Job Description
I am an application developer for a big Canadian financial company with offices all over the world. I'm part of a team that offers technical support to many other teams inside the finance area. Does that sound boring? Oh, noooo - it's NOT!
I spend my days doing a lot of different things. My main work is to manipulate data in a big database that actuaries use to make crazy calculations and predictions for some of our insurance products. I write all the programs for that database. Some days, things work beautifully. On other days, a new bug shows up and I have to figure out what's wrong.
Every month, I also help prepare some financial reports. Do you like EXCEL? Well, in my world, Excel is the most loved and hated program of all time! We use it daily and, let me tell you, some days it seems to have a mind of its own...
Some people think that being a programmer means isolating yourself in a room with a pile of pizza until you finish cracking a computer error. That's wrong! At my job I interact with people all the time - and for me, that's the BEST part of it! Big companies have a buzzing social life, and if you like that, there are tons of super fun activities you can volunteer with: organizing games and events, writing articles on our internal global social media, participating in contests, and even creating your own groups and activities. Actually, that's how most of the networking happens there!
Relevant School Subjects
- Computer Studies
- English
Areas of Expertise
- Education/Training
- Financial/Insurance/Banking
- IT/Computers
Career Story
Growing up, I always thought I'd be a teacher or a scientist. You see, computers were NOT a BIG thing back then, and no, I didn't have one at home until my later university years.
In Brazil, at the end of high school, we pretty much HAVE to pick a career and off we go to university. I experimented with different courses at university, from pharmacy and chemistry to English and literature, until I landed in technology and data processing.
Today, I am a computer programmer, a database developer, and I'm also starting a career as an ESL tutor. I've worked in small and big companies, including a start-up, a hospital, a not-for-profit organization, a public library, and now a big financial company.