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Paul
After obtaining my PhD I looked at lots
of companies trying to find my ideal job. I joined
Fidessa in January 2004 as a Graduate Developer
and know I found what I was looking for with their
friendly, relaxed working atmosphere and big technical
challenges.
I spent the first couple of months attending training
courses covering everything from the financial
markets to technical courses on our Fidessa products.
Its was daunting at first, but the courses, combined
with the fact that everybody here is willing to
answer any questions you have, meant that it wasn’t
long before I was able to start doing some development.
Since then I have worked on several different
projects so there’s been plenty of variety.
With each one there is more responsibility and
involvement.
One of the largest projects I have worked on
to date was the development from scratch of a
new product. I was very involved in the planning
and design stages and it has given me a much clearer
understanding of how everything fits together
from a business perspective. I’m now one
of the best-placed people in the company to answer
technical questions on that project. Its very
odd to be answering questions rather than asking
them, but very rewarding to be able to solve other
people’s problems.
There is always something new to learn. For example,
I was recruited as a front-end developer, but
moved onto a server team about 18 months ago.
As this means a change of platform from Windows
to Unix this has required the development of a
whole new set of skills.
Over the last 12 months I have become more involved
in project management - I now look after our server
monitoring software. There is always a long list
of features that people have asked us to implement,
so there is plenty to do. And as I'm working in
a very small team there is still plenty of opportunity
to do actual development. And as I have experience
of developing in so many different areas I occasionally
find myself being loaned to other teams that have
tight deadlines, which keeps things interesting!
Fidessa is not all about work, it's social side is
very active. As well as company-organised events
such as riverboats down the Thames and the Christmas
party you can always find someone who’s
off to the pub for a couple of drinks after work
on a Friday. Or, if sport is your thing, there
is a thriving Fidessa football team.
My time so far at Fidessa has been interesting
and rewarding, and that looks set to continue.
I can thoroughly recommend the company to anyone
looking for a technical development role.
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