For Emily Chen, a leading light in the technology product community, one stint at Iress simply wasn’t enough. She reveals why, like so many others, she came back.
After leaving Iress in 2016, I never expected to come back.
Don’t get me wrong - I’d had a wonderful couple of years working on Iress’ flagship financial advice product, Xplan. But I was keen to stretch my wings and sharpen my product craft in domains that I hadn’t had much exposure to prior.
But after a phone call and several Twitter DMs with Andrew Todd, Iress CTO, I leapt at the chance.
Why? In a word: Iress’ products and people. Okay that’s actually two words, but you get the idea.
When it comes to products, Iress is pretty hard to beat. For those who aren’t familiar with it, Xplan is one of Iress’ flagship products, and has been the financial advice software of choice in Australia for the last decade. It’s also relied upon by financial planners around the world, who in turn use it to help people of all walks of life safeguard their financial future.
As for the people, well, they’re some of the best I’ve ever worked with. It’s a bit of cliche but Iress really is like a family. My teammates are always willing to help, they strive to find better ways of doing things and love creating a positive impact. Iress has a vibrant and friendly, yet high performing culture, and we sure know how to have a good time! Before I came back, I missed the Iress Whiskey Club (that I proudly co-founded!) and arcade games (thank you Iress Sports and Social Committee!).
Ultimately coming back to Iress was the best thing I could have done for my career.
Coming back to Iress was the best thing I could have done for my career.
That’s because there's a unique sense of authenticity that I’ve not experienced in other companies. Iress empowers you to be yourself; to explore, optimise and change.
Since returning to Iress, I’ve had the opportunity to lead such initiatives as Iress Labs (our testing ground for new user-centred ideas and innovations), our annual Global Hackathon and now the development of our unified product and technology platform.
I’ve travelled the world, honed my presentation skills, become a media spokesperson, been shortlisted for multiple industry leadership awards and helped to nurture the careers of the next generation of product superstars.
There aren’t many places that support you to follow your dreams in this way.
And by the way, we’re hiring! If you’re interested in a career at Iress, drop me a line or check out our vacancies here.
