Java Developer switching domains into the financial sector..

[voodooflux]

Good timing. Banks shedding experienced contractors and cutting rates on those they are keeping, and you with no experience wanting a foot in the door.

But apart from that the timing is perfect?

[DimPrawn]

Good timing. Banks shedding experienced contractors and cutting rates on those they are keeping, and you with no experience wanting a foot in the door.

[moorfield]

In my experience if you are "just" a Java Developer then your main competition these days in IB circles are the offshore people. You need to offer more to get ahead for the lucrative rates in this area eg be more "business facing" and "flexible" about your working hours, or specific applications knowledge and experience eg Fidessa, Summit, Murex, Calypso.

[blue_grover]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum!

I hope some of you might have some suggestions you could e-mail me or share here. I'm a software developer who has been making Java applications for over a decade now. Most of my work has related to scientific computing and research. I've done a lot in those areas but now I want to switch into the finance sector. I'm drawn to the idea of doing contract work for a few reasons. Putting aside the money issues, I figure it's easier for me to work intensely for shorter periods than to try to do it at a slightly less frenetic pace as a long term permanent. The second reason is that I figure contractors end up learning a lot when they end up in a new environment... am I right or wrong about this?

As for the finance sector - it looks like an environment where you're trying to track trends. I also imagine that contractors end up working on mission-critical systems. That means they have to be really robust, which suggests to me they put a lot of emphasis on software engineering approaches. Is this true/false? Thoughts?

What kind of rate should I charge? There's no way I'm a junior programmer and I've done a lot of hard grind doing development with most of the technologies they want. But I don't have a background in finance and no previous experience in that particular sector. Is it appropriate to charge the median rate for Java developers at: http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/contracts/uk/java.do?

If you're skilled with the technologies, how critically important is it for people to already have domain experience? Do the banking companies expect you to gather requirements by talking shop with traders or do they get separate people to gather requirements and to design and implement the solution? In scientific fields, the need to have thorough domain knowledge in addition to good programming skills seems a bit overstated.

I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions. The workings of IT in the finance sector seem a little bit of an enigma to me right now and I'd like to fix that

Cheers!