Managing: Saqib Sheikh fills dual roles at SWIFT

As project manager for the huge financial co-op he oversees security infrastructure projects day-to-day. He also develops codes and manages ops

Saqib Sheikh is a project manager and senior developer for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT, Manassas, VA). All financial institutions worldwide are members of SWIFT, which is a co-op established by and for the financial industry. The society is a global provider of secure messaging services and interface software to wholesale financial entities, and handles payments for money transfers and monetary trades of various currencies.

There are two types of IT firms, Sheikh reflects. Some develop products, and some develop and build services.

�At SWIFT we deliver products to our own operations division to connect into our network. We are a very traditional IT firm otherwise.�

Matrix organization
Sheikh�s work includes overseeing security infrastructure projects on a day-to-day basis. He also develops codes and manages operations in his role as developer.

�We have a matrix organization,� he explains. �I take my projects through different parts of the cycle. People report to me for specific tasks, but I�m not their actual manager. I work on a team for some projects, and I work independently on others.�

International student
Sheikh was born in India and grew up in Saudi Arabia, where he went to a British school. He came to the U.S. in time for high school at a private Roman Catholic boarding school. �I am definitely an international student,� he says with a smile.

He got his 2002 BSCS from Virginia Polytechnic and State University, and went on to George Washington University (Washington, DC) for a 2004 CS certificate in computer security and information assurance, followed in 2005 by a master of engineering and applied science degree in CS. Last year he completed an MBA with a focus in management, strategy and information systems from the University of Maryland, with tuition covered by his employer.

�I always want to be challenged. That�s why I�ve been in school so long,� Sheikh says. He always knew he wanted to go into IT and programming. �I enjoy the challenge of problem solving. It comes naturally to me.�

Starting out
Sheikh began at SWIFT when he graduated from Virginia Tech in 2002. He started as an associate COTS manager, interfacing between SWIFT and its vendors of off-the-shelf products. He advanced to applications and COTS manager, shifting his expertise to securing the company�s infrastructure. He recently added his new role as project manager to his senior developer duties.

�My work as a COTS manager gives me an appreciation of vendors. I know how to interface with them and I�ve learned problem management skills, which was one of my main roles in
that position.�

Projects
In his dual role, he has researched the messaging solutions change management process and identified areas of improvement. He designed, developed and delivered the migration and upgrade of a 15,000-plus public key infrastructure community across two continents.

He also developed a backup-and-restore system across two continents which aims to reduce potential critical security-data loss in an ops center failure from ninety to fifteen minutes. And he designed, developed and delivered a new encryption library, now standard for apps across the entire company.

Diversity
SWIFT is a European company, Sheikh notes, so its culture and expectations may vary from what most of its U.S. employees are accustomed to. The company is diverse, with minorities holding some �very influential� management positions.

In his private life, Sheikh is active in the Muslim community. He is director and principal of a weekend Muslim school with more than 120 students. He also founded the youth committee at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, which oversees and coordinates youth activities in the Dulles-area community of more than 5,000 people.