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So I take it it is better to go the financial programming route than to be a DBA?
I actually really like finance. I just never thought of combining programming with finance (or a particular business sector) till it was suggested earlier. So that settles it: BA/IT + MS Finance.
DBAs are a dime a dozen now, definitely outsourceable.
Most information systems are financial systems especially if you work in any of the big companies that offer financial products or buy into financial products. You dont really need to know much to support these systems other than basic coding and then stay in the backroom (like dbas and network guys) and that is fine. Once you decide to come out of that room to talk system users to help them do their job to make tons of money, analyze and manage risks or maybe deliver somehing for a client or dodd frank/cftc/ICE.. you still wont need much other than IT knowledge but may struggle on the language or terms that theyll throw at you. You can simply grab an idiot/dummy book on the subject just to understand a few terminologies. That works for me. 2-5 years into this job youll know you want an MS in finance not just because 1) you want to be able to actually talk to the hotshot traders, headhunchos and maybe design an even better system since you now understand exactly what your business needs 2) but youll also be ' indispensible' and be the hero for all the IT guys who prefered to stay in the backrooms. MBA should really be a career rocketbooster. Its pointless if youre not pointed upwards. It does help if your moving to higher positions or contracting for highly funded projects
DBAs are a dime a dozen now, definitely outsourceable.
Let's not go completely overboard.
Analytics is expected to have great job growth over the next decade. There is going to be a great need for people that understand data structures and how to get information out of systems AS WELL AS for people who can interpret that information and make actionable business decisions based on it. There are many places right now that have those as two different job descriptions because there aren't enough people that can do both. Universities are creating masters programs in analytics as we speak because there aren't enough people in industry with the skills that employers want. (This is actually a true skill gap).
It is a great way for the OP to utilize the technical skills he loves with a good balance of math and business to get something great down the road. Companies are starting to want to full package in one person, as opposed to one person who pulls the report and hands it to someone else who interprets it.
I could understand combining programming with a specific business sector like finance, accounting, law, etc. since they are in specific industries, but Business Administration???
Isn't that more general? All businesses are in specific industries so I don't see how programming can be combined with a general business major. Just wondering.
I could understand combining programming with a specific business sector like finance, accounting, law, etc. since they are in specific industries, but Business Administration???
Isn't that more general? All businesses are in specific industries so I don't see how programming can be combined with a general business major. Just wondering.
You can lead a telemarketing or pager company with that
Nah, thats still something for smaller operations, sales, some kind of productivity/efficiency consulting (like Deloitte) or technical product lead of some software. Again, you'll know what you need to get when youre in the game and you have a target corner office.
I dont want you to think you can CODE BETTER by going to school. The idea is to be able to HELP THE BUSINESS BETTER and to have the right amount of achievements and experience and not fumbling around when they look at you for a promotion. Timing is everything
I could understand combining programming with a specific business sector like finance, accounting, law, etc. since they are in specific industries, but Business Administration???
Isn't that more general? All businesses are in specific industries so I don't see how programming can be combined with a general business major. Just wondering.
Businesses have HR and Marketing and Sales and Finance and Management and Manufacturing and GDP and Transportation..all which are subject areas in General Business. You learn about all these areas and it's a heck of a lot easier to meld into any kind of business/department when you have an understanding of all these subject areas.
The BA in IT and the certifications are to be able to get in the game regardless of the industry. Once in the game, I would gain experience in programming. I would still need to learn to code on my own.
The MS (in this case, Finance) is to be able to transition to and be able to specialize in a specific industry (in this case, the Financial Services industry). Once, in this industry (Finance), I would know which software / technology the business I work for will need and will be able to provide this software since I would be knowledgeable in both worlds (programming + finance) and would be a liaison between the IT guys and the finance guys. In other words, the finance guys have a need for "Product X" that doesn't yet exist and I would be able to work with the IT guys to bring "Product X" into existence for the finance guys to do their jobs better. Thus, I would help the business get better, make me indispensable, and that would help me be in a prime position when they look at me for a promotion.
Analytics is expected to have great job growth over the next decade. There is going to be a great need for people that understand data structures and how to get information out of systems AS WELL AS for people who can interpret that information and make actionable business decisions based on it. There are many places right now that have those as two different job descriptions because there aren't enough people that can do both. Universities are creating masters programs in analytics as we speak because there aren't enough people in industry with the skills that employers want. (This is actually a true skill gap).
It is a great way for the OP to utilize the technical skills he loves with a good balance of math and business to get something great down the road. Companies are starting to want to full package in one person, as opposed to one person who pulls the report and hands it to someone else who interprets it.
Sorry if I stepped on something there but think about it. DBAs is just a title, they are invisible, they are in the backroom and probably the most disconnected to the business. The last company I worked (big oil) for dissolved their accounting/HR after outsourcing and they redistributed those people to IT. A bunch of them ended up in the DBA team, because its not clientfacing and not a critical role.
Are you refering to Oracle Analytics or something like that? If so thats just an extension of good ole SQL for me and I have that in my utility belt and I use it adhoc and deliver 'mind-blowing' results with it within hours or a few days. And I never went to school for that. If youre a DBA, youre probably thinking a min 6mos project. Well noone can wait for that now or else theyll just lose the opportunity or just cost a lot of money for non-compliance. You have to be in the front lines with technology and focused on adhoc reporting(or delivering prototypes) if you want to be ahead in IT.
Also there are expensive products like BusinessObjects and Spotfire that promised to deliver analytical reports by drag&drop and mouse clicks LOL. They got 'experts' in that area too but they dont know SQL or think in muti dimensions (think sub-queries) and make the analytical tools work like you typed the SQL Analytics SQL yourself. DBAs and superusers roles werent enough to deliver anything worth the client's investment. I didnt know both these tools but I have learned Oracle analytics and the analytical tools when I needed them and I just build something that these 2 camps concluded was impossible. (well obviously from their respective point of views). Again, just learned them on the fly
In that last big oil company, the business and operations people already gave up their IT programs/teams. To them it was just a big racket, do nothing and very expensive. To my surprise I was contracted by the business to do a job but on the side I have to succeed without IT and expose their issues. Well that was a challenge to me and we were victorious. Without all the tech money, resource/tools, design meetings and everything IT you can imagine I built the system they were trying to build for 2.5 years and with $20mm with just MSExcel and SQL (you can run my report in your phone). A lot of IT people got fired or demoted, contractors let go. I did lose my immediate business team members tho because they refused to learn a bit of how I did it. Now their using that spreadsheet as their model for another $20mm project. The layered graphs alone would be very hard to beat so goodluck to them
Analytics also means it should be flexible and results should come quick. Scenarios, simulations, aggregations..and you have to be with the business folks and on the (trading) floor. A couple of times we saved the company hundred of millions in would-be fines since we have graphed out the activities of a non-compliant trader (highlighting the bad) JUST BEFORE our litigation department started meeting with the fed. We got off because we 'have a system in place' instead of being ignorant of the crime. These fines are in the hundred of million $. Theres also other fed requirements or atleast industry standard risk management reports that need to be done especially if they need to close millions/billion dollar deals or providing custom deals for clients. you can be part of that.
Anyway, there's nothing you cant learn for free. Just get in the game first, then venture out of the backroom every now and then
The BA in IT and the certifications are to be able to get in the game regardless of the industry. Once in the game, I would gain experience in programming. I would still need to learn to code on my own.
The MS (in this case, Finance) is to be able to transition to and be able to specialize in a specific industry (in this case, the Financial Services industry). Once, in this industry (Finance), I would know which software / technology the business I work for will need and will be able to provide this software since I would be knowledgeable in both worlds (programming + finance) and would be a liaison between the IT guys and the finance guys. In other words, the finance guys have a need for "Product X" that doesn't yet exist and I would be able to work with the IT guys to bring "Product X" into existence for the finance guys to do their jobs better. Thus, I would help the business get better, make me indispensable, and that would help me be in a prime position when they look at me for a promotion.
That could work too
But normally,
1) you learn the basics on many things before working
2) you get better on specific technologies used at work. you code better and learn to work around issues of the softwares themselves (aka "real IT experience")
3) you learn a bit of the business, you deliver better products, solve critical problems
4) you can start MBA now (maybe subsidized by company)
5) you learned a lot of the business and take on bigger projects, that add on to the existing system
6) its inevitable youre going into newer technologies as the world goes more high tech or the softwares/hardware evolves.
7) finish MBA + accomplishments, well noone else but you can be trusted with higher profile projects
8) now monetized who you became (go high up or go contracting)
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