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Business-side Application Development

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by cg7780_123

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Hello, my first post. There are so many intelligent people that contribute to this website so I wanted to tap into all of your knowledge out there for some advice/opinion/input on my situation that may be a common issue among others, thank you in advance for your posts, looking forward to some insightful opinions!

I graduated with an MIS degree and am currently working in the healthcare industry. My current position is a technical consultant/programmer within a finance organization. Previous to my current job I was one of many programmers on a proprietary development team within an business operation. So, in other words, I'm a business-side application developer/Systems analyst. My responsibilites include process improvement, data transparancy (through new tracking applications), data analysis support etc. I would love to get into a traditional IT role but am running into many obstacles. When looking for a job it seems that hiring managers are more hung up on the departments I work in rather than the type of work I do (95% IT work, not desktop support). In other words looking at me as a finance guy rather than an IT guy.

So here is my question; Has anyone else worked as an IT resource in an non-IT department? (i.e. Finance, accounting, sales etc.) And have you eventually moved into a traditional IT career path? How did you do it and what skills did they value most when you moved into IT? Did you run into similar obstacles? Thank you all so much!!

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by tony hopkinson

Describe the company, describe the role, mention the domain knowledge (particularly is it's relevant to the role you are aplying for) What department you worked for while you were doing it is irrelevant, don't mention it.

I did six years as process control technician in a manufacturing plant, went straight from that to Senior Developer in a software house.

PS your domain knowledge is extremely valuable if you say target software houses that do financial applications. Your biggest problem will probably be fitting into a development team, remember they can help and you can hinder.

by ksoniat

If you do IT work describe the work you did. They will not know what "department" you worked in unless you tell them.

I worked at a company where an accountant ran lots of queries and reports. When IT was looking to hire a junior programmer she got the job because she already knew the business and the files and had the aptitude.

Good Luck!

by tony hopkinson

Seeing as I've got a job in IT, I shall save your wish for my next conversation with an attractive female. :p

by cg7780_123

This is an audit department. Primarily my work involves workflow applications and reporting tools that help us gauge operational metrics and transparency for Sr. Management and external stakeholders. IT audit was something that I was considering but I'm worried about the career path. Ultimately I'd like to be a consultant, either in strategy or IT.....in a role where I'm driving solutions not in a support type of role. Nothing wrong with that there are just different types of people those who want their primary function to be "fire-fighting" and those that would like that as a secondary function.....I'd like that only as a secondary. Thanks for your input guys!!

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