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How a career in tech saw Linda Pace work across four continents

Working across four continents in her 11 years at Macquarie, Linda Pace's tech career has taken her around the world.

Linda Pace has worked in technology roles at Macquarie for 11 years and across four continents. Her career, which started in Sydney, has taken her to Singapore, Chicago and now London.

Linda joined Macquarie in Sydney in 2008 as a Java programmer, writing code for futures clearing for the Commodities and Global Markets division.

A year later, when her then partner was offered a job in Singapore, Linda asked Macquarie about openings there. "My manager said 'We're actually in the process of opening a division in Singapore. You can start the month after we open the office and help set everything up.'"

When Linda arrived in Singapore, the team consisted of herself and one other person. By the time she left 18 months later, "there were about 150 people in the Singapore office".

When Linda was ready to move back to Sydney, she happily returned to the futures clearing team. Six months later, her manager asked if she could cover a vacancy in Chicago.

"I went for what was meant to be four weeks," she says.

But she fell in love with Chicago and its close-knit Macquarie team, and stayed for five and a half years.

While in the US, Linda attended an innovation course, run through Macquarie's learning and development program, that focused on how teams could work smarter. She decided to apply what she'd learnt to her colleagues in the Chicago office, and sat down with the traders to work out how they could automate some daily tasks they were doing manually.

“We managed to automate a lot of their processes, which saved the team a lot of time and money," she says. "But more importantly, we also managed to change the culture. Soon we had people throughout the office coming up with ideas for how we could use technology to further improve our processes."

In June 2018, another opportunity arose, this time in the London office. Linda and her wife decided to move, both for the close proximity for them to explore Europe as well as the work opportunity.

“There's so much opportunity in the London office. There are so many different teams, and the work is so diverse and interesting."

Linda now supports the futures-clearing applications in Europe and lately she has been preparing for Brexit, which she says has given her a new challenge.

The offices Linda has worked in around the world have all been different, but what remains consistent is Macquarie's culture: “We're all moving in the same direction, wanting the same things for the company."

There's so much opportunity in the London office. There are so many different teams, and the work is so diverse and interesting."

Linda now supports the futures-clearing applications in Europe and lately she has been preparing for Brexit, which she says has given her a new challenge.