Recent graduate and FRC team 1241 alumni Jash Javeri has entered the workforce and is now a proud employee of Scotiabank. FIRST caught up with Jash to get an update on his job, experience, and advice for others looking to get into the industry.
Q1: What is your job at Scotiabank?
JJ: I am part of a program that Scotiabank recently launched, called the Associate Product Owner (APO) program. This program is hosted at Scotiabank’s Digital Factory and involves three, six month rotations. Some of these rotations may be in partner Digital Factory countries such as Mexico, Columbia, Peru and Chile. My first rotation is on the hyper-personalized off platform banking team and the current main focus of the team is to produce a chatbot that lives on Facebook Messenger. This chatbot will be able to serve the customer’s day-to-day banking needs. My role on the team is to focus on the product vision and strategy, manage various stakeholder needs, and effectively ensure a seamless integration of business, technology and user experience. Additionally, I manage a product backlog which is a list of user stories, tasks and bugs. These product backlog items are ordered in terms of value to the product.
Q2: Did your FIRST experience help you get a position there?
JJ: YES! My FIRST experience helped me in two major ways. Initially, I heard that Scotiabank was interested in hiring more talent from the FIRST program—so I gave it a shot and applied. I was fortunate enough to get in contact with an individual at Scotiabank who was willing to talk to me about multiple positions she felt would be suitable to my personality and resume. Additionally, the interview process was completely different to the traditional approach. The interview process included a “Super Day” which consisted of a group project, speed interviews and then a presentation of the project. My experience from FIRST was pivotal to my success during this Super Day as it provided me with relevant experience to the role and it taught me valuable soft skills such as teamwork, decision making, clear communication, presentation skills and so much more.
Q3: What kind of skills did you learn in the FIRST program that help you in your day-to-day work at Scotiabank?
JJ: My day-to-day work is very similar to the work I was previously doing on a FIRST team, so there are a lot of transferable skills! Time management in specific was one of the biggest takeaways that I use everyday. In my role, I tend to work with a lot of teams, therefore teamwork was another important skill FIRST instilled in me. Being a Product Owner means you need to take ownership for all the decisions made on the product, it is very similar to some of the crucial decisions a robotics team has to make during the first couple days of build season. Furthermore, communication skills, leadership skills, creativity and many others were all skills I learned to harness during my time with FIRST!
Q4: What is the best thing about working for Scotiabank?
JJ: There are a lot of great things about working at Scotiabank’s Digital Factory. From great food to bowling at work—the Digital Factory has it all! Besides all of that though, the people and culture are the best part about Scotiabank. Everyone is super friendly and supportive which helps foster an amazing culture.
Q5: What kind of opportunities are there at Scotiabank and how can FIRST students find out more information about them?
JJ: There are opportunities to do a co-op and work full time at Scotiabank. If you are a new grad at the end of the year, I invite you to apply to be an Associate Product Owner, which is the full time position that I am currently in. The rotations they provide and the structure of the program ensure the individual is ready to succeed! You can find more information here:https://digitalfactory.
Thank you, Jash! We look forward to following your career at Scotiabank.
To join the FIRST Canada Alumni network on LinkedIn, click here.