A day with Jay Duff, our 10-year Fusion veteran

In August of this year, we were delighted to celebrate the anniversary of Jay Duff, our Client Liaison Manager, as he hit ten years of service at Fusion!

Jay has been a true asset to our team ever since he joined us in 2012, working in a number of key roles in the development area of the business to keep us growing and thriving.

To commemorate Jay’s milestone anniversary, we sat down with him to find out more about his journey with Fusion.

How did you get started at Fusion?

I initially joined Fusion in 2012, when I had the opportunity to experience a placement year here as part of my Computer Games Programming degree. After returning to the University of Huddersfield for a short while to finish my degree, I came back to Fusion as a full-time employee.

What has been your journey with Fusion?

I first started out as a Junior Software Developer, using the skills I’d developed at university to feel my way into this new industry. It must’ve gone well, because from there I became a Software Developer in 2014, then moved up to become the MatterSphere Development Team Leader. In 2021 I then became the Client Liaison Manager, which is the position I’m in now!

What skills have you learnt while at Fusion?

In terms of technical skills, probably too many to mention! I hadn’t written any SQL before starting at Fusion, so all my knowledge of that programming language has been picked up here.

All of my management skills have been learnt here, as well as my professional organisation skills. I even completed some leadership training in 2019, alongside some of the other managers at the time, which is something I never would have foreseen myself doing as an undergraduate. Further training I completed in 2019 was with Hemsley Fraser on creating a business plan.

I’ve also developed my soft skills and grown as a person quite a bit; I’m naturally an introvert, so having a job where I’m the main contact for our clients is pretty big for me. It’s a great indicator of how working at Fusion has helped me develop myself personally, as well as professionally, and has allowed me to nurture crucial skills I wouldn’t have otherwise.

How would you describe your time at Fusion and the company culture?

There’s been a lot of change within Fusion in the last ten years. When I started there were only eight of us and I was the second member of the development team (including Gary, our Development Director) – It's been fantastic to see it grow over the years in to Expedite Law!

We’ve gone from developing bits and pieces for whoever needed it to becoming specialists in legal case management systems and offering a range of products.

What hasn’t really changed is our culture. I think we’ve always had a positive, can-do attitude and always tried to do the best we can for our clients. We’ve always been collaborative and try to help each other to get things done. We’ve maintained that spirit of teamwork, proving our strong bond despite adversities such as the pandemic, tough tasks and tight deadlines!

What is your favourite thing about Fusion?  

There’s quite a lot I like about Fusion – I wouldn’t still be here after ten years if I didn’t like it! The thing I like most changes week by week, but overall, Fusion feels like a second home; familiar, welcoming and somewhere you want to come back to.