Inspiring career stories | Scottish Careers Week blog | Anna Gillies, FinTech Scotland

Anna Gillies
Business Analyst
FinTech Scotland

• Tell us a bit about your current role?

I currently work for FinTech Scotland, we develop and enable collaborative innovation across the fintech ecosystem by facilitating and encouraging connections.  

I am the business analyst for the team, working alongside my colleagues to ensure we are succeeding operationally, as well as onboarding and handling all the data to produce reports and MI.

• When did you first think about a career in financial services? Tell us a bit about your professional journey thus far?

In 2013, I initially left school thinking that a degree in Psychology with Interactive Entertainment would lead me into the gaming field, specifically in user experience and design. Upon finishing my degree, I didn’t really have a ‘path’ that I knew how to follow.  

Whilst I looked for roles suited to my degree, I worked for a large incumbent financial institution in their customer telephony department. It was there that the desire to learn more about financial services, and how they could better serve customers, really came to fruition.  

I decided that I wanted to go back to university to attain a further MSc in International Banking, Finance, and Risk Management to learn more about banking and finance. I really love to learn, so the prospect of going back to university to learn all things finance didn’t faze me.  

I was loving being back in education, making new friends, applying myself to my studies. Then March 2020 came. Everything moved to virtual. I found studying from home hard. As I was coming to the tail end of my degree, classes were becoming sparse, and I had more time. I went back to work in retail in a management position, I find that I’ve learned most of my invaluable skills whilst working in retail. Time management, prioritisation, how to handle stress, I really enjoyed working there and have made real foundational skills that I will carry throughout my career. 

For my MSc research, I analysed the FinTech ecosystem in Scotland, marrying up my love for all things technology and my newfound financial services knowledge. This led me to learn all about the vibrant, bustling, FinTech ecosystem in Scotland, and everything it was doing to try and boost innovation in the financial services industry in Scotland and beyond.  

I graduated with a Distinction in my degree and landed a role as a product analyst in a small supermarket bank. Working for a small bank really allowed me to get in to the nitty gritty with banking, being exposed to numerous areas of the bank, various products, and processes was beneficial in allowing me to learn more about the banking systems, building on my educational knowledge.  

Just over a year into that role, I saw a position within FinTech Scotland come up, and I jumped at the opportunity (yes, I submitted my dissertation alongside my CV!).  

Working in such a dynamic organisation has been exciting. Every day is different, and I’m consistently inspired by the entrepreneurs within the FinTech Ecosystem and fascinated at the innovative uses of technology and how it can be applied to financial services. Working in a smaller organisation has also pushed my boundaries in terms of my own confidence. From public speaking at conferences, to improving my ability to work on various projects at once, I’ve made leaps and bounds in building on the ability to believe in myself.   

• Looking back at earlier years, what career paths did you consider when you were in school? 

Whilst in school, I didn’t really think that far ahead. I know that sounds bizarre, but the thought of future career prospects, or really ‘what I wanted to do’ didn’t occur to me. Yes, I could go back and say in primary school I wanted to be a vet, but that failed quickly seeing as I don’t like needles and I want dogs to live forever.  

I was directionless, had no real passion, and almost expected it to all fall in to place. Thankfully, everything has turned out well for me, and I found my path a bit later in life. I don’t think you really should know what path you’re on when you’re in school. I’ve done a lot of my growing up, maturing, and developing once I had left school, and only then was I able to make that path for myself.    

• If you could, what career advice would you give to your younger self? 

I would tell past Anna that it’s ok to not know what you’d like to do, that it’s not a bad thing. As you grow, you learn and develop a sense of who you’d like to be, who you’d like to work for, and the contribution you’d like to make to society.