ITACS grad Shahla Raei applies practical skills in IT audit career

Shahla Raei, MS ’17 IT Auditing and Cyber-Security, was back on Temple’s campus recently, screening internship candidates for Wells Fargo during the IT Career Fair. Raei, who’d joined the multinational financial services company as a Senior IT Auditor in June, had already impressed her bosses.  

“I was the first student from the program to join Wells Fargo and now senior management wants to hire more students with a (Management Information Systems) background,” Raei says. “They said it’s because they already have the background in auditing and the auditing process.”

A native of Iran, Raei earned her Bachelor of Software Engineering degree from South Tehran Branch University in 2011 and her Master’s in Science in IT Management from Payam Nour University in 2014. She moved to the U.S. in the Fall of 2014 to take a job at Philadelphia’s Fried Brothers Inc. as a Data Analyst helping optimize product sales and digital assets.

Looking to learn more about auditing, Raei decided to earn a second Master’s Degree at Fox School of Business. She quickly gained practical skills, like how to use Audit Command Language (ACL) and the specific steps of the audit process.

“Most of the professors work in the industry and having that experience is really helpful,” she said. “The teaching was practical.”

Raei also appreciated the opportunity to hone her people skills while at Fox. During her first year, she got a free membership to ISACA, the international professional association focused on IT governance.

“Coming from an engineering background, I was not as good at working with people I didn’t know,” Raei said. “English is my second language and was sometimes challenging. Temple provided the opportunities for me to practice my communication skills.”

After doing an IT Audit Internship with CHUBB, Raei met her current boss when he represented Wells Fargo at the IT Career Fair. He encouraged her to apply to the company.

“Getting that first job is really hard. Then you get into the industry and you can start building your network,” she said. “One of my professors, Thu Nguyen, works in the same department. It’s great because I already have a relationship with her.”

Wells Fargo has more than 1,000 auditors and Raei works with the Enterprise Technology Group. Her day to day work includes doing risk assessments and conducting audits from planning to field work to recording. Her background in Cyber-Security has been a huge benefit to her and her employer; she’s been able to do more security audits, which she finds more challenging.

“It’s really great because I’m working with people who have a lot of experience,” she said. “I’m still learning.”