Reply to: Skills for financial IT jobs

[markinbrussels]

I'm in Finance and I was thinking about just the same in the opposite direction!!

Some jobs are just technical so as long as you have hot programming skill, that's all that's required.

I'm curious now. Why do you want to move to Telecom?

Does anything of these sound sexy to you? IPv6, SIP, IGMP, UPNP, VPN, etc?

Do you enjoy reading the Telecom Journal?

OK, working for Apple or Samsung could be cool, but I find telecom to be boring as hell!!

OTOH, bonds, futures, warrants, etc... all that sh1t sounds pretty exciting. Plus you know
that you're working for the dark side. Only downside: you have to wear suit and tie and
apply some gel on your hair.

[HairyArsedBloke]

Really most of the systems I have worked on, and currently work on, are a total shambles and nobody ever knows how they are meant to work.

Sorry

[Scrag Meister]

Is VBA needed?

FTFY

Yes very useful, along with Java and C#

[aussielong]

Dodgy code in IBs

I worked on some stuff once and it went into production. It was generating a risk position that they were trading off. Due to some dodgy threading code, very occasionally the wrong figure was coming out. I remember I was in a development meeting when a trader, an accountant and my boss came looking for me. They told me $250M has disappeared from the position and they were trading off the wrong position. I had to leave the meeting and fix the code in Vi while they were looking over my shoulder. I fixed it and it went straight into production. About half an hour later they came back, the position was off again. I fixed it again and that was the last I heard about it. That was a stressful day. Thankfully my practices have improved since then.

[d000hg]

Clearly not in any any position that requires analytical or intelligent skills or the evaluation of evidence.
Are you a janitor?

Or market predictions?

[minestrone]

The guy that wrote it 3-10 years ago probably knew what it was supposed to do. The fact he moved on 3 years ago doesn't help...

That is it really.

I am always of the belief that a system should have a master document, so when a change gets made you reflect that change in that document. What always happens is a change gets documented in a change specification document so if you want to learn what the system is doing you are expected to read hundreds of change specs (if you can find them). Still do not know how these places do these things so badly.

Cash from chaos I suppose, get the invoices in and dance to the music they play.

[Moscow Mule]

Really most of the systems I have worked on, and currently work on, are a total shambles and nobody ever knows how they are meant to work.

The guy that wrote it 3-10 years ago probably knew what it was supposed to do. The fact he moved on 3 years ago doesn't help...

[minestrone]

My first job in an IB was to fix a quote where a value of 7 million was getting added to a value of something like 430 million rather than subtracted, this bug had been in the system for 5 years and when I asked for a documented formula to go in and correct the bug nobody knew what it was meant to be. Really most of the systems I have worked on, and currently work on, are a total shambles and nobody ever knows how they are meant to work.

[threaded]

You really only need to understand the Time Value of Money, for most IB programming jobs.

Yeah, and for most derivatives and futures programming a basic knowledge of control theory esp. PID controllers and you'll have the maths.

[aussielong]

I've been thinking about switching sectors and move to the
dark side of Finance. What are the IT skills needed to work
in the financial sector? Is a MBA needed?

Mark

You really only need to understand the Time Value of Money, for most IB programming jobs.

[threaded]

I'm in Finance and I was thinking about just the same in the opposite direction!!

Some jobs are just technical so as long as you have hot programming skill, that's all that's required.

If you think the gel haired freaks in finance are bad, wait to you meet the utter loon version that works in telecoms.

[Lockhouse]

I moved into IB and sat and read the web for a couple of days about derivatives then I knew as much as the guy next to me.

WHS - He probably knows more about them than me and I've been in IB for nearly 20 years.

[minestrone]

Don't really need any specific skills, I got in by dropping my day rate for the first 6 months.

I moved into IB and sat and read the web for a couple of days about derivatives then I knew as much as the guy next to me.

[sasguru]

I'm in Finance .

Clearly not in any any position that requires analytical or intelligent skills or the evaluation of evidence.
Are you a janitor?

[BlasterBates]

I've been working for the last 10 years in Telecom. This
is a line of work that is steadily drying up, plus I don't
find it exciting anymore.

I've been thinking about switching sectors and move to the
dark side of Finance. What are the IT skills needed to work
in the financial sector? Is a MBA needed?

All input appreciated. All cynicism will get the Kim-Jong Il
treatment.

Mark

I'm in Finance and I was thinking about just the same in the opposite direction!!

Some jobs are just technical so as long as you have hot programming skill, that's all that's required.