Career Advice for Comp Sci Grad: Banking or Public sector job?
 

Hi there,

I am soon-to-be local university CS grad with a 2nd lower honours degree. I have received several offers from private banks and local banks, and now I've narrowed it down to a offer from a FB ( grad programme) with 4.6k start pay and a definite pay increment + promotion yearly for 2 years to manager position should I stay inside.

I am also trying out for public sectors like GovTech / DSTA and tech companies such as grab /honestbee. I would like to know if there is any career opportunities for me regarding these spots or should I just accept the offer given to me.

Thanks

If you in bank then you will be stuck in IT finance industry forever loh cause if you switch u will definitely take a significant paycut.

In terms of SG and you really want go technical path then tech company is the way to go =)...... GovTech is not bad too but also depends on which dept and proj u go to =)

In terms of pay all should be ard the one u stated but annual package not sure =)

But if u already gotten an offer from the bank, it is highly likely that the offer will expire before u get another offer. So tink wisely haha in terms of ur career path within the next 5 yrs...... if u only care abt $$ then u can accept the bank offer, career path wise bank does not offer much

Hi hi thanks for replying!! May i know why you think that there will be a significant paycut if I switch in the future?? Isit because companies think you don't learn much tech stuff at banks or..?

I was thinking of gaining experiences in the fintech industry and switching to a IT consulting role in the future e.g Accenture, SAP

lol look at that salary, I know its citibank. Actually you really need to think before joining. I kinda like gov sector but I strongly encourage you to go out to private sector before joining.

Would suggest going to the bank, you'll be in better shape to make a leap to where you really want to be in the tech industry - Google, Facebook, Grab, etc. More possibilities if you're willing to expand globally. The salaries there, especially at the first two, are pretty insane.

Fintech is typically very specialized and pay higher compared to other counterpart in tech industry(exception of google,facebook, visa all those)

If you jump to another sector in tech like for example non finance(lots of your experience would be redundant and the only relevant one are those transferable basic skills, hence you will be taking a pay cut due to skill mismatch and the industry not paying as much for same lvl role in bank)...
why skill mismatch? because the technology you used is most likely product based which is not very good for progressing your technical skills, it is good for improving your bizness skill as it is very process base.

So if you intend to go like SAP, go join a company that have project in SAP and willing to groom you in that domain, you would have a high chance of getting your role in SAP.
For finance you are pretty much limited to fintech and non-tech role like business analyst etc unless you are a google standard developer which you can jump to almost anywhere.
And rmb bank really like to offshore if they can for things like programming.