People & ideas at Deutsche Börse
Release date: 25 Aug 2022
In our “Settled in” series, our colleagues who have decided to start their careers at Deutsche Börse Group share their journeys with us. Will shares how his interest for the financial markets and data analysis brought him to Eurex and how he participated in voluntary projects in Central America.
When did you discover your interest in working with Analytics and Data?
I think this leads back to my elementary school days when I started to develop a passion for numbers and mathematics – I loved doing multiplication tables! Over time, I began to see the profound ways in which you can “paint a picture” with data. So, I began to explore other outlets where I could dive deeper into the matter. This led to many calculus, analytics, and statistics courses in high school and university. From there I saw how the world was changing into a place where decisions are made based on data and I knew I had to be a part of it.
You graduated from university with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. How did you start your career at Eurex?
I chose a STEM-subject because I knew I would gain exposure to various mathematical and data-intensive courses. Biology was specifically interesting for me since I was interested in healthcare at that time. Throughout my studies I realised that my strong interest in financial markets and data perfectly suited a career in the investment’s world. After two internships in the finance industry, I sought my first job and through countless hours of networking I came across a reference from a fellow student to Eurex. This was a thrilling opportunity for me because I saw the chance to work for a company that operates at the centre of the financial markets. Every day, endless amounts of data and information come through the exchange from every corner of the world. Being able to gain exposure to all of this was something that thrilled me, and I seized this opportunity.
What position are you currently working in and what are your main tasks?
Since October 2019, I have been working as an Equity & Index Sales Operations Analyst in Chicago. As the Equity & Index Sales Operations team, we provide daily support to the sales staff from client data requests and product specific information to creating and updating presentations to automation and streamlining of data systems and much more. Really, we provide everything that our sales team needs to get their job done.
What do you cherish the most about working at Deutsche Börse Group?
The collaborative environment and diversity of thought. Every day, we work with multiple teams across Eurex and Deutsche Börse Systems from time to time, too. If people from other teams were not open to this, it would be incredibly hard to do our job. But this is never the case. I know from first-hand experience that large organisations sometimes fail in this regard because one might not know who to contact for a certain task. Eurex has done a fantastic job of exposing me to an abundance of people across all teams. Whenever I need assistance with tasks outside my scope, I know I can turn to my great colleagues for help and advice. Also, ideas are passed around and modified by different teams, and the collective product always turns out great.
You volunteered on various social projects in the past. Which moments were especially rewarding for you and how did these experiences influence your development?
I volunteered on multiple service trips to Central American nations to provide healthcare, manual labour, and general community service in heavily impoverished areas. These are moments that I will remember for a lifetime, and I try to emulate the values learned from the citizens of these communities every day. What they lack in physical resources, which we take for granted every day, they make up for in far greater scale both emotionally and spiritually. Their happiness was incredibly infectious. The simple act of building a community a bathroom brought these people indescribable amounts of joy – you would have thought we handed them a million dollars! The life lesson of joy and contentment not coming from fancy cars or a big house, but from people and experiences has never been more apparent. I hope to go back sometime soon when traveling is possible again and would greatly encourage anyone to think about taking such service trips!