A Goal in One: My FDM Career Journey

FDM Alumna Khadija Matheson-Webster kick-started her FDM career in Leeds before moving to Hong Kong for her placement with a multinational investment bank and financial services company. She shared some insights with us into her eventful career journey.

Tell us about your background.

I was born and raised in London and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in Economics and Maths.

Why did you join FDM?

During my time at university, I used MATLAB and R to perform basic programming.  I wanted to build upon these skills and joined FDM for this reason in October of 2015. It paid off – I learned SQL during my second week of training and ended up using PL SQL Developer and Microsoft SQL Server every day for six months on a data migration project I worked on during my first FDM placement in 2016.

What has been your career highlight so far?

The opportunity to relocate to Hong Kong for a placement with global investment bank! During my time with FDM, we were encouraged to use an app called Me+ and write down our goals. A ‘medium term goal’ I set for myself was to work abroad. In early 2017, I secured a placement within Global Finance, and was on-site in Hong Kong just two months later!

Working on the PayMe mobile app redesign and FPS integration project provided me with the most knowledge during my career as an FDM consultant and helped me firmly decide to accept a permanent position later as a Digital Business Analyst. My team was under a lot of pressure and had tight deadlines. Even though I was a Business Analyst at the time, I was fortune enough to be given additional Product Owner responsibilities. I feel that I learnt as much in six months working on PayMe as I could have in a year elsewhere.

What do you love most about your job?

I love keeping up with the latest developments in technology. Part of working as a BA or Product Owner in any Product Team involves researching competitors and the latest tech trends. My favourite time at work this year was the week of the RISE conference. I was able to attend numerous events, including a breakfast discussion around how Hong Kong became a FinTech powerhouse and a Google/WeWork hosted talk about machine learning and AI.

What did you enjoy most about your time with FDM?

Living and working in Hong Kong. I was fortunate enough to be selected to play for the Hong Kong Football Club Ladies’ Soccer Team, which brought with it a number of unforgettable experiences with my teammates and coaches. Among these are reaching the semi-finals of the 2019 Hong Kong FA Cup and competing in international tournaments in Singapore and Phuket.

Being a part of this football team has matured me both personally and professionally. There are many things I apply to both football and my career, including the importance of team-building to foster successful performances, developing a winning mentality on and off the field by wanting more for myself and my team, training harder and looking after myself both mentally and physically in order to achieve success. I also volunteer as a coach for the local U12 and U14 girls’ teams on Saturday mornings and hope to contribute to developing the next generation of female athletic talent.

A final memorable element about my time with FDM would be the people I have met on my journey. From my peers I met throughout training to the FDMers I had the chance to work with on-site, I’ve made solid friendships that I am confident will continue for years to come.

Discover what FDM’s Graduate Programme can do for you.

Check out some of our other Life at FDM blogs:

• The Sky’s the Limit: My FDM Journey
• How I Got My Job as a Graduate Recruiter