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• IT consultant: Scott

IT consultant: Scott

This Case Study belongs to IT consultant.

Scott graduated with a degree in software engineering.

I am working as a Senior Consultant at an IT and management consultancy specialising in the asset finance industry. It is a privately owned company employing around 200 people, with offices in the UK, Australia and the US. I am currently working for a major international bank in the UK on an upgrade of their key IT system. My role varies considerably depending upon the project assignment. It may include system support, marketing, research and project management of small teams.

I decided consultancy was the area I wanted to specialise in during my second year at university. I have a strong technical background but felt that consultancy, rather than pure systems development, would enable me to strengthen skills. I chose my consultancy because it was a small organisation specialising in finance, an industry that I was interested in. The people were friendly and professional, and overall I felt it was a company I could grow with.

I developed programming, systems design and project management skills through my software engineering degree. These are core skills that I now use on a day-to-day basis. An internship at IBM also gave me exposure to large-scale IT development and experience working for an international firm. Our company employs people from every academic background so I don’t believe that my studies were critical to getting my job.

My role has developed a lot. From carrying out systems development and training, I progressed to carry out marketing work, research tasks, requirements definition and leading large project teams. A typical day includes many project management responsibilities, such as assigning tasks to my team and checking their progress. Then I will have meetings with the client to go through their plans and requests. Reporting both to the client and more senior management is a key aspect of my working day. However, I still have to carry out technical tasks, such as writing reports, specifications and systems development. The working environment often varies because we are normally based at client sites or in one of our offices.

I like the variety of roles I can move into and the fact that every day is different and normally quite eventful. Meeting a wide variety of people and understanding how their businesses operate is very interesting. Working at client sites means that the travelling time can sometimes be a strain.

My career aspiration is to progress in the management aspect of systems delivery and further my experience in the finance industry. There are lots of opportunities for international mobility. I may be off to Eastern Europe quite soon, as a variety of other opportunities have arisen over the past few years.

If you want to develop a career in IT consulting you need to carry out research into the domain of IT consulting that you wish to enter. It is a wide sector and certain practices do specialise. You will also need to determine what travel commitments you can manage so that your personal life will not be adversely affected. You need to be approachable, articulate, methodical and understanding of both your client needs and your own priorities. Finally, make sure you have clear goals and milestones, which help plan your training and assignments.

Case Study sourced by Myrto Kalle of London School of Economics and Political Science, 21 April 2008.