Junior IT consultant salary
If you’re interested in a career at the interface between business and IT that involves travel and plenty of collaboration with others, IT consultancy could be a good choice for you. An accessible career to people from all degree backgrounds, IT consultants are in demand across multiple industries and have excellent earning potential.
Job description
Junior consultants may be either consultants in training or trained consultants with just a year or two of experience. The lack of experience means a junior won’t be taking on larger clients, but the tasks involved are largely the same as IT consultants higher up.
Essentially, IT consultants work with companies to plan and implement new and/or improve existing IT systems. This involves gaining an understanding of the client’s needs, performing an analysis of their situation by collecting data, examining the client’s current IT setup and liaising with staff at all levels of the client organisation. Tasks include defining software, hardware and network requirements and planning the resources needed and timescale of the work. Based on their analysis, they present their suggestions to the client verbally and/or in written reports.
They then go ahead with implementing the agreed changes and/or new solutions. This may involve purchasing systems, designing and installing new systems and monitoring and testing the IT systems after installation. Once the new systems are up and running properly, IT consultants need to ensure staff are trained in how to use them and that the relevant use documents and instructions are available to the client. Much of the work is carried out at the client’s place of business, so travel is often a major factor.
Skills and qualifications
A great way into IT consultancy is as a trainee or via an IT consultancy graduate scheme at a consultancy or financial and business services company. A 2:1 in any degree is usually required, but you must show your enthusiasm for IT and business. STEM and business studies will be most relevant, with computer science or a related subject being the obvious choice.
In addition to tech skills, IT consultants need a wide variety of soft skills to succeed, including excellent teamwork, leadership and communication skills. You need to be confident, logical and organised with good presentation and interpersonal skills.
Salary and earning potential
Graduate junior IT consultants earn between £20,000 and £30,000. This will increase with experience to £30-40,000, with the average IT consultant salary being £42,000. Senior IT consultants can earn anything from £50,000 to £80,000 depending on the employer/client base and level of responsibility.
Salary sources: glassdoor.co.uk, prospects.ac.uk