Job Title: Technical
Location: London,
Submitted on: 18-Mar-04
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It was good working there but very challenging. I was a technical
support representative so there was very little room for advancement as
it was a software firm that created risk managment software. They
pretty much only wanted finance people. Barra Inc in Berkeley, CA is
the headquarters for the firm and I originally started working there in
May of 1998. I loved the work in both of the offices. It was exciting
to be working with clients with the software and to be part of a
dramatically growning area of Financial Software was really fun to be a
part of. The financial services sector was quickly becomeing the new
big boom business after the internet dot-com bubble bursting. People
could see it coming even in the early part of 2000.
Hours were good in Berkeley as the majority of client base was
international. Software firms in the US are able to cater to a fairly
homogenous group of clients. All have roughly the same computer
systems, running the same operating systems, using the same proxy
setups for security. The same regiounals settings and MS Office
versions make a difference in support as well for when a client calls
in with questions you know they're going to have roughly the same setup
that you have on your desk in front of you. Whereas in London I was
supporting a European clientelle. At any one point I could be working
with clients from varied language systems and there language skills
would be just as challenging to be able to support. The hours were
much longer as the headquarters wouldn't start work until 9AM and by
that point in London it was 5PM. If I needed any substantial help I
could be in the office until well after 7-8PM. The travel in Europe
was intensive as often times clients couldn't move past the language
barriers (especially the French, Spanish and Italian clients).
The dress code in both locations was incredibly casual. Berkeley
anything went. London, we were allowed to wear jeans.
Corportate culture in Berkeley was equal opportunity and very lax.
Everyone pretty much respected everyone else. There wasn't a lot of
frustration in that respect.
In London England it was definitely a man's world and the American
women suffered from that unless they reported to an AMerican manager.
That made a huge difference. Management was more old school and the
Peter Principal reigned supreme.
Saying all of this, I really enjoyed the challenges. None of my
friends did anything as cool as what I was doing.
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