Jumping from Stat Board into Private Sector (IT degrees)
 

I've been working in the defence government sector as a junior software engineer for the past 1 year 10 months.

I've been increasingly attracted by private sector pay rates, esp since pay increase in govt sector is rly slow altho starting is good. In my case, total yearly package (all bonuses included) is 83K and in 4 months time, i expect it to increase to 88K. Yearly increase is only $100 a year :( :( But i expect to get yearly package of 117K in another 2 years after that, if i work rly hard with some luck, and 2.5 years if I stay the same

That's why im looking to join the financial IT sector, but at the same time I feel my tech skills aren't that impressive. Im more of a management guy.

So the advice i need is:
1. Is it even worth to leave the stat board to go into a bank tech job? Does it pay better?
2. What job skills are the hottest in banks now and I should self-study?
3. All other advice/views appreciated!!!


For context, first class honors comp eng degree from SUTD here

Another thing to add is I feel like my tech skills are not growing in my current job...
I fear it may make it difficult to change jobs without a pay cut in the future

1. Is it even worth to leave the stat board to go into a bank tech job? Does it pay better?

You're getting 83k a year ( with bonuses, I'm assuming base pay is decent? 5-6k? ) with less than 2YOE and you're unhappy? how much base pay are you looking for?

2. What job skills are the hottest in banks now and I should self-study?

ReactJS, Blockchain, Machine Learning.

But do you have interest in these? You're a software engineer, probably go with ReactJS. At least it's general knowledge, good to have and useful for non-banking roles. ( Tech MNC front-end jobs )

3. All other advice/views appreciated!!!

My take is that you're reaching 2 YOE, finish it first then think about job hopping.

2 - 3 YOE is the typical time to job hop. Not < 2 YOE. Also why banks? I'm sure you'll do better in tech MNC and learn more. Banks are pretty crap, if you think govtech is bad, wait till you work in bank... tech is awful.

Wasn't really looking for a big pay jump, it's just that from what I see on these forums, seems like people are recommending jumping to private and easily getting a 10-15% pay increase...


I was more interested in banks (due to more established work-life balance than Big 4) and also I thought I'll learn much more tech skills than in my current SB job. Plus I thought banks would be able to at least match my 5K+ expectation with good pay progression

And Thanks for the advice!! :)

I can tell you one thing, DBS will definitely match it. Hell, even fresh grads are getting 5k from the SEED program, friend of mine is in it right now and he can't even do basic OOP lol

Anyway, you're already a junior SWE, you can get more for sure... just need to match YOE expectations ( 2 - 3 ) minimum. I suggest front / back-end. Don't go devops or web framework roles... unless you're really into those.

Also you're right, WLB is good. So far I've not heard of DBS tech people OTing like the ones in Shopee or Grab and those AI tech and other BS companies.