What is your day to day job?

I don't really have a typical day, but I can divide my job into two parts. Firstly, I am responsible for ensuring that information is passed through the network in the fastest and most efficient way. I help to set up these networks - I devise and then adapt them to a given situation.

Similarly the information must be supplied in a user-friendly state. One has to ensure that everything is working correctly and step in, if something occurs within the system. The engineer must also be prepared to train and help any new employees who may join the team. Technology is continually evolving so the engineer must be in touch with these various changes, understanding and being fully versed in new cutting-edge technology.

What are the main attractions of your job?

As well as undertaking new projects, one also has to develop existing networks. The objectives are always to find solutions, to meet the needs of the users and to ensure the practicality of a project. We build up series of specifications, taking suggestions from the network mechanics. We finally choose a product and then we test it, simulating future operating conditions under which it will be placed. Eventually, after the research, we start planning for the project itself.

I really enjoy the technical aspects of the job, but the most satisfying is that, without doubt, we meet and exceed the needs of the users. This job is anything but repetitive. Something new is always happening. One has to remain highly adaptable. For example, as concerns operations on the trading floor, one has to work and react quickly. One has to find a solution to the problem and a good solution at that, right away - not two days later.

What is your academic background and what are the principal qualities required for this position?

After attending the Women's Polytechnic school, where I studied general technical engineering, I then wished to specialise. So, I enrolled at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Telecommunications. Specialising in this manner was necessary in order to become an expert in my chosen field. My academic background was therefore highly beneficial, instilling me with confidence for my career.

However, the fact that I did specialise to such a great extent also carries with it a reasonable degree of risk. It is not good to lock oneself completely into one career. This is the reason I chose to join the banking world, because the bank affords many interesting career opportunities outside of one's original area of expertise.

In the job which I do, it is often necessary to know how to take stock of a situation; stepping back to look at the problem as a whole, as opposed to getting tangled up in smaller details. One should never allow oneself to forget something and, as a result, one has to think, anticipate and plan, but also have the courage to trust one's own decisions and to follow them through, leading projects from start to end and learning how to manage one's priorities. Indeed one has to have strong interpersonal skills so that team work is as effective as possible, communicating and passing on one's knowledge to the rest of the team and being receptive to new ideas.

What is your intended career path?

I am extremely curious by nature - I want to evolve within the Group. I am open to new challenges. By staying in the sector I am in now, I will be able, in the not too distant future, to manage a team, planning, drawing up and developing a project as team leader. I am also highly interested in the financial side of banking activity and I am quite tempted by a career shift into something, which is more financially based.

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