Hi!
Before I start, I want to apologize for my shoddy writing skills, inability to be absolutely concise, and for developing a TL;DR exposition. I’m a 32 year old non-CPA senior accountant that can code in SQL (my favorite), VB.NET, VBA, and some F# (not to be confused with C#). Coming to GC for some raw career advice from seasoned accountants (hopefully I can entice Big4Vet).
Started out in public, did poorly, and was gone in two and half years. Worked in both tax and audit for a mid-tier practice and subsequently a smaller firm. The next gig was as a staff accountant job where I started to get my groove and did well performance wise. My boss, the assistant controller, was a CPA and was earning her EMBA, and was hellbent on pushing her group forward. Her drive lead me to work outside of accounting and closer with business intelligence, which was my first exposure to databases/SQL. I decided to take a course in SQL to gain a better understanding of databases, BI, etc. This was in 2014.
Fast forward to 2017, still no CPA, but still connected at the hip to SQL in every role since. In the interim between 2014-2017 I’ve worked for GameStop as a reporting analyst, a controller for a logistics company, and now as a senior accountant at a healthcare company managing the ERP/Reporting.
As far as a CPA goes, I have passed one section (BEC) and plan to pound out the rest. When that’s done, the next step will be to complete my database degree at a local junior college. Then on to a myriad of certs (MCSE, CITP, etc.).
I’ve been reading GC since 2009/2010 and yet never contributed. I’m a crossroads with my career. I can either continue down a traditional accounting path and -eventually- become a controller level professional, or dig deep into the technology side and work in IT. My current supervisor, the controller, is grooming me to be an assistant controller role but knows that I am super interested in BI/databases/ERP. Within the next year or so, I will need to commit to a path.
If you were to ask what I’d like to work on today, it would not be journal entries, audits, or financials. It would be managing data, developing complex queries, maintaining systems, and supporting management.
Thank you!