What Does an IT Analyst Do?

Most financial transactions—stock trades, corporate mergers, new financings— require an exchange of information, either within Morgan Stanley or between the firm and a client. Morgan Stanley’s information technology division makes the collection, exchange, and analysis of this information possible. As one insider says, “You’re not in a support role here; you definitely influence the bottom line.”

As Morgan Stanley continues to expand its use of technology, the IT division’s recruiting goals have increased. The division’s formal career program has a wide range of opportunities for undergraduates, MBAs, and advanced-degree candidates. Some positions require significant programming experience and knowledge of specific languages or platforms, while others are open to candidates with less-technical backgrounds. But in general, a position in this department means your office would work closely with the strategic project management office in determining how to translate client needs into system requirements and designs. Most new trainees join the distributed systems group, the mainframe group, or the technical service group. Within each of these groups, trainees work on projects for one of the six areas within information technology:

• Engineering

• Application development

• Service

• Enterprise risk projects

• E-business technology

• Coverage group (the liaison between IT and the rest of Morgan Stanley)

A Day in the Life of an IT Analyst

• 8:15 Arrive at work with the New York Times in hand. While computer boots up, head to the cafeteria for coffee.
• 9:00 Finish coding that was left over from last night. Want to get this out of the way before the meetings and phone calls start.
• 10:00 Status meeting. Report to manager on progress of new intranet application for research division. She suggests that one of the other new trainees can help plan the user-testing session.
• 11:00 Back at my desk. While morning coffee is still in effect, work on impact analysis for intranet application. If all of the implications for the new program are understood before coding begins, there will be a lot less anxiety during the rollout.
• 1:00 Head out for a quick lunch with two other group members. It’s good to step away from a project sometimes—things seem clearer after a bit of fresh air.
• 1:30 Ten new e-mails arrived while at lunch. Reply, reply, reply.
• 2:00 Brainstorming session with new project team for research delivery system. Everyone is expected to contribute. Sometimes the newest analysts have the best ideas for how to structure the program or write the scripts.
• 4:00 The afternoon’s a good time to code. Put headphones on and turn off e-mail notification. Better to keep focused and concentrate.
• 5:30 Hands are cramped from typing. Decide to find a team member and discuss that user-testing plan for the intranet application. Go looking for a conference room with a white board on which to sketch out the plan.
• 6:30 Productive session. Swing by the VP’s office to see if he wants to shoot some hoops. Plan to meet him at the gym in 15 minutes.

Source: Morgan Stanley WetFeet Insider Guide