As the title suggests I went from working at a McDonald’s in south-east London to working at the biggest investment bank in the world.
How did I do it?
To answer this question I have to start at the beginning when I got my first job.
The year was 2016, I was 17 and had just finished my first year of sixth form.
It was summer and I needed a job, not only to keep me occupied but because I desperately needed money. Studying A Level of Computer Science meant that I needed a laptop as we were required to produce a piece of software from scratch. With my mum being unable to afford a decent laptop, my main motivation for working was to secure enough money to purchase a laptop.
Initially, I applied to Sainsbury’s and Tesco, which to a 17-year-old had an outstanding salary of £8 an hour. However, I was unable to secure a job at Sainsbury’s or Tesco leaving McDonald’s as my only other option.
What’s ironic is that during my job search my friend and I vowed that we would never resort to working for such an organisation. Well, I guess in the end there’s no room for pride when you’re desperately looking for employment.
Working at McDonald’s was basically modern-day slavery, especially because I was in the kitchen.
For those of you that have had the unfortunate opportunity to work at McDonald’s, you’ll know that they have a sexist rule when it comes to the allocation of new staff members.
The general rule is that men work in the kitchen and women work on tills.
Without trying to sound like a patriarchal prick, the girls had it so easy. While us guys where breaking our backs and spilling hot oil onto our skin, the girls were making ice cream and packing meals into bags for customers.
After three long months, I quit. Summer was over and I wanted to focus all my energy on my A-Level exams.
Before talking about my time at sixth form, I want to briefly talk about my complicated secondary education.
The first secondary school I attended was Blackheath Bluecoat, a school that was often described as a breeding ground for gang activity.
My time there was cut short when it was announced that the school would be closing, forcing all students to leave.
Moving schools is never easy, not least because you have to leave all your friends behind, not knowing if you’ll ever see them again. There’s no doubt in my mind that the closure of Blackheath bluecoat profoundly disrupted my education.
Having said this, the move taught me three crucial lessons. The first was that environments aren’t static; you have to be able to adapt to a change in material circumstances.
The second was that life is not fair, nobody I know has been forced to move schools as a result of there school closing.
The third was that the aptitude to adapt to new surrounding is paramount for success.
The Royal Greenwich UTC, the school I moved to, was worse than Blackheath Bluecoat. In spite of this, I was able to achieve the highest GCSE grades in my entire school. Getting an A* in science and mathematics. With those grades, I was able to get into a decent sixth form, Woolwich Polytechnic located in south-east London. Upon reflection, I probably should have picked somewhere better.
When I think back to my time at sixth form, I remember the inept attitude of many of my teachers. It was as if teachers didn’t care if students reached their full potential, rather they taught simply because it paid the bills.
The minimalist attitudes of many of the teachers and even some students meant that I often got laughed out of the room when I talked about my dreams and ambitions. Nobody thought a black kid from south-east London could ever amount to anything.
This was especially true for my mathematics teacher, who outright told me to my face that I would never be able to get an A in A level mathematics.
For most people that grew up in my environment, hearing something like that would be enough to discourage them from even trying to achieve top grades. Not me.
Through resilience, determination and sleepless nights, I was able to obtain ABB at A level (with the A being in Maths of course).
I had done it. By ignoring my teachers’ forthright opinions and having faith in my own ability to deliver, I got into the University of my choice to study Computer Science.
My first year of University can be summed up as one of the lowest points in my life thus far(for reasons I’ll explain in another post). I don’t think anyone can ever prepare for the loneliness and damage to one’s mental health during the first year of University. Luckily for me, I had acquired good friends that ensured I stayed focus and on track.
One of these friends is the reason I started considering working in Banking. In the early months of 1st year, he applied for a spring week at Barclays. When he told me I remember asking him why on earth he would want to work for a boring old bank. Up to then, I held the view that it would be much better for a computer science graduate to work for a tech giant like Facebook or Amazon.
After my friend completed his spring week, he went on and on about how much fun he had. It wasn’t until he told me that he had been paid £500 that week that my interest in banking began. While my interest in banking was on the rise I decided to attend an event held by JPMorgan.
The event was organised for students from minority backgrounds, and focus on explaining the different aspects of the bank. It was after this event that I was hooked.
I was told by friends and family that getting into JPMorgan was impossible and if I did apply it should be for a summer internship(as it was much easier to get). Dismissing all their advice I opted to apply to JPMorgan’s placement year, which was way more competitive than their summer internship. Just like my teachers at school, nobody thought I could do what they considered impossible.
To my astonishment, I was given an assessment centre, the last stage of the application process.
Wanting to get as much time to prepare as possible, I decided to go back to my house in London. This allowed me to clear my head and focus intensely on preparing for the assessment centre.
I can still remember the interview like it was yesterday. The way it works is that everyone is interviewed at exactly the same time by different interviewers. What’s funny is that my interviewer was late to arrive, yet my interview finished before everyone else’s. I didn’t know whether this was a good or a bad thing. The question I’ll always remember being asked is “why do you want to work here?”. I can’t remember my exact response but I told the interviewer that my dream was to become the best software Engineer in the world and that working for JPMorgan would take me one step closer to achieving that dream. It worked.
And the following Monday, I got the offer.
It would be wrong for me not to acknowledge the people that help me get to where I am, and I would be lying if I didn’t admit that all my achievement were only made possible by God’s grace.
At the time of writing this, I am 6 months into my placement year at JP Morgan and see myself as an unfinished book, wanting to achieve much more. To anyone reading this with doubt about their hopes and dreams, just know that like me you can make the impossible possible.