Peter H.
About me
| Peter H. | |
| Computer Science | |
| Computer Science (BEng) | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Vanbrugh | |
| 2000 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Chief Technology Officer | |
| Florin Court Technologies | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Finance and consultancy | |
| Small business (0-49 employees) | |
| 2016 |
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A day in the life of a Chief Technology Officer in the United Kingdom
I worked during the summer holidays as a developer, which definitely helped when looking for a job after graduation. As well as the professional experience, it was useful to have worked in an office and to understand that environment.
Briefly describe the organisation you work for
A fully systematic hedge fund. We trade a large number of markets using models implemented on computers.
What do you do?
I manage a small team of developers developing and supporting the systems used to run the fund. I am still very hands-on, writing code daily.
Reflecting upon your past employment and education, what led you to your current career choice?
I ended up in finance by chance, it wasn't an area I was looking to work in. After graduating I interviewed at a very non-bank-like broker / dealer and ended up there for 9 years. Finance is a fairly small world and I ended up in my current job through contacts.
Is your current job sector different from what you thought you would enter when you graduated?
I didn't really have any idea where I would end up when I graduated.
Describe your most memorable day at work
Difficult to say. The day Lehman Brothers collapsed was pretty memorable, and was the perhaps the beginning of the end for the firm I worked at at the time.
What’s your work environment and culture like?
The team is fairly small given what we do. Within technology, everyone has to do a bit of everything: developing new functionality, supporting the production systems, helping end-users, system admin / devops. We work hard but try to keep reasonable hours.
What extracurricular activities did you undertake at university and what transferable skills did you develop through these?
I worked during the summer holidays as a developer, which definitely helped when looking for a job after graduation. As well as the professional experience, it was useful to have worked in an office and to understand that environment.
I got into DJing through a friend who lived in the same block in Vanbrugh as me. Played at a few of the nights Breakz put on. Not directly useful to work but did my confidence some good.
What top tips do you have for York students preparing for today’s job market and life after graduation?
Things have changed a fair bit since I graduated! If you're looking at becoming a programmer, getting some of your code up on GitHub or similar is a good idea.
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