From working at startups to working at a bank
How did this happen?
Little girls and boys dream about all sorts of things, but probably not about working for a bank one fine day — especially if the girl in question grew up and started working for startups.
Chaos is my middle name.
So, it was never my intention to work for a bank, or any other corporate. I lived and breathed messy, passionate endeavours; I never had to show up before 10am; I was intimately acquainted with my colleagues’ calves because no one ever wore long pants (or, god forbid, ties); and I was a part of very tight-knit teams.
Fast forward to March 2018 and no one is more surprised than me to find out that I am working at DBS.
So, how did this happen? It happened because I really, really liked the people who interviewed me (now my teammates).
Oh, joy! They wore t-shirts. There was not a suit in sight.
I tend to rely a lot on my gut instinct when it comes to people, as well as clothes. Apparently, I really care about clothes: I don’t but we all tend to prefer the familiar. So, when I turned up for the interview, I was relieved to see that I had not been propelled into an Orwellian universe.
I am clearly rambling here, exaggerating wildly and making the most inappropriate metaphors. The point is I was nervous. But I followed my gut instinct and accepted the offer to join the dark side. Was I right to do so? I think I was! Let me tell you why…
Ours is a large team, but a tight-knit one.
To borrow the words from one of us:
We support one another and that makes me feel warm and fuzzy!
Yes, yes, give me a pink balloon and throw me to the wolves but it will still be true. I had expected to join a large team (which it is) with nice people but not a team that’s as tight-knit as my startup team. So, I was wrong.
People take the time to help each other. I know that it may sound like a given, but only if you’ve been lucky enough to work at good companies. Giving up your time to help someone else when you’re busy yourself is not a given. Believe me, it’s not.
We get stuff done!
This actually surprised me. I thought that the red tape was made of vibranium and, no matter how great the team, we would not be able to break free. I was wrong again.
In India, digibank’s mascot is Digor the dinosaur. Digor says that he survived extinction because he embraced changes.
The only dinosaur who’s living it up!
I love it. I think it shows an admirable understanding of the public image of banks — self-depreciation turned effective positioning.
Even though we have to face dinosaurs very different from Digor — red tape, tech limitations — we still get stuff done. And, faster than you might expect.
The fact that we have many get-stuff-done people in the team helps, of course. What we need, now, are more visionaries.
Don’t send us a resume with an intro about yourself in the third person, “Adam is a visionary…”. But, do send us your portfolio and a nice human message. If you want to work for a bank, that is :).
