MELLON FINANCIAL Corporation

TECHNOLOGY | CULTURE | BUSINESS
CANDIDATES | SAMPLE JOB LISTINGS | ARTICLES

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW

Three IBM 9672s and two IBM 2064 mainframes, 75 RS/6000s in Pittsburgh and 19 more in New York, 170 Sun servers, 10 HPs, 7 AS/400s, and 9 DECs represent the majority of hardware in Mellon's computing environment. Applications are developed on the legacy systems in COBOL, Focus, and SAS, and in the client-server environment in Visual Basic, Java, and C++. Additional software used includes PeopleSoft, IBM's Tivoli, HP's OpenView, and IBM's MQ Series middleware connecting legacy systems to the Web. The communications environment includes Shiva, Citrix Winframe, Network Data Mover (NDM), PCDatamover, Direct NDM, TCS, and Cisco routers and switches. The company is investigating the use of biometrics to take the place of passwords.

Mellon has more than 18,000 PCs. Typical projects span the mainframe, web, and client-server worlds. In addition, Mellon actively works with 3rd party vendors to test new technologies, such as its partnership with SEI to produce a Web-enabled front-office client server environment for processing trust management applications. Another project creates a lock box environment in which exception reports are transmitted on CD-ROMs, including check images and bank statements. Mellon routinely works with companies like Microsoft, Cisco, EMC, and IBM to evaluate the latest technologies and jointly develop new technology solutions.

CULTURE OVERVIEW

Mellon's downtown Pittsburgh campus includes one of the city's most architecturally distinguished high-rises, the company's 54-story headquarters building, a new $150 million client services center, and Mellon Green, a 1.8-acre park of rolling lawns and promenades. Technical staff members, including some managers, work in cubicles. The company offers a smoke and drug-free environment. Key components of the company’s menu-style benefits program include contributory major medical, dental and vision plans, as well as pre-tax funds for expenses like health care, dependent care, and transportation. Life and accidental death insurance, and short- and long-term disability insurance are fully company paid. The company offers tuition reimbursement, contributes to a 401(k) plan, and funds a retirement savings plan. Employees are eligible for stock options and an incentive bonus program. The company observes six core holidays and offers six more that are determined at local sites. Vacations range from three weeks to start to five weeks after 25 years. Additional activities may include holiday parties and discounted tickets to local events like plays and the racetrack or to the corporate-sponsored Pittsburgh Penguins

When there is a layoff, Mellon first places as many people as possible through internal transfers with a formal displacement program. Remaining employees receive outplacement services and severance packages that generally include two weeks' salary for each year of service.

Dress is business casual for all employees, with employees expected to respect the business etiquette appropriate to particular work assignments. Hours are 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, with an hour for lunch. The data center, telecommunications, and LAN support are shift-work positions. More than 25 percent of the Information Systems staff take advantage of the Alternate Work Arrangement program which offers telecommuting, flextime, flexday, compressed work week and part-time options. Software engineers officially work a 37 1/2-hour week. As Shearan says, "We don't drop our pencils at 5." Unpaid overtime averages three to four hours a week. Travel is dependent on the position; a core of supervisory and specialist technicians travel occasionally to support other geographic locations.

BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Mellon's history is one of focused growth and strategic acquisitions. As a result, the company is now responsible for approximately $2.8 trillion in assets under management, administration, or custody, including more than $585 billion under management. It provides wealth and asset management and investment and cash management services, including trust and custody, securities lending, employee benefit solutions, foreign exchange, and transfer agent services.

Founded in 1869 by retired Judge Thomas Mellon and his sons, Andrew and Richard, Mellon has always been deeply rooted in Pittsburgh, aggressive about applying new technology, and selective in acquiring other financial institutions. Andrew Mellon went on to become U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Mellon became one of the first banks to acquire its own computer. One of its acquisitions, Girard Bank, made a name for itself in the early days of automated teller machines with its extensive network. A branch of another acquisition, Commonwealth National Bank, in York, Pennsylvania, stands where the first Continental Treasury, precursor to the U.S. Treasury, was once based. Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, now known as Mellon PSFS, was America's first savings bank, patterned after a similar system in Scotland for workers to deposit and earn interest on small amounts of money.

CANDIDATES

Mellon has 2,200 technical staff members and 200 contractors. One thousand of these are in data center operations and technical and network support; the balance in software engineering and business analysis. Sixty percent work at corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh; the rest are scattered between Boston, New York, and England. A variety of career paths are available in the network, PC, UNIX, and mainframe systems programming and engineering areas, starting with introductory positions and extending to senior engineering roles. The career path for software engineers starts at Associate Programmer, then moves to Senior Programmer Analyst 1,2,3, and Software Engineer. Systems engineers have a similar career path. The management track moves from Associate Systems Coordinator, to Senior Systems Coordinator 1,2,3; Section Manager 1,2; Project Manager 1,2,3; Division Manager 1,2; Division Head 1,2; Business Unit Manager, and CIO.

Mellon hired 300 technical staff members in 2000, of which 73 were for entry-level positions. Current staff members generally have a Bachelor's degree and an average of 15 years of experience, although this ranges from zero to 25 years. Mellon finds candidates through employment agencies (39 percent), employee referrals (32 percent), college recruiting (9 percent) , the Internet (9 percent), and other sources (11 percent). Top schools for recruiting include Carnegie-Mellon University, and the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Case Western Reserve University.

Mellon focuses on specific technical support skills for system engineering positions. For example, Microsoft and Cisco-certified engineers are preferred candidates for many of the computer infrastructure positions.While Mellon looks for relevant technical experience in appication development, the real differentiator among candidates is business experience in the financial industry, such as familiarity with mutual funds, or the trust and custody business. Additional prized skills are the ability to communicate well and work on a team. Shearan describes the ideal entry-level candidate as someone with, "an aptitude for creative problem-solving and analytical skills, a Bachelor's degree with a Grade Point Average of 3.0 or higher, planning and self-organization skills, and the ability to get along with colleagues."

ARTICLES

PR Newswire, "Mellon's e-Commerce Solutions Make the Grade at eschoolmall.com™," April 3, 2000

PR Newswire, "Mellon to Pilot Voice-Guided ATMs," April 4, 2000