April 1, 2015, by Jackie Thompson

Spotlight On… IT Consultancy

By Bety Mehide, student blogger

As a part of the Spotlight On… series I got the chance to get to know a little more about the work of an IT consultant from representatives of Accenture, KPMG, FDM Group and Rittman Mead Consulting. Given the companies attending, we were given insights into the role from a large multinational to a relatively small and emerging company.

What does an IT consultant do?

As with any consulting job it’s about seeing a problem and solving it. This may include eithertesting the technology, helping with the creation of a new technological solution or making the client more aware of the different possibilities already available. The day-to-day job varies and is highly dependent on the project you are working on, but none of the presenters forgot to mention how interesting their job was if you take out the inevitable paper work!

For me, what stood out the most was the amount of travelling that comes with the job. Consultants are always on the move working at their clients’ sites so flexibility with location is important. This was particularly the case in the smaller companies, for example one of the representatives from Rittman Mead Consulting had spent a week in London, then a week in San Francisco, then Paris and finally Brighton, getting home only for the weekends. It sounded like a perfect month for me, as a person who loves travelling. With the bigger companies there is less travel  initially but it is likely to increase as your career progresses.

What qualities are needed?

Maybe I should start with something you actually don’t need and that is a degree in a computer-related subject. As IT consultants mostly deal with clients who don’t know a lot about technical issues, you need to make your point come across without the use of complex terms. In order to do the job you need the technical understanding and training is provided by companies so a specific degree is not required.

As far as skills go, they are highly dependent on the firm you apply to but most common ones were teamwork, leadership and communication.

The opportunity to ask questions

The evening ended with a round of questions and answers followed by some networking making it possible for us to ask questions. I know I got all my questions answered for now.

I hope this post gave you something to think about just like the event did for me and if you decide to become an IT consultant, I wish you the best of luck with your applications.

If you’re interested in IT consultancy, check out the internships and graduate vacancies on My Career.

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