OmniPay shows the importance of experience
By Dermot Corrigan
Regular upskilling in technical courses, alongside business and management knowhow picked up along the way, have helped John Ward to his senior management position with online transaction management specialist OmniPay.
Ward manages OmniPay’s 24x7x365 credit card authorisation service, which handles more than two million transactions a day. He said that his role required some upskilling in newer technologies. However, more important has been the soft management skills he has developed over his career.
“The OmniPay system uses a complex technical infrastructure and for me this was significant change from previous roles,” he said.” I found the need to learn more about the technical infrastructure and communications and networking, but as a manager I find it better to ensure your team has the technical skills required to do the hands on work.
“I rely most on my generic skills in project management and relationship management and the communications skills developed over 25 years.”
Ward has built up a formidable technical skills base over the years, following emerging technologies through the 1980s and 1990s by training in and using Fortran, Cobol, VB and Microsoft Basic. When business started to move increasingly online, Ward said he chose to add a web based string to his bow.
“The last major technical skill I gained was Java in 2002,” he said.” I chose Java to demonstrate to myself and my employers that my skills were up to date. I have not had an opportunity to use Java professionally, but I am stil l glad that I have the certification.”
Ward now plays a role in recruitment at OmniPay, and said that candidates with a mix of skills training and workplace experience generally stood out.
“When considering potential recruits I look for evidence of continuing professional development,” he said.”I find the various vendor certifications a useful indicator of technical ability, but a certification not backed up with experience is not as valuable.”
