Hello All,
I currently work in the IT space as a Robotic Process Automation developer. I use a piece of software that automates repetitive tasks. I am 25 years old, live in the UK and currently earn £55,000. I have been thinking about a career and am thinking about the accounting route. I am considering the change for the reasons.
I understand that I would have to take a pay cut as I would effectively be starting from the bottom, however, this is not a major concern for me. I would rather £40k a year with a guaranteed job than 60k and having constant anxiety about job security, in my future career
I have the following questions which I would be keen to get your opinions on;
Q1) I have read a few articles which paint a gloomy picture for accounting due to automation, Cloud accounting software, AI, etc. What are your opinions on this? (In my current role I am automating quite a few Accounting and Finance processes, although these are mainly lower-level activities (data entry, AP processing, reconciliations))
Q2) Is 25 too late to start studying to be an accountant? and what the best path forward for me, whilst I am still working in IT. It looks as though AAT would be a good starting point?
Q3) Would you recommend a career in accountancy in 2021?
I currently work in the IT space as a Robotic Process Automation developer. I use a piece of software that automates repetitive tasks. I am 25 years old, live in the UK and currently earn £55,000. I have been thinking about a career and am thinking about the accounting route. I am considering the change for the reasons.
- I have job/career anxiety. Within the IT industry, the pace of change is so rapid that I constantly feel that I am behind the curve, and I worry that the industry/software that I am using will soon be out of favor. I have also worked in some IT Teaching roles and the thing that stood out to me was the age of some of the students (30+). It feels like in the IT industry you are constantly having to learn new technologies and what you are working with today may well be redundant in 5/10 years. I would prefer a job where the core of it stays the same, so I am working towards a fixed target rather than a moving one. I feel like the core/fundamentals of accounting have been pretty much the same for a long time. If I do a quick job search for the software I use in my current role I get returned 65 jobs. If I type in accountant, however, I get 14,000 results.
- Whilst studying A-levels and Physics at university I always enjoyed the Mathematical and statistical side of things.
I understand that I would have to take a pay cut as I would effectively be starting from the bottom, however, this is not a major concern for me. I would rather £40k a year with a guaranteed job than 60k and having constant anxiety about job security, in my future career
I have the following questions which I would be keen to get your opinions on;
Q1) I have read a few articles which paint a gloomy picture for accounting due to automation, Cloud accounting software, AI, etc. What are your opinions on this? (In my current role I am automating quite a few Accounting and Finance processes, although these are mainly lower-level activities (data entry, AP processing, reconciliations))
Q2) Is 25 too late to start studying to be an accountant? and what the best path forward for me, whilst I am still working in IT. It looks as though AAT would be a good starting point?
Q3) Would you recommend a career in accountancy in 2021?