Finance is a high-tech industry. In order for users to be able to apply for a loan or buy shares of a company without getting up from a sofa, various financial data transfer protocols are used (for example, FIX , FAST , Plaza II ), terminals, brokerage and exchange trading systems, and to ensure the work of this entire ecosystem uses advanced “iron” .
Therefore, financial companies need more and more technical specialists. Today we’ll talk about HR trends in this market, and also consider real-life examples of projects in which you can take part “here and now”.
Bonus : a real vacancy from ITI Capital at the end of the topic.
Trend: financial organizations and investment banks are turning into IT companies
According to Reuters, Goldman Sachs investment bank plans to invest $ 200 million over the next three years in the development of the financial technology division. The company plans to transform the business and hire not sales specialists and financiers, but people with programming skills.
In recent years, the entire business of investment banks has become fully electronic. For example, the calculation of conditions for issuing credit lines of less than $ 2 million is carried out electronically. At the same time, according to data from the management of Goldman Sachs, in the coming years they will automate the work with loans for $ 2-5 million.
In addition, Goldman a few years ago opened to customers access to its internal trading system. With this product, bank customers gain access to proprietary data and risk analytics. The system works according to the subscription model, and now the number of active users is 50 thousand.
Not only banks: automation of exchange trading
In electronic format, not only a large number of banking operations have been carried out for a long time. Today, the main world exchanges operate in electronic format. Transactions for many years have been concluded not in the "classic" format of traders shouting in a special hole, but via the Internet.
To organize bidding and participate in them, advanced software, hardware is used, sophisticated algorithms and original approaches to data analysis and processing are developed. All this leads to the fact that in the field of finance, developers who know a variety of technologies become one of the most sought-after specialists.
They are needed by all - exchanges to create and support the trading core and related services, brokerage companies - to write trading software and its integration with the exchange infrastructure, a private trader - to program the trading strategies developed by them, etc.
A couple of examples of what projects you can work on in a brokerage company: we at ITI Capital are developing our own trading system MATRIX , the SMARTx terminal - a separate area of work is associated with optimizing its performance - we are developing an API for our infrastructure called SMARTcom .
What technologies are most in demand
Most of the infrastructure of exchanges and brokerage companies is created using the C ++ language. The creator of the language, Bjarne Stroustrup, is still working at Morgan Stanley Investment Bank as Director of Technology.
In addition to C ++, C # and Java are widespread - with their help they often implement certain parts of trading applications or front-end services of financial companies (for example, GUIs of trading terminals).
Scripting languages such as Python, MATLAB and R are also used to describe trading strategies and prototyping models. Scripting languages are also popular, which can even be built into trading terminals, such as TradeScript, with which trading robots can be written directly inside the SMARTx terminal.
A simple strategy in TradeScript written in the window of the trading terminal
In addition, according to surveys, there is a demand for Python developers - this language is indispensable for creating analytical tools and quantum models. In addition, you can find projects that use data processing technologies like Hadoop, Cassandra and Scala.
Not only specialists whose skills are suitable for creating trading software are in demand. Development and maintenance of infrastructure is also an extremely important task for any financial company. For example, developers of back-office systems need to be able to work with popular DBMSs - Oracle and the PL / SQL language are popular in the Russian market, and MS-SQL is also often used.
Conclusion
The financial sector is a place where IT specialists of various fields will be able to prove themselves and participate in really interesting projects. We at ITI Capital are also constantly looking for strong professionals in various fields. So stay tuned for vacancies on our website . For example, the vacancy of the Head of Service Desk is now open:
Head of service desk
Duties:
- Organization work of the 1st and 2nd lines of the global HelpDesk IT (London and Moscow);
- Implementation of the Service Desk system;
- Construction, control and automation of key IT processes using international practices of ITIL and MoF;
- Service Desk Management
- KPI development within the service model
- SLA development as part of a service model
- Interchangeability with the IT manager of the London office for the support of office workers in the UK
Requirements:
- Higher technical education;
- Work experience not less than 10 years;
- Fluency in English;
- Experience in managing the technical support department;
- Experience in an international investment company;
- Experience in project management;
- Experience in conducting IT trainings for company management
- Experience in organizing IT support during various events organized by the company (for example, conferences for investors, a meeting of shareholders and so on).
- The experience of replacing a regional IT manager in an English-language office
- ITIL knowledge
- Knowledge of Microsoft Windows
- MacOS knowledge
- Service Desk Implementation Experience
- Experience in implementing IT resource management systems
- Experience in implementing and supporting corporate portal systems and electronic application systems.
Useful links on the topic of investment and stock trading:
- Open a brokerage account online
- Test account with virtual money
- Software for trading on the exchange: trading terminal, mobile applications
- Structural Products
- Model Portfolios
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