The team at Dynamic Planner have grown rapidly during Covid, meaning many members began roles in varying levels of lockdown in the UK. However, the award-winning firm’s commitment to remote and hybrid working has helped new starters hit the ground running in the field of financial planning technology.
Max Bowser began his career in financial services as a paraplanner, who taught himself programming in his spare time. When the principal financial adviser at his firm retired and sold up, he decided to make it a full-time profession. After a year of freelancing, he joined Dynamic Planner in February 2021.
Were you thinking about a move into financial technology when you started learning programming?
Not really. I was making games and I’d made a few apps and other tools. I realised I could apply what I’d learnt to my job, so over time I became more of a software developer who happened to be a former paraplanner. Then, when I was freelancing, I saw a job posting for Dynamic Planner. It looked like a good opportunity: being paid to do programming, which I really enjoy, without wasting my knowledge about financial advice.
You joined Dynamic Planner during a lockdown. What was that like?
I’d say it was a unique experience, except it’s one that lots of people have been through now. There’s obviously the challenge of not being in an office, not being able to wander over and chat with anyone, either socially or to ask questions. But everyone’s good at being available online, and there’s a lot of effort to bring people together remotely. From the tech side of things, the hardware is really good, which helped with getting up to speed.
What does your role involve?
I’ve ended up being the custodian of a new project to manage all our product data. When I joined, I began helping with the project, which had just started, and over a few weeks I was taking on more and more of the work. That freed up the developer who had been working on it to take on something else, and the project was handed over to me. It’s a nice thing about the company: it’s the right size that there’s plenty of interesting stuff going on, but it’s also small enough that you can take ownership of things.
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