IT Consulting vs. IT at Bank

I'm about to graduate and have an offer from a major global IT consulting firm and possibly also an offer from a large global bank (also in IT). Both are located in NYC.

Disregarding compensation, which one do you guys think is the better choice career-wise?

I'm leaning toward consulting because my assumption is that I'll gain a lot more experience and have a larger network industry wide.

On the other hand, if things work well at the bank I may have more options within the bank to move to where I want to be and/or be on a faster track to get promoted. I am also very interested in moving to an international destination (probably Asia) in a few years so I figure it might be easier to move internationally within a firm than from consulting to industry in another country.

Appreciate in advance for any help!

 

If I were you I would take the consulting role. In addition to the points you mentioned, this IT consulting role is likely to be the bread and butter of the company. What I mean by this is that you are in a revenue generating role for the company. Additionally, you could also move to the bank in an iT role at a higher level after a few years if you want to.

Always be in a role that's the primary focus of the company. Hence in a bank you want to be a banker not an IT dude. In a software company you want to be the software guru and not the marketing guy.

 

IRSPB has a valid point on being a 1st or 2nd class employee in a company - you need to decide how important this is for you.

Consulting is a great choice, but I wouldn't disregard finance IT. It depends on which company/role you're talking about - GS, JP Morgan etc. have huge IT budgets and do interesting work in their project teams. OTOH if you're talking sysop for non-IT focussed bank, not so much.

 

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