Everything started in 2018. I was enrolled at the University of São Paulo and pursuing my bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics.
Hiring Process
I don’t even know how they got my e-mail, but I was invited for a group interview. Several coordinators of the risk department were there, checking the best candidates during a group dynamic. After we completed our task, each of them started presenting about their respective areas.
Afterward, we had to inform which was our preference. My decision was not rational, I liked a lot one guy called Marcelo. He was charismatic, enthusiastic about his work, and brilliant. I concluded that I would learn a lot from him.
After one week, I got a call and was hired by his team as a Credit Risk Analyst Intern.
I was stunningly happy. First, because Itaú is one of the largest companies in Brazil. Second, I needed to earn some money, the costs of living in São Paulo were high and Brazil was recovering from a recession that started after the Presidential Impeachment in 2016.
TL;DR - About the Work
In the first weeks, I had no clue what to do, despite having someone responsible for me my task was not well designed, and the persons closest to me were leaving the company or moving to another area. Here is the first lesson: Itaú changes fast. I saw so many internal changes that I got used to it. You need to adapt accordingly and fast. However, the adaptations left me with a lack of tasks.
Marcelo was innovative and he wanted to propose new things in the area. With his expertise, he wanted a solution that could support communication and decision-making across credit risk teams. This is how I got my first task, designing a web application for credit policy registration with automatic decisions.
With no experience in web development, no senior technical support, and no IT support, I accepted the challenge.
I don’t recommend anyone designing a website with a backend in Microsoft SharePoint. We call it in Brazil: “gambiarra”, when you propose solutions with things not designed for that.
After two months, I learned how to do it, but to make it look great was complicated as frontend design was a difficult task for me.
In the meanwhile, they didn’t want me to work only on the platform, so I was analyzing some credit default metrics and generating reports that no one read. In many 1:1 with my managers, I spoke clearly about the lack of organization and meaning in my tasks. They were happy, however, with me establishing my place in developing the platform, which everyone saw as important, but couldn’t allocate a senior to it.
I felt challenged and motivated to work on the platform, and it was a matter of honor to conclude it.
I learned a lot about web development and credit risk, and I’m proud I took this challenge.
Take away
- How the credit system works
- What are the good credits to take? How does it work to obtain them? How does the bank calculate the risk of credit?
- Cooperative work can be disturbing
- Overnight major changes: merging areas, changing leaders around, etc.
- Impressing the bosses is necessary to grow.
- If you are proficient in Microsoft Office you will excel
- Most of the work involves Word, PPT, and Excel, a graduation on that would suffice.
Consequences
I decided to take on a new challenge in my life. First, I was not satisfied with this work. Second, the “Paulista” lifestyle (check the post). Third, I wanted to accomplish more in life: study, live, and work abroad.
Working at Itaú felt like the top of the food chain for a mathematician. However, the alumni from my university were working there, doing boring work. I concluded that this is what a graduation in math can offer to me in Brazil.
Despite loving mathematics, I changed to engineering, which is a much more promising career in Brazil, and I thought elsewhere too.
In January 2019, I started the engineering school at USP.