Transcript: live chat with Adam Bennett, MD, Hatstand IT consultancy

Missed the chat? Read the transcript at your leisure...

Jogen Joshi: I'm a consultant from Australia. I have proven expertise and qualifications in both IT and finance. For a role in the UK as business analyst or technical business analyst with eight years' experience, what salary range can one expect? And in your opinion, what will be the better way of getting in touch with the employers - direct correspondence or through agents?

Adam: Well, it all depends which markets you're involved in - if you're working with credit derivatives (or, in fact, any kind of derivatives), your experience will be very valuable. Another key issue will be whether you have a visa to work in the UK. Depending upon these issues and your relevant experience, you could be looking at a salary of between 50k and 90k.

However, if you have no relevant financial markets experience, you may struggle

to find your first position, and the salary will be lower than the figures above.

In terms of the best way of getting into the industry - if you have a pre-existing relationship (professional relationship I mean!) with someone in the bank, then try that first. Alternatively, you can contact investment banks' recruitment functions direct - although, interestingly, these are often managed by agents anyway. The advantage of going to an agent is that they will be aware of the opportunities available in the marketplace as a whole.

Alternatively you could always speak to consultancy organisations, such as Hatstand (!)

Alain: Your biography says you're a founder of Hatstand. Why did you decide to create your own company?

Adam: The opportunity to build something yourself is something that many people aspire to.

Working in an investment bank is very intensive and highly political once you get into senior management, as I was. It's fun to run something yourself, build it from nothing, see it grow. It also provides greater flexibility in terms of time. However I'm never off duty and always have to be available whether I'm on holiday or not.

Astrid: You said working in an investment bank is highly political, can you explain how ?

Adam: All large organisations need a structured management hierarchy. Investment banks obviously attract highly motivated, highly ambitious, driven individuals with an appetite to succeed at all costs.

Stick loads of these types of people together, add huge amounts of salary, incredible time pressures and you have the recipe for aggressive posturing, defensive posturing, empire building and blame control - AKA banking politics.

Sherlene: I am a very experienced java developer and have been working for technology firms for the past five years. I have always been interested in working in the banking/finance sector and even took up finance related courses in the hope of gaining employment in banks in the future, but it seems hard. I breeze through the technical skills part of the interviews (I have been to several), but don't get hired. The reasons given for not being offered a position in the banks are always a lack of working knowledge of banking/financial processes. It's a Catch 22 situation. Could you please advise on how I could make amends for the obvious lack of experience and increase my chances of getting a job?!

Adam: Hmmm. If you have no investment banking experience, it's difficult to get into the market. Typically, you could explore working for a vendor who provides services or software to the financial markets - that could be an initial step. You could then look to move into a smaller broker or investment house after 18 months to two years. And then, after another 18 months or two years you'll have the experienced required to get into a major investment bank.

Alternatively, you could join one of the many graduate schemes that exist, although these can be difficult to get into as the banks are very prescriptive about which universities candidates have attended and which courses they took.

Hatstand also run a graduate scheme and we specifically look for people with the right attitude, aptitude, ability and character to succeed in the city. Often they do not necessarily have a degree from a well-known university. I am more interested in people with the right mindset and ability. We've already employed 14 this year and are likely to take on another 10.

Jude: What's your background Adam (studies, previous jobs..) ?

Adam: Well, unusually I don't have a degree I studied A levels - maths, physics, chemistry, biology and then I became a chef! My parents weren't too keen on this though, so I retrained as an accountant - which I hated. I then moved into IT and absolutely loved it. I was promoted three times - from trainee programmer to IT manager working for the NHS finance dept. I left there in 1986 and joined Kleinwort Benson as a junior tech analyst. It became Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and I joined Barclays Capital in 1997. I then left Barclays, where I was an IT director, to form Hatstand in 1999.

Is that enough to give you a picture ? One of the reasons I left Barclays to set up Hatstand was that once you get into senior management at an investment bank you get locked into staying - they often pay a significant proportion of your bonus in shares which are deferred for up to five years. After five years you could have 500k, but you'd have to wait to get it. I left before I got hooked in.

Jude: And do you think it is stil possible today to make it to the top without any degree ?

Adam: It's not impossible, but it is extremely unlikely.

Madame LeChat: So what's changed in the meantime?

Adam: Hello Madame! I think that the standard of education has changed. There is a huge need for high quality grads in the City and there is a significant number of people fighting over these roles. Originally IT and the business were very separate, and typically people came from the graduate background into the business. IT was still in its formative stages in 1986, now IT and the business are very aligned: IT is a vital part of a successful business and the business see it as essential to invest in both technology and people to ensure that they maintain their competitive advantage. In 1986, many users did not even know how to use a keyboard.

Now many parts of the business are directly involved in the development and enhancement of their systems and a huge majority are extremely IT literate. It's a different world.

Mick: Which are the most required degrees in the City today ?

Adam: maths, IT and business, most sciences, economics, and MBAs are all valuable for both banking and IT roles. Even if you're studying languages, you have a chance:

we've employed someone who has a degree in French literature.

Madame LeChat: Which areas of IT in banking pay the most? (Half a million would be great..)

Adam: It's that cat again! Firstly you have to have the right experience - equity derivatives, credit derivatives, smart order routing are all hot areas at the moment. Typically, people in these areas, good solid experienced people, would be earning 100k+ basic, with the opportunity to double that with a bonus subject to delivery. But these people are few and far between, hence they are so valuable.

Alternatively, you could go into IT management, but yet again, you are dealing with a much smaller universe of people, hence they're paid so much!

For half a million, there are some key developers, some IT directors and technical architects who'd be getting this.

Jason 24: How would the career path for an IT Professional differ from other sectors? (other than the money, of course.)

Adam: It depends which products you get involved in. You could work on the hottest thing in the marketplace and get poached, doubling your salary.

When it comes to career path, you don't have to start out as a developer - there are people in operations, project management, and infrastructure IT who are earning large sums of money because they do their job really well. I think, like any career, there is a certain amount of being in the right place in the right time.

A lot of people start in operations, and then move on to development or the business. Development is a good place to start but the key to this is to learn as much about the business as possible so that you become very valuable and trusted by the business to deliver.

Banks' graduate schemes do provide a structured approach and you tend to get a little bit of a number of specialisations in your 2 years. Hopefully, by the end of this you will have a good idea of where you want to go to complete your career development.

Dilip Gohil: Hi Adam. Where can one get trained up in Fix protocol?

Adam: Hello Dilip. Fix is a continually evolving protocol. Most of the buy-side are still on version 4, most of the sell-side have already upgraded to 4.2. To get training, there probably are some technical training courses available in the marketplace, but a good place to start would be to get involved in application support, learn more about Fix on the job, and become an expert that way.

Certainly, having taken some technical training will add value to your CV, but nothing will replace genuine experience.

Monsier Lechien: What kind of training does Hatstand offer and do you have any jobs going at the moment?

Adam: Bonjour Monsieur! Hatstand has a graduate training scheme, as I mentioned previously, and we specifically look for people with the right ability and character and communication skills.

We have two schemes: one for business analysts and project management and one for trading room technical support. Both of these streams are focused on trading systems in the City and involve a mixture of formal training and assignments at one of our leading investment banking clients.

We look for people who can cope under pressure and deal with verbal abuse from the traders!! We also want people who have a strong work ethic - 7am to 7pm is normal and longer hours may be required, so although you get paid a lot, you have to work a lot as well.

We are currently looking for some trainee technical support graduates, some trainee development graduates and business analysis graduates. Each of these functions has slightly different skillset requirements. These are detailed on our website at www.hatstand-ltd.com

Additionally, we are also looking for experienced people as well. I believe Hatstand are one of the few organisations that have a flexible recruitment process for graduates - that means we are casting our net wider and looking for people with the right ability but from different areas.

Ringo: For people over 50, do you think it's possible to get a job in IT?

Adam: Hi Ringo. If you have the right experience and enthusiasm then nothing should stop you.

We had several 40+ applicants for our graduate trainee roles and two of them did get through the whole selection, interview, workshops and scenario process.

Jack: A cliché (yet useful advice) from career advisors is to plan for the next five years. Considering globalisation in the IT market and the offshoring of some technical roles, what advise would you give? Should one pursue a technical role or high-level analyst/designer/'architect'

Adam: Hello Jack. It's interesting that some organisations are now migrating some of the functions they took offshore back to nearside.

I think that to become a high level analyst/designer/architect you would need to have spent many years as a BA or programmer. At the same time, there will always be a need for high quality nearside resources.

It pays to specialise in new and upcoming technology and business solutions as the more vanilla developments tend to be outsourced. Areas you might want to consider are derivatives technology, building relocations, becoming an expert in the latest software vendor applications. Things definitely change - eight years ago Fidessa developers were very rare and commanded high salaries and rates. Now, Fidessa is more vanilla and not as valuable as it was - a number of Indian-based consultancies are providing Fidessa services.

Jack: Many thanks

Ruby: And can a single mum of two make it in the IT world or is the schedule too heavy for a family life ?

Adam: In the context of IT in the City, the answer is: "Yes, you can have a career, Ruby."

Many people in this situation are now working from home for the majority of the week.

As long as you continue to deliver and add value there will be a role for you.

Dilip Gohil: Hi Adam, would Hatstand consider people from 2nd/3rd line support roles on one of your schemes?

Adam: Hi again Dilip. The answer is: yes

Darius: Which third party vendor technologies will be up and coming in the next few years?

Adam: Hello Darius. Direct exchange links are a vital part of any trading system. It would be good to get involved in this area. There are a number of algorithmic trading software vendors which would be worth investigating .

Jason 24: What are the main IT skill sets in demand currently?

Adam: C++, C#, .NET, Java, J2SE (rather than J2EE) Fix, business analysis, project management, programme management, and project office management are also valuable.

Jason 24: Thanks a lot for the insight

MODERATOR: Thank you very much for you help Adam. Do you want to add a few concluding words?

Adam: It pays to be determined. And don't give up when trying to get a role in the City. I wish you all luck. Many thanks for inviting me to eFinancialCareers. Goodbye!

· Adam Bennett is managing director of Hatstand, a financial services IT consultancy. He previously worked as a managing director in the technology division of Barclays Capital.