Sumaiya Mohbubul

Whilst at school I participated in a Morgan Stanley Early Careers Programme which was designed to inform students about careers in computer science. During this programme, I met a mentor at the Firm who encouraged me to apply to Morgan Stanley’s Technology Spring Insight Week, an experience which subsequently led to an offer to join Morgan Stanley’s Technology Industrial Placement scheme.

Working in Technology as a programmer has helped me discover the many strengths that having ADHD and Autism can bring to the workplace. These include attention to detail, high energy, patience and consideration towards others.

One of my biggest strengths is that I tend to hyper-fixate on things that I find very interesting. If I am given tasks that interest me a lot, and most of them tend to, I can complete them very efficiently. Often, people think I can do a thousand different things, when in reality, I really enjoy what I’m doing and my brain is entirely focused on the task at hand. Because of this intent focus, I am not distracted by my phone or surroundings. I might even forget what time of day it is! However, this just enables me to get my work done.

Another strength is that I have a lot of energy. If I am excited about what I am doing and I enjoy it, I have a surge of energy to get it done and therefore, tend to be incredibly productive. Since I hyper-fixate on my work, it also tends to be very accurate.

My final key strength is my ability to understand other people, which stems from my self-awareness of my own difficulties. I try hard to make sure I understand others and if something becomes confusing for either party, I will pick up on it. For example, if I am speaking to someone and is not their first language, I will make sure that I adjust my communication because I know what it might feel like to not understand others.

Sumaiya Mohbubul recently returned as a Full-Time Analyst after completing an Industrial Placement internship in Morgan Stanley’s Technology division.