Many of us have not taken a direct route to get to where we are in our careers today, nor should we expect a circuitous route to suddenly become straight once we’ve landed at JMP. We want employees to know they can move from one type of role at JMP to another! But making a big transition is not always easy so we want to gather stories from you; we want to learn how you moved around in your career, from A to B (or to C or D).
Let’s learn about Scott’s career journey.
What’s your current role at JMP?
Systems Engineer, Pre-sales, Ohio Valley
Describe what you like most about it.
Every customer and prospect has different goals when it comes to their analytics needs and I love the challenge of finding ways to help them connect with their data. I also enjoy being part of a small team that has flexibility in how we approach our goals.
If different, what was your first role when you started at JMP?
My first role at JMP is my current role.
Did you work at SAS before joining JMP?
No
How long have you been at JMP?
Nearly 1 year
Did your college or university degree(s) relate to your current role at JMP?
Sort of … as a chemistry major, statistics was not required, but it sure could have helped!
Outside of your time at JMP, what was your a) first job, b) best job, and c) worst job?
- a) Fast food prep at Busch Gardens amusement park (nothing like frying chicken in the middle of summer!)
- b) The start-up that I co-founded after grad school (Novomer)
- c) The same company as (b), but after it was acquired
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/science/19poly.html
Have you made a major career transition? If so, what was it and how did you know you were ready for a change?
Yes. Novomer was a specialty chemical and polymer company based on university technology. I worked on the technology for over 10 years, successfully positioning the company for an acquisition. After the acquisition, there were continued technical and market validation successes, but large-scale commercialization efforts stalled. The company that acquired the technology had very generous comp and benefits and at some point, I realized those were the reasons keeping me there. One thing that kept me engaged was that we used JMP in every technical role and the time I spent solving problems, analyzing experiments, and working with customers to understand how our product could address their needs, was more exciting to me than my assigned role. We had a very small organization and there was not another position I could find that could support the activities I wanted to do, so I knew I needed to make a change.
Did you have any concerns about making a change? If so, what were they?
No concerns. It was a good time to make the change for both professional and personal reasons.
What were the first things you did when you decided that you were ready to change jobs?
I feel like I decided to change jobs years before I made the change, but I needed to convince myself it was the right decision. Since I was making a large career change, I did not want to regret the decision and spent a lot of time making sure it was the right thing to do and at the right time.
Who were the people that were instrumental in helping you make the job switch successfully; how did they help?
I had considered joining JMP about 5 or 6 years ago and connected with Chuck Boiler (@chuck_boiler) for an open SE position. The timing wasn't right, but we kept in touch over the years.
I was very open with my manager at my prior job, and he was also supportive of the career change and helped me navigate the transition.
What advice do you have for JMP employees who are thinking about changing their roles?
I don't think I can give any advice here. This is the first time I have made a change in my career, and I am still learning!
Because we love good stories, we want to learn about how your career evolved and tell these stories to our colleagues—the evolution of your career that has ultimately brought you to JMP or even how once arriving at JMP they made a major transition.
Please take the six-minute survey.
Thanks for sharing your story, Scott! And welcome aboard!
It's very interesting to hear of your career journey. Congratulations on building a successful company and achieving the goal of acquisition. We are lucky to have you at JMP!
Great story, Scott! Very glad I get to work with you!!
Really interesting reading about your career journey, Scott, and transition to JMP! Thank you for sharing.
awesome! Thank you, Scott, for sharing your story, and for being such a wonderful colleague/ collaborator.
Wow, what an amazing career journey, Scott! We are so fortunate to have you at JMP--welcome!
Fascinating career journey Scott
