11–20 of 38 posts
Banks treat development as just like call centers... they know they have to pay for warm bodies, any warm body will do.
The bosses up the top were so abstracted away from what developers were working on, even the MDs of tech departments were in the dark. This was due to a thick barrier of (project, delivery, platform) managers between devs and execs.
I can remember one time a director of "innovation" came in for a surprise visit. Most of the managers had went out for a team lunch. So I was left with my other socially awkward colleagues babysitting this exec, along with the head of testing.
After about 5 minutes of showing the exec what we were actually working on, his eyes lit up, as though we had just discovered fire. In the end he was really happy and amazed on what we were working on.
All he had ever seen were some mockups and a video demo. We also got a chance to mention some of our grievances.
About two weeks later, our team had magically had some "extra" budget to buy Macs and 24inch monitors.
Banks treat IT systems as of no value, they outsource overseas, they seriously think any developer brain is the same as any other. Banks treat development as just like call centers... they know they have to pay for warm bodies, any warm body will do.
As long as you had a CS degree, no matter what uni, no matter the grades, your experience, and if you were breathing during the interview they would hire you.
All of the 'big' UK banks are still on similar out dated technologies as TSB was, they were the first to try to move and it hasn't paid off. I hope the other major banks a) do it better b) don't use it as an excuse never to do it
This wasn't an attempt at IT modernization. TSB had to migrate to a different system following their split from Lloyds.
Obviously if they were force to move they'd go to a new fangled IT system, not adopt some old tried and true system (those are too tied to the banks that developed them).
All of the 'big' UK banks are still on similar out dated technologies as TSB was, they were the first to try to move and it hasn't paid off. I hope the other major banks a) do it better b) don't use it as an excuse never to do it
Which is why I switched to Monzo. Their tech is so much better and is constantly being improved. No reason not to switch really (unless you really, really need to deposit cash)
Banks treat IT systems as of no value, they outsource overseas, they seriously think any developer brain is the same as any other. Banks treat development as just like call centers... they know they have to pay for warm bodies, any warm body will do.
Other banks are paying for their tech sins with technical debt -- paying Cobol devs ludicrious money because there is no one else.
Can't see traditional banks with this attitude of placing bodies in seats surviving long term.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is why I switched to Monzo. Their tech is so much better and is constantly being improved. No reason not to switch really (unless you really, really need to deposit cash)
I've got a Monzo account, which I'm a big fan of. However, Monzo have definitely had more outages and planned maintenance than the other online banking service I use, which is provided by a different UK bank. I'd consider that a reason not to make the jump.
They often had outages in late 2017 and earlier due to 3rd party reliability.
I haven't had an outage since the current accounts have been released.
No affiliation; just a user since Beta.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is why I switched to Monzo. Their tech is so much better and is constantly being improved. No reason not to switch really (unless you really, really need to deposit cash)
I've got a Monzo account, which I'm a big fan of. However, Monzo have definitely had more outages and planned maintenance than the other online banking service I use, which is provided by a different UK bank. I'd consider that a reason not to make the jump.
With a golden parachute and his pension fully intact? That is conspicuously absent from the article but it is usually the way. And no bar in being a director of another firm. The executive class are a law unto themselves. What happens to the lowly engineers pressured into cutting corners to meet an arbitrary deadline and denied the resources they needed? No such lavish rewards for them.