Thibault L
After three years of work-study at Crédit Agricole CIB, I had the opportunity to continue my professional career in the IT Department as an application developer for its capital markets activities.
How would you describe the position of “application developer”?
I am in charge of developing and maintaining an application used in France and New York by the securitisation teams to ensure the issuance of financial securities on the capital markets. In order to be able to offer innovative solutions that meet the needs of the business, it is important to have a good understanding of the functional context in which I operate. I never work alone, software development is real teamwork.
What are the peak periods of your job during the year?
Activities vary daily according to the requests or problems raised by users. The pace generally increases in the last two weeks before a new version of the application I’m piloting goes into production.
Can you describe your typical day?
After having coffee, my team gets together for a morning meeting of about fifteen minutes to discuss sticking points we encountered the previous day. I then alternate between the development of new functionalities requested by the business line and dealing with any unexpected issues, such as production problems reported by users. During the day, I am in regular contact with my counterparts in New York as well as with the IT teams in Singapore.
What career path is required to reach your position and what are the possibilities for development?
To become a developer you can take a post-secondary IT course at an engineering school or university. I myself have a Master’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science. During my three-year apprenticeship at Crédit Agricole CIB as an application developer, my day-to-day work ranged from development to project management, including overseeing the release of new applications. There are many career opportunities, you can become a project manager, for example, or implementation Tech lead.
What advice would you give to someone thinking of taking up a similar position?
Crédit Agricole CIB offers the opportunity to work in a wide range of business lines and, contrary to popular belief about banks, there are a lot of young employees.