Meshach Jones joined Bloomberg straight out of college in 2017, and quickly became a member of the company’s Asset and Investment Manager (AIM) Compliance team. In his role as a software engineering team lead, Jones found a way to excel while serving his clients and creating his own lane within the company.
“As a Bloomberg engineer, there are no specific levels,” Jones explained. “It’s really about allowing engineers to get involved wherever they deem fit and not creating barriers based on titles that might discourage people.”
Jones became part of the company’s Black Professional Community (BPC) and has served as a lead within the Bloomberg Black in Tech (BBIT) group, which is focused on representation and supporting engineers and technologists in their careers. He took his role even further, making sure these groups found a way to recruit potential engineers by giving them better insight into the industry.
“We created Tech Labs,” Jones recalled. “Those labs allow potential engineers to come into our offices, as well as send Bloomberg engineers to college campuses to work with engineering students from underrepresented communities to develop a portfolio management system.”
Those tech labs have since expanded, as his team now also reaches out to those who might be unsure if they have the necessary skills or knowledge to be engineers.
“For Black and brown tech professionals that want to advance their careers, there’s a two-stage approach that I’d go with,” Jones advises. “First, what do you want to do? What are you passionate about? If you don’t know that, take some time to explore that. And once you have a good understanding of your passion, become a subject matter expert in that area.”
Answering those questions, with the support of Jones and his teammates, has given potential engineers an opportunity to thrive at Bloomberg. Meshach’s story serves as an example of creating opportunities for yourself and others.
