Unix/Linux contracts in banking

[thecontractoruk]

Hi all, newbie here so please be patient if I am talking anything stupid ...

I am a Unix Linux guy with experience in media/web industry. I have been doing contracting now for 2 years and what I have realised most of the well paid and long term gigs in my field are in IB/Financial or Public sector. The gigs in other industries are mostly short term like 3 - 6 months (just to fill the headcount when permie left or need extra resource for a small project etc).

Currently my contracting career running with long gaps between gigs. Also no two companies are using same layered tech stack due to availability of wide range of open source technologies and I have to keep learning more & more just to do the same job. Looking in banking industry they seem to be using pretty much same standard technologies or at least not adopting change that rapidly.

So I am thinking to go back to perm role (which I really don't like) just to get a break into FS industry, and after 2 or 3 years working there if I am confident I will then switch back to contracting or may be not.

I am really frustrated and confused right now and can't decide whether to just focus on what I am doing now or go back to perm to get FS exp.

If any one here are Unix admins and contracting in banking, I would like to here your opinions please. Because grass on other end always looks green, so I would like to know pros & cons of Unix/Linux contracts in banking industry.


Many thanks

[stek]

Done a few banking roles, if you're a Unix guy forget Linux, no doubt it's used somewhere but I can't recall seeing it.

The three Banks I worked at were heavy AIX users, with some Solaris so you'd need knowledge of those plus their underlying virtualisation technologies, LPAR's/LDOM's etc and their cluster solutions.

You'd not get with just Linux, and AIX is not blaggable, it's too esoteric.

[thecontractoruk]

Done a few banking roles, if you're a Unix guy forget Linux, no doubt it's used somewhere but I can't recall seeing it.

The three Banks I worked at were heavy AIX users, with some Solaris so you'd need knowledge of those plus their underlying virtualisation technologies, LPAR's/LDOM's etc and their cluster solutions.

You'd not get with just Linux, and AIX is not blaggable, it's too esoteric.

Thanks Stek. My strengths are with Solaris & RHEL with some HP-UX knowledge and Solaris is my favourite OS at any day. I never get chance to work with AIX, but I will be more than happy to learn if I have to.

So as you said most of the banks will use pretty much same stack i.e AIX, Solaris (May be some Linux), underlying virtualisation & HA cluster tools. Which is good, as I can focus and master on limited number of technologies.

Where as in Linux & open source world, every day something new comes and last for few months/years and something else will take over. Its constant reinvention of wheel. Being a contractor I feel this is really night mare to deal with the rapid change

[BlasterBates]

Banks have been laying people off over the last few years so a lot of competition from contractors who have experience in banking and their systems. So it won't be easy.

[thecontractoruk]

Banks have been laying people off over the last few years so a lot of competition from contractors who have experience in banking and their systems. So it won't be easy.

Mmm got your point. It will be like I am waiting in last row of queue. I will see what life brings with tomorrow sun rise

[stek]

Mmm got your point. It will be like I am waiting in last row of queue. I will see what life brings with tomorrow sun rise

Also you'll need some knowledge of various things that Banks seem to like like Mainframes, JCL, OPC, Connect Direct (aka C), SWIFT, even God forbid, Tuxedo.

[portseven]

Done a few banking roles, if you're a Unix guy forget Linux, no doubt it's used somewhere but I can't recall seeing it.

Most of the high street banks now have a medium to long term strategy of moving most current UNIX workloads to Linux. Yes there is still a fair bit of AIX and Solaris, but Linux is eroding that.

The stacks are not as changeable as other industries, you will mostly have Linux / WAS and Linux / Oracle. And if the place is running zLinux you will often see that running DB2 and/or Message Broker.

I expect the demand for Linux admins to only increase in FSI.

[Underscore Pt2]

Red Hat linux is heavily used in RBS and others.

[portseven]

Red Hat linux is heavily used in RBS and others.

I am friends with one of Red Hats (2) senior account managers for the FSI and they are doing very well with banks, insurance co's, etc. The question of 'is linux strategic'? is well and truly old news, most of them are targeting Linux as the *Nix platform, and if they are not they are genrally 'windows shops'. They current and next big battle is the middleware space, where they are trying to get JBOSS in the door.

[thecontractoruk]

I am friends with one of Red Hats (2) senior account managers for the FSI and they are doing very well with banks, insurance co's, etc. The question of 'is linux strategic'? is well and truly old news, most of them are targeting Linux as the *Nix platform, and if they are not they are genrally 'windows shops'. They current and next big battle is the middleware space, where they are trying to get JBOSS in the door.

Will they also planning to replace Unix with Linux for running low latency trading apps like Murex etc ?

I am not sure how the banks will embrace cloud technologies, will they build private/hybrid clouds in future ?