Master of Engineering Graduate from Imperial Joins Qomply

Jack McNish, a Master of Engineering graduate from Imperial College London, reflects on Qomply’s Technology Internship Programme and explains why he joined the firm permanently as a Junior Developer, covering real-world SDLC, documentation, testing, deployment practices and financial terminology.

Over the summer, Master of Civil Engineering Graduate from Imperial College London, Jack McNish became part of Qomply's Technology Internship Programme.

Following a successful three-month internship, Qomply is delighted that Jack has joined the team permanently as a Junior Developer.

Jack shares valuable insights gained during his internship and how he plans to build on them in his new role.

What made you choose Qomply for your internship and then a permanent position?

I have been interested in the fintech sector for a few years now. I chose Qomply because internship seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn more about this sector. I was also keen to gain experience in real-world software development and learn skills to successfully grow a business.

My favourite part of the internship was the diversity of projects available, and how much effort the team makes to ensure we become well-rounded programmers, whilst also having the option to dive deep into our preferred topics.

The team is extremely helpful and is always eager to help when something is challenging as long as you have given it a fair shot. When the opportunity arose to join the team permanently, I jumped at the chance to build upon this experience and deepen my knowledge of software development within the finance industry.

What are some of the key skills or knowledge areas that you feel you have gained or improved upon during your time at Qomply?

I believe I have learnt a lot more about the real-world software development lifecycle: the importance of documenting code, programming efficiently and clearly, testing thoroughly and deploying to test environments before going into production.

I have also learnt a lot about financial terminology. My new role will help to deepen my knowledge in this field, and how to write code of a high quality.

When did you start coding and what is your coding background?

I was first introduced to coding at university where we used Matlab to solve engineering problems. Over the summer after this first year, I decided to learn python in my spare time and discovered that I really enjoyed it.

Over the next few months, I built a web app with a friend that let users input their trades and retrieve detailed information on their risk and portfolio statistics. Unfortunately, the end product was not a success, but I learnt valuable things along the way and have since continued working on this project when I have time.

What are your hobbies outside of work?

Outside of work, I like to play tennis and swim, and coming from a civil engineering background, I am also trying to deepen my knowledge of the more theoretical aspects of computer science which I find very interesting.