Banking back end vs sign on mindef farmer, M 30 y.o, wise or lame? Advice!

[askethan]

Hi all!

These are my specs:
30 years old,
SG male,
married,
dual income without kids,
in marketing field,
grad from private uni with bachelor's degree.

Currently looking to move on from existing industry, and I am considering between back end banking or signing on (OCS/Spec).

My considerations:

Back end Banking
- work like horse, but not as bad as front office sales people.
- salary "might" be slightly higher vs peers in marketing
- lesser promotion prospect?
- since its cost center + operations role = higher chance of being outsourced later in life when i am 40+ and deemed unsuitable for career change?
- currently no experience = i have to either go back to school to enter the industry or enter through contract roles? (since internship and full time roles seems unreachable).
- any particular skillsets/department role will be more relevant for a mid career move?

Signing on
- might need to go ocs/respective vocational training if accepted
- stable income
- able to pursue masters/phd?
- farmer for rest of my career till 45. would be very fortunate if i am able to end career beyond major 2. haha!(some around me tells me there are career in gov stat board/ministry/companies awaiting post retirement, but somehow i feel that its for the super high flyers, not average joe like myself, am i right?)
- whats next after forced retirement at age 45? OM/DM in sec school, security guard, taxi driver, insurance, real estate agent and being an entrepreneur?


Kindly advise! Would be great if someone who has walked the journey share with me your thoughts?

Many thanks in advance, truly appreciate your opinion and time.

Are you sure you are still able to join the army at the age of 30??

How much r u currently drawing? If i am the hiring manager i wouldnt hire a 30y.o guy with no relevant prior experience and pay him 4k or above when i have abundant of freshies n foreigners with relevant exp where i can hire for much lesser.
Neither will i hire someone with no banking exp n parachute him or her into a managerial role for ops when they dont even have any specific knowledge or expertises on the products.

As for mindef sign on, the most important qns is- have u been selected or offered a contract? If no, then its pointless asking all these. For as long you have not sign on thr dotted line, nothing is confirmed.

Based on your vague description and my honest opinion, i would advice u to stick to your field. If u die die wanna cross over to banking, then find a function that could utilise your skillsets. Dont ask me which functions, u ought to find out these on your end if u r serious in a career change.
To facilitate this discussion better, u might wanna give a brief rundown on your current jobscope or most utilised skillsets that you think its useful for crossing over. Otherwise, it is really hard for ppl to give u any serious opinions.

P.s someone who is currently in the banking sector but non ops function.

Sign on - u mean join SAF? Or join as DXO?
Assuming u get an offer (not sure whether they take persons from Private uni with marketing background.)

The job will be stable, pay decent but not fantastically high. Enough to live a reasonably comfortable life. The advantage is that they don't fire people, unless for dishonesty or really really lousy performance. Work life balance depends on where u are. Some OT until 7 or even 8/ 9, others go at 6 at the dot.

They are 2 completely different jobs, it's meaningless to compare them.

If you can get in ops, there is definitely opportunity to be promoted. There is an internal hierarchy within ops that you can climb (analyst, associate, avp, vp, md).

[askethan]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Are you sure you are still able to join the army at the age of 30??

Hi there, I am still unsure about that!

Will revert once i can confirm!

[askethan]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

How much r u currently drawing? If i am the hiring manager i wouldnt hire a 30y.o guy with no relevant prior experience and pay him 4k or above when i have abundant of freshies n foreigners with relevant exp where i can hire for much lesser.
Neither will i hire someone with no banking exp n parachute him or her into a managerial role for ops when they dont even have any specific knowledge or expertises on the products.

As for mindef sign on, the most important qns is- have u been selected or offered a contract? If no, then its pointless asking all these. For as long you have not sign on thr dotted line, nothing is confirmed.

Based on your vague description and my honest opinion, i would advice u to stick to your field. If u die die wanna cross over to banking, then find a function that could utilise your skillsets. Dont ask me which functions, u ought to find out these on your end if u r serious in a career change.
To facilitate this discussion better, u might wanna give a brief rundown on your current jobscope or most utilised skillsets that you think its useful for crossing over. Otherwise, it is really hard for ppl to give u any serious opinions.

P.s someone who is currently in the banking sector but non ops function.

Mindef career wise, agreed, nothing till confirmed!

(50%)Currently organizing exhibitions and trade shows for company, need to liaise with multiple parties to make sure exhibition goes smoothly. (50%) The other part of my scope, is to make sure marketing communications are carried about as required. This portion requires collaborating with stakeholders that i do not have direct authority. Currently i am on 3k+ per month gross. Working weekends at the exhibitions at times.

[askethan]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Sign on - u mean join SAF? Or join as DXO?
Assuming u get an offer (not sure whether they take persons from Private uni with marketing background.)

The job will be stable, pay decent but not fantastically high. Enough to live a reasonably comfortable life. The advantage is that they don't fire people, unless for dishonesty or really really lousy performance. Work life balance depends on where u are. Some OT until 7 or even 8/ 9, others go at 6 at the dot.

Hi there,

i have not made up my mind about a career in the uniformed or non uniformed dept of mindef. But realistically, i am more concerned with my career, if i choose to step in, if there are any work opportunities after the forced retirement.

[askethan]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

They are 2 completely different jobs, it's meaningless to compare them.

If you can get in ops, there is definitely opportunity to be promoted. There is an internal hierarchy within ops that you can climb (analyst, associate, avp, vp, md).

hi there!

thank you for the info!

seems like have to re-climb if i move into the industry.

i don't understand why you want to exit the marcomm's field when you already have some substantial experience in it. Your experience is directly transferable to the corp comms dept in any other GLC, mnc, ministry or stat board. Try hitting the GLCs or mncs first since they're more likely to be less stringent on the pedigree of your degree (wheres it from anyway. SIM? Kaplan? University of ABC123 sort of 1 year top up degree? Those are worthless btw).

You sound like you're stuck in one of those small, mosquito sized dime-and-a-dozen sort of marketing and events firms. Try moving out to a larger organization while sticking within the industry. Bank ops isn't a bed of roses either. You sound like yet another one of the blind flock of sheep wanting to rush into the banking craze without having a single clue of whats it even about.