Our People

Ian

Software Engineer

Designing and Delivering Patent-Worthy Innovative Solutions

I wanted a new career path

I started at JPMorgan Chase in Glasgow in 2010 as an Infrastructure Product and Finance Manager. I worked on several teams, before moving to Market Data Services, taking advantage of internal mobility opportunities each time to change roles. I worked hard and the firm sponsored me to go to a programming bootcamp at CodeClan in Glasgow to train as a Software Engineer. It was a life changing experience!

Solving problems in new innovative ways

There was an opportunity to get involved in a new project focused on digital rights management. I slotted straight in and became the application owner and lead in designing and delivering a digital contract workflow tracking tool, pulling on my previous experience as a project manager and new skills as a software developer. Through this initial phase, our development team has lodged two innovation Patent Pending applications in the USA and has gone live on our cloud platform in the new North America data centers. As the project has expanded, five additional innovation patents have been submitted across sister teams and components.

The best way to integrate a new technology is to ask the silly questions

The challenge was to develop a way to search across hundreds of vendor legal contracts, extract information from PDF files and identify and remove duplicates. As a result, we have been able to realize cost savings, ensure vendor contracts are renewed in a timely manner and reduce the risk of contract exposures. We worked with internal teams and experts and asked the ‘silly’ questions about the how-to’s and the why’s, that the development team probably would focus on. This helped us fully understand the requirement and discover a way to extract the data and convert it to a text file in a database that would give us something similar to internet search capability. We then built a workflow tool that allowed users to create a meta data record to track contracts.

Mobility is an excellent way to diversify your skillset and take on new challenges

My CodeClan experience was fantastic and really pushed me outside my comfort zone. It taught me a full stack of modern programming languages and methodologies and I have since specialized as a UI Developer in JavaScript with React - a pendulum swing away from my previous roles of tracking numbers in Excel spreadsheets! It truly has been a life changing experience, bringing excitement and a passion to my everyday work that I have never experienced before. Mobility opportunities within JPM really do give you the ability to level up your skill sets and find new and exciting challenges. I’m a huge advocate for supporting others in their personal development and especially the Graduate Apprentice Program and SEP (Software Engineer Program). I manage a team of Apprentices and SEP’s helping junior talent start their careers in JPMorgan Chase. The Glasgow site has a great community feel and I love all the technical communities for sharing and growing.

Career advice: Network at every opportunity

You never know when someone might be able to help you or when you might be able to help someone else. Don’t be afraid to ask or offer. Always be the best version of yourself—eager to learn, eager to help. Get involved whenever possible and have at least one mentor.

On a personal note

I am a Ride Leader and organizer in the Ride 63 Community Cycle Club based in Lochwinnoch to the West of Glasgow.