Episode description

On this week’s episode, Andrew meets Amazon’s Jon Hammant. Jon is Head of Compute for UK & Ireland at Amazon Web Services and he’s had extraordinary career. He got his A-Level in computer science at 12, built the London Stock Exchange, and has worked in senior roles in Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. In the episode, Jon explains why being dyslexic has made challenges easier. The boys discuss the worrying lack of young people taking computer science in school and Jon & Andrew talk about the importance of failure.

Top quotes

“I’ve failed so many times in my life. I’ve gone to more job interviews than I could possibly name. But my life changed when I started writing down why I failed each job interview. When I did, suddenly failure stopped being something that made me stressed. Suddenly failure became about learning to be better.” - Jon Hammant

“Failure has been so important to me in my journey.” - Andrew Kitley

“I genuinely believe now that, for the first time in history, there’s no barriers to what you can do. You can manifest whatever you think about.” - Andrew Kitley

About the guest

Jon Hammant is Head of Compute for UK & Ireland at Amazon Web Services. Jon Hammant grew up with ‘severe dyslexia.’ He couldn’t spell his name until he was 11. He had poor short term memory and was even worse at sports. When he was a child his mother enrolled him into an extracurricular computer science course. His mother would regularly take him to the library to practise as they didn’t have enough money to own a computer themselves. At 12 years of age Jon received his A Level in Computer Science. He would enter the world of high finance and, in 2010, helped build the London Stock Exchange. He would go on to work high ranking positions in Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. In 2015, Jon became Head of Infrastructure for Financial Markets with Standard Chartered Bank. In 2017, he became Managing Director of Accenture. Today he works for Amazon as Head of Compute in the UK & Ireland.

About the host

The Invisible Gift is hosted by entrepreneur and dyslexic, Andrew Kitley. With twenty years experience, Andrew Kitley has worked his way up the metaphorical and literal ladder to become Managing Director of Kitall: an engineering firm. Under Andrew's guidance, Kitall is now one of the most sought after names to complete complex engineering projects in the UK. In each episode of The Invisible Gift, Andrew seeks the advice and inspiration of a fellow trailblazer who has defied the odds to achieve the extraordinary - turning the challenge of neurodiversity into a gift.

Resources

https://www.kitall.co.uk/

https://www.onefineplay.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhammant/?originalSubdomain=uk

https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/ukir-case-studies/