Careers advice - Technology vs Big 4

Hxc

Hxc

Hxc

Soldato
Joined
29 Oct 2004
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Hi all.

Am currently in the middle of the interview and offer process for a number of graduate jobs and I am coming to a deadline of when I need to decide on what path to take.

I have the chance to work for a big investment bank in their technology division (note this is not tech support), or I have the chance to work for one of the big 4 doing Audit, alongside the ACA qualification. I also have a final interview for another large bank for corporate banking but that is not currently 'on the table' so to speak.

I'm kind of stuck as to what to do, as they are both very good jobs, just... both going in very different directions.

Technology
- 8k higher starting salary
- No qualifications to do whilst on the job
- Can work 9-5. Don't have to do silly hours.
- Progression unclear, can go to associate, and then VP within department but I'm not sure how this works

Audit
- Dull work. A means to getting a qualification
- Qualification difficult and time consuming, but valuable
- Can potentially transition into big banks after 3 years, very high career potential long term
- Work social life better, many clubs, etc run by the company
- During busy season, silly hours are required.

Does anyone have any insight? I am leaning towards technology purely because it's the 'easier' of the two, but I fear in 20 years or the like, I will regret not being able to move into investment banking for real and the like.

Cheers
 
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Imo it boils down to what you want out of life, a social life outside of work or a social life that involves work.

Big 4 for work, 9-5 for anything else.
 
Corporate Banking? That will be Barclays then :)

If any of those investment banks are Citi then I can attest that their gradute programme is very well run (or at least it was in the support side).
 
Hades said:
Corporate Banking? That will be Barclays then :)

If any of those investment banks are Citi then I can attest that their gradute programme is very well run (or at least it was in the support side).
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The Corp bank one is indeed Barclays, but I have not had the assesment centre / final interview combo day yet, and I'm not super keen on it as is; it appears to have very limited progression.
 
There's no such thing as 9-5 in investment banks, be careful what they tell you during the interview process.

ACA is a good qualification to get under your belt, but its hard hard work and really boring, especially if you are a bit of a free thinker and hate just memorising things to pass exams.
 
Audit is a growth area and probably a good thing to have on the CV for the future. But personally it would drive me absolutely nuts. Boring as hell.

Agree with above, investment banks are not the place to work if you want 9-5. But they can pay well and be very good on the CV. They can also be a little "closed shop" so it's easier to get an IB job in the future if you have an IB on your CV. So might be a good idea to take it. But be aware they are very hire and fire.
 
Alex_L said:
There's no such thing as 9-5 in investment banks, be careful what they tell you during the interview process.

ACA is a good qualification to get under your belt, but its hard hard work and really boring, especially if you are a bit of a free thinker and hate just memorising things to pass exams.
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I briefly spoke to someone online who did the technology scheme for the IB I am talking about, and they have said you can indeed leave at 5 if you want to. If you're looking to work your way up, obviously stay later, but there is no requirement.

I know entirely it is hard work, although the memorising thing would likely suit me down to the ground in regards to exams. But like you say, good qualification, hence my difficult decision.


Audit is a growth area and probably a good thing to have on the CV for the future. But personally it would drive me absolutely nuts. Boring as hell.
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Indeed, this is a good point. My trajectory would likely be to stick the ACA out, try and focus on big finance companies, then move into transaction services and out to an IB or another large firm.... I just don't know whether the long, long hours and boring work is worth it.
 
If you're young and single then the long hours are worth it in my opinion. But when you're older and have family commitments then not so much.
 
Hxc said:
I briefly spoke to someone online who did the technology scheme for the IB I am talking about, and they have said you can indeed leave at 5 if you want to. If you're looking to work your way up, obviously stay later, but there is no requirement.

I know entirely it is hard work, although the memorising thing would likely suit me down to the ground in regards to exams. But like you say, good qualification, hence my difficult decision.



Indeed, this is a good point. My trajectory would likely be to stick the ACA out, try and focus on big finance companies, then move into transaction services and out to an IB or another large firm.... I just don't know whether the long, long hours and boring work is worth it.
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If thats the plan, why didn't you apply for TS/Restructuring in a Big 4? ACA + the work you want to do, rather than endure audit for 3 years.
 
Alex_L said:
If thats the plan, why didn't you apply for TS/Restructuring in a Big 4? ACA + the work you want to do, rather than endure audit for 3 years.
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Not all of them offer a grad scheme directly into it, and as my degree is totally unrelated to the subject matter, when applying I felt I had a better chance of getting something with audit. In retrospect I have achieved much better on schemes overall than I originally expected, and as such probably could have applied for TS/Restructuring, but unfortunatley that time has now passed!
 
Hxc said:
Not all of them offer a grad scheme directly into it, and as my degree is totally unrelated to the subject matter, when applying I felt I had a better chance of getting something with audit. In retrospect I have achieved much better on schemes overall than I originally expected, and as such probably could have applied for TS/Restructuring, but unfortunatley that time has now passed!
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Sounds like audit is best for you then.
 
Have worked a busy season in audit at PwC and that was not enjoyable. At first thought it would be ok and the money will be good, at least through the unusual route I was taking but when you arrive at work at 7.30, don't leave for twelve hours and your commute is 1.5+ hours each day it just isn't what I want to be doing - and that wasn't even long hours compared to what others have worked.

Still doing my ACA exams but no longer working at PwC now, not through choice but tbh I'm not complaining that I don't have to work in audit at big4 any more. Will be interesting to see what jobs I can find for when I graduate (or before, since I would be available to work from mid-november of my final year at uni minus may and june for lectures/exams), as I will be in the unusual position of graduating from uni with 9 of the 12 ACA exams, and 3 months of audit busy season experience with PwC.
 
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I did the latter of your 2 choices, and my advice is do the ACA, you can always go and get that first job after the 3 years if you like.

As others have said, a 9 to 5 at an investment bank is likely not on the cards, although I've only ever worked in London, so if you're doing that in Bristol then it may be different.
 
You haven't said what you actually want to do? These are (potentially) two totally different career paths.

If you're not passionate about technology, please don't go down that route. Also, you can do 9-5 (they don't physically lock and bolt the doors) but don't expect anything in terms of career progression, pay-rises and bonuses.
 
If you want to go from audit into banking then really you need to request to work in financial services audit, and even then it's not easy to make the jump. I'm in audit currently and if you have any questions feel free to trust message me.
 
Depends one what you want from life. For me work/life balance is more important than money - but getting extra qualifications isn't a bad thing to have but is it worth at the detriment of a good life? Only you can answer that.
 
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