Entry-Level Positions For Aspiring Technology Professionals
For entry-level roles in financial services technology, a business operations analyst position provides valuable insight into "how a business operates," including financial modeling and revenue analysis, offering exposure to senior leadership. Alternatively, a technology-focused path, such as a business analyst role bridging product management and development, allows exploration of various aspects of the industry, helping one discover "what you don't wanna do" along the way.
Business Operations, Technology, Data Analysis, Project Management, Career Development
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Daniel Cuddy
Director of Technology Alliances
Glia
Boston College
UCLA Anderson (MBA)
Political Science, American Studies
Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing), Technology
Business Strategy
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. Entry-level positions in technology, especially in financial services, can be accessed through two main paths: business operations analyst roles, which provide insights into business functions and financial modeling, offering exposure to senior management; and technology-focused roles such as business analyst, bridging the gap between product management and development, providing understanding of agile/waterfall methodologies and team dynamics.
2. Both paths offer valuable experience and help in determining career preferences by exposing individuals to various aspects of the organization.
3. The interviewee suggests that understanding what one doesn't want to do is as important as identifying career interests, and the suggested entry-level positions facilitate this discovery process by providing broad organizational exposure and insights into different roles and teams within the industry.
Transcript
What entry-level positions are there in this field that an undergraduate college student might consider?
Here's the cleaned transcript:
I think the way to get into technology, not just financial services technology, but technology in general, has two paths I might recommend if you want to work on the commercial side. One is being a business operations analyst. This is a really good position to help you understand how a business operates.
You'll be working on financial modeling of an organization, building out forecast plans, and doing analysis on revenue-generating programs like marketing initiatives. This role often has great line of sight to senior members of the organization who are the decision-makers. If I were going to redo some aspect of my career, it might be focusing on business operations first. Once you have those operational skills, you can go into any side of the business you want, like product, marketing, or development.
The other path is on the technology side. That could be by learning how to code or by being a business analyst. A business analyst sits between product management and development, acting as a translation layer between those two organizations.
This gives you good insight into the fundamentals of product management, whether it's agile or waterfall. It will also give you line of sight into what developers do and what it's like to work on a Scrum team. If I were going to restart my career, having accessibility to experience a lot of different roles is important.
What's nearly more important than finding out what you want to do is finding out what you don't want to do. You can start ticking those things off, and these two roles will help you have better oversight over different parts of the organization.
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