This week marks the start of 2021 Engineers Week. Founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers in 1951, ‘EWeek’ is an annual week dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers.
At BAM, our engineers continually advance our cutting-edge technology, creating world-class compute and data resources for our firm and building the critical applications and systems needed to deliver consistent, uncorrelated alpha for our investors.
During ‘EWeek,’ we recognize a selection of our talented engineers at BAM. In this Q&A series, we’re featuring six of BAM’s engineers sharing insight on their interest in the field, their role at BAM and advice they have for future engineers. Read more about opportunities in engineering and technology at BAM here.
Q: What piqued your interest in engineering?
Arpa Mukherjee, Quantitative Associate, Portfolio Analytics & D&I Council Member: In engineering, you have the ability to create and to be creative. It’s inspiring for me to be able to design tools that are integral to the decision making and execution of our investments. Seeing their impact motivates me to keep refining and trying new ideas.
Michael Juster, Senior Engineer, Cloud Delivery: I’ve always liked the design aspect of engineering and working on tangible solutions. It allows me to demonstrate my value-add to a company in a more objective way than other professions. Each technology is like its own game to learn and level up in, and I have a lot of fun doing that.
Alex Helvaty, Engineer, Cloud Delivery: Growing up, I knew I wanted to pursue a line of work that was more abstract and dynamic; one that would challenge me, keep me engaged by always changing and evolving, and allow me to use technology and solve unique problems.
Q: What do you like most about your role at BAM?
Laurel Jiao, Data Engineer: As a data engineer at BAM, I have the opportunity to design, orchestrate and build solutions and systems to tackle complex problems every day. BAM has provided me a place to truly do what I love, and an environment to work with brilliant people with entrepreneurial spirits.
Jeff Holland, Senior Information Security Engineer: The caliber of my co-workers and managers is top notch across the board. They make doing my job easier, and I work to do the same for them. I most enjoy that I get to write code almost every day, focusing on automation to secure and monitor BAM’s IT infrastructure.
Alex Helvaty, Engineer, Cloud Delivery: BAM has created an environment in which I can be creative, inventive and curious – all while being surrounded by people who constantly challenge and encourage me to better myself and my work. This is the type of environment I’ve always hoped to be a part of.
Arpa Mukherjee, Quantitative Associate, Portfolio Analytics & D&I Council Member: At BAM, we’re in a collaborative environment that allows each one of us to own and accomplish more— something I value greatly, and think is key to finding success.
Q: What advice do you have for the next generation of engineers?
Matt Adorjan, Manager, Cloud Engineering: Most people will say never stop learning, which is very important, but I always like to add never stop creating. Passing down what you learn is also hugely helpful for the rest of the engineering community, as there’s a good chance someone can benefit from your experiences.
Jeff Holland, Senior Information Security Engineer: Being detail oriented is a trait shared by the best engineers. If you can balance that with work efficiency, you will set yourself up for a successful career in IT.
Michael Juster, Senior Engineer, Cloud Delivery: Spend time learning operating systems and networking basics – regardless of your job title, understanding distributed systems provides you with a foundation to learn almost any technology. Also, make sure you practice and feel comfortable from the command line.
