00:00:03 My name's Brian Creedon, and I manage the Desktop Services Team within Fidelity. I suppose a good metaphor would be like Scotty, from Enterprise, or something like that. Basically we just keep the guys running as best we can from day to day. So applications, desktops, just basically keeping the Traders and Portfolio Managers up and running, and meeting all their IT needs, be it in the office or travelling around the world. It’s very reactionary, in that you generally have to think on your feet, it involves a lot of improvising, and it can be quite stressful from time to time. But it also is – changes a lot from day to day. So it keeps you on your toes.
00:00:42 IT – generally I've always said it’s about thirty percent technical and seventy percent PR. Because handling someone in a – in a - who’s really annoyed – didn’t know if you could swear in this – but less than ideal circumstances when you meet someone. So you’re walking in there, you don’t know the issue, and they’re going make – they’re like a five year-old. They’re like – make it work. Whether you know the - what’s broken or not, you always act like you do. Because that's what people want you to be able – to just walk into a room and say - I can fix this. And whether you need your colleague or Google to fix it, who knows, but at the time they just – it’s all about confidence with these guys. And they’ll eat you alive if you’re not confident. Fifty percent of the time you just open a graph, it impresses them and, you know, distract them slightly while you fix it, or you call your friend. It’s almost like Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?
00:02:10 I went to the US for – on a summer job. Friend of a friend got me a job with Fidelity. It meant working in air conditioning rather than a building site, so that was the first plus. The following summer that said – do you want to come back to Boston? I went yeah, cool. So I went back to Boston for a summer, worked for them again. And then that was my final year, and I really wasn't sure about working in Science for the rest of my life so – they said do you want to come work for us, and they’ll move me to Boston. So I re-located to Boston, which is quite fun. Learned to ski, learned to - just worked with like people I would never have had the opportunity working with back in Ireland or, you know, England. So that was quite good, spent three years there. Travel around the world for a year and then – now I'm living in London. So it does – IT does give you that kind of flexibility as well. I mean you can move around, it’s pretty generic. And you can work anywhere in the world and it is – and every industry needs it. So it’s quite a useful tool in that regard, you know, gives you a lot of flexibility.
00:02:29 To be honest with you career at the moment is – it’s – it’s – I quite like it, but it doesn’t really motivate me. I like – without sounding too corny – it’s probably quality of life. What I can do, what I get to do? The opportunities I can do – I mean been lucky enough to travel around the world, see loads of things. Trouble is the more you travel the more there is to see. That's the problem it’s – it’s almost like - it’s like the more countries you go to, the more you realise you’re never going to see. But no, it’s just the opportunities in – to help try new sports, to try new things, to sit – meet loads of different new people. I mean it’s just things that, you know, you don’t get in a – if you, you know, stay, you know, at home.
00:03:16 21 year-old me would have been – would have been stunned. I don’t play video games, I don’t have – I actually - I hadn’t known the computer until about three years ago. I'm much more sports activity based. So I don’t – and I think that's what happened. I think there is an IT geek, persona within – and it doesn’t really mean, you know, a lot of guys I work with, you know, we don’t – these guys don’t spend their weekends on line every weekend. And I think that's what’s changed. But yeah, I mean at 21 – even at 25 - I'm still stunned I'm here. But every day’s a new day.
ENDS
Brian Creedon
Brian Creedon
My name's Brian Creedon, and I manage the Desktop Services Team within Fidelity. I suppose a good metaphor would be like Scotty, from Enterprise, or something like that. Basically we just keep the guys running as best we can from day to day. So applications, desktops, just basically keeping the Traders and Portfolio Managers up and running, and meeting all their IT needs, be it in the office or travelling around the world. It’s very reactionary, in that you generally have to think on your feet, it involves a lot of improvising, and it can be quite stressful from time to time. But it also is – changes a lot from day to day. So it keeps you on your toes.
IT – generally I've always said it’s about thirty percent technical and seventy percent PR. Because handling someone in a – in a - who’s really annoyed – didn’t know if you could swear in this – but less than ideal circumstances when you meet someone. So you’re walking in there, you don’t know the issue, and they’re going make – they’re like a five year-old. They’re like – make it work. Whether you know the - what’s broken or not, you always act like you do. Because that's what people want you to be able – to just walk into a room and say - I can fix this. And whether you need your colleague or Google to fix it, who knows, but at the time they just – it’s all about confidence with these guys. And they’ll eat you alive if you’re not confident. Fifty percent of the time you just open a graph, it impresses them and, you know, distract them slightly while you fix it, or you call your friend. It’s almost like Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?
I went to the US for – on a summer job. Friend of a friend got me a job with Fidelity. It meant working in air conditioning rather than a building site, so that was the first plus. The following summer that said – do you want to come back to Boston? I went yeah, cool. So I went back to Boston for a summer, worked for them again. And then that was my final year, and I really wasn't sure about working in Science for the rest of my life so – they said do you want to come work for us, and they’ll move me to Boston. So I re-located to Boston, which is quite fun. Learned to ski, learned to - just worked with like people I would never have had the opportunity working with back in Ireland or, you know, England. So that was quite good, spent three years there. Travel around the world for a year and then – now I'm living in London. So it does – IT does give you that kind of flexibility as well. I mean you can move around, it’s pretty generic. And you can work anywhere in the world and it is – and every industry needs it. So it’s quite a useful tool in that regard, you know, gives you a lot of flexibility.
To be honest with you career at the moment is – it’s – it’s – I quite like it, but it doesn’t really motivate me. I like – without sounding too corny – it’s probably quality of life. What I can do, what I get to do? The opportunities I can do – I mean been lucky enough to travel around the world, see loads of things. Trouble is the more you travel the more there is to see. That's the problem it’s – it’s almost like - it’s like the more countries you go to, the more you realise you’re never going to see. But no, it’s just the opportunities in – to help try new sports, to try new things, to sit – meet loads of different new people. I mean it’s just things that, you know, you don’t get in a – if you, you know, stay, you know, at home.
21 year-old me would have been – would have been stunned. I don’t play video games, I don’t have – I actually - I hadn’t known the computer until about three years ago. I'm much more sports activity based. So I don’t – and I think that's what happened. I think there is an IT geek, persona within – and it doesn’t really mean, you know, a lot of guys I work with, you know, we don’t – these guys don’t spend their weekends on line every weekend. And I think that's what’s changed. But yeah, I mean at 21 – even at 25 - I'm still stunned I'm here. But every day’s a new day.
ENDS
Brian Creedon manages the IT Desktop Services Team within Fidelity: "people want you to be able - to just walk into a room and say - I can fix this." He likes travel and says "IT does give you that kind of flexibility as well. I mean you can move around, it's pretty generic. You can work anywhere in the world".
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