Finance, Investment Development Contracts

[Diestl]

I got my current gig at a bank without banking experience, although I did pass the tech test with 96%, im glad because now it should be no problem getting future lucrative contracts.

[Toasta]

I got my current gig at a bank without banking experience, although I did pass the tech test with 96%, im glad because now it should be no problem getting future lucrative contracts.

What sort of stuff was on the test? And what sort of preperation did you do for it?

[kingshuk]

How does one move into the banking sector as a contractor, obviously that is where the big money is, but every job ad asks for previous banking experience.

I found the easy option is to apply for a permie role in the banks. In the current job market I found many of the banks are relatively relaxed about previous banking experience. Serve your time there and come out for contracting.

I recently worked in a City bank as a permie (without prior banking experience) for about 6 months. At that time I had also interviewed in two other banks. None of them asked for prior work experience in banking. I have now moved into contracting in another bank.

Interview in the first bank was java and sybase test. That was followed by a "design discussion" where they explain a real life design problem and you are supposed to provide a solution. The other 2 had similar formats too (number of interviews vary - one of them took 5). Of course whether its java or something else depends on your area of expertise.

One thing worth noting here is - in all three I was asked questions about instruments, some business flow etc. So you are expected to know at least a little about the area. Pick up some good books and prepare before you start interviewing.

[Frep D'Oronge]

I am thinking of doing the same to get into finance. I have done a bit of research, & B'Bates I did actually buy the Hull Tome, quite interesting and probably useful in a hand-to-hand combat situation.
One question is at what level do most developers work at in banking jobs - is it mandatory to know Black-Scholes inside and out? I have an Engineering/CS background, but still I haven't touched partial derivatives for ages and am finding it tough. So is the hard core maths needed for a break into finance?

[kingshuk]

One question is at what level do most developers work at in banking jobs - is it mandatory to know Black-Scholes inside and out? ... So is the hard core maths needed for a break into finance?

No. Not unless you want a job in that area.

Most of the softwares banks need - front office order management systems, messaging, middle office etc etc do NOT need advanced mathematics knowledge. I know people writing software for banks for 10 years or more and they wouldn't know what a partial differential equation is.Which is not to say that they are not good. Its just that they don't need to know in their jobs.

Having said that, if you are clued in about maths that these banks use you may break into a niche area. It pays quite a bit more than the run of the mill programming jobs that the banks have.

[Frep D'Oronge]

Having said that, if you are clued in about maths that these banks use you may break into a niche area. It pays quite a bit more than the run of the mill programming jobs that the banks have.

OK thats what I thought - but I was just checking to see if there was anything substantial to the 'bankers club' apart from just general experience in the industry, in other words that breaking into finance won't require ninja maths.

Next step = rejigging the CV to break/blag into a banking job