help-desk but it's really basic). For example, if you are an exchange admin, don't expect to do anything but exchange administration. You 'll become a pro at what you do.

Hope it helped.

emerald_octane

paul78 wrote: »

Carl raises another good point. System availability and performance is another huge concern besides data protection. The SLA's are very tight and the penalties can be substantial. Outages impacting access to a consumer's money is a big deal.Where I work we have fired people that caused outages for not applying due-diligence or executed negligent changes.

The stakes are definitely much higher but that's where the IT pros come out to play. I assume one met with 99.999% uptime requirements would get a budget to match which imo anyone with real mission critical experience is much more attractive candidate.

linuxabuser

I work in the financial industry and can assure you that your assumption of a big budget is way off. Is it big compared to SMB IT? Sure. Is it proportional to the worth of the bank? Far from it.

paul78

Right, the budgets aren't necessarily higher, its still a business and choices are made based on risk/reward. If anything, it can be a bit more stressful because those types of decisions can sometimes have far reaching impact. But for most people in IT, those decisions are to the senior management chain.

@op - all that said - I would still recommend the financial industry for IT professionals. It can be quite challenging but the compensation is likely also higher. What exactly were you aiming for?

colemic

I work for a technology company that is a holding company for a family of community banks. It's not bad - we aren't the bank, per se, but are still subject to federal regulations, and overall it's a great place to work. Benefits are good, not great, but there is definitely job security - banks don't contract when the economy shrinks a whole lot (at least the healthy ones.)

As far as compensation, I think that is more dependent on local area than industry, at least where I am. Budgets - we can drop some serious coin on technology but it's all done under the oversight of a penny-pinching board of bankers, LOL. And at least here, there's quite a bit of flexibility in roles.

I would definitely recommend working at a bank if you can find the right opportunity. I was very fortunate getting the position I have now.

vanquish23

Thanks everyone for your input. And I thought I had it bad supporting the Government and dealing with Change Management ITIL stuff. Its not in Atlanta, it's in Raleigh but will more than likely not take it.

paul78

vanquish23 wrote: »

And I thought I had it bad supporting the Government and dealing with Change Management ITIL stuff.

Sorry if I gave that impression. It's not bad at all. While bigger companies have a bit more beauracracy - they exist only as a means to coordinate activities and to prevent possible problems.

Processes like ITIL change management are applied extremely judiciously. Banks and related financial services companies still need to conduct business. And such processes exist only to reduce risk to an acceptable level.

minit

The more critical a system is, the more stressful a job will be. Sure in any industry systems have to be up. But the banking and healthcare industry take this to another level. I would avoid both. I know because I work in healthcare lol.

paul78

minit wrote: »

... I would avoid both....

Respectfully, I would disagree. I have worked in financial services for nearly 25 years. I admit were are some extremely stressful and anxious days. Those moments really test your mettle as an IT professional and shape your experience with technology.

vanquish23

Well the difference is stressful environments can vary. Finance, IT systems are down, they are loosing many. Heathcare they are loosing access to records, my job Merica is on the line in life or death.

paul78

Right on... it's definitely important to have the right perspective in the industry you serve. With financial services, lives are not at risk but lifelihoods of many can be impacted. Early in my career, I worked in higher education. I still fondly look back at the time that I spent working at a university because the work was quite socially meaningful.