[Chicago] traders vs coders

[Thomas Johnson]

As a former trade developer at a big bank and at a Chicago prop firm, I can
tell you that no one is expecting you as a programmer to come up with
trading strategies. You might advance to that level after a couple years of
experience if you're lucky, but more and more strategy development is being
handled by people with PhDs or people with advanced degrees in data science
related fields.

If you still want to get into the industry, some basic knowledge of how the
market works is good (e.g., what is a bid/offer), but even that isn't
really required at the entry level. It's really no different than getting
any other coding job. The languages to know are C++/Java/Python (in
approximately that order, depending on the company). Knowledge of latency
optimization is usually very important. On the interviewing side, the
industry hasn't yet caught up with Facebook/Google in that you might still
get outdated brainteasers and probability/statistics questions - these are
easy to study for because they're usually questions that have been recycled
for years.

The stress level is higher than in most industries. Unsurprisingly, people
tend to freak out if they suddenly lose a few hundred thousand dollars or
more because of a bug. Also, depending on the firm, your paycheck can be
highly dependent on the team you're on. You may make 50-100% more or less
than someone who is just as skilled simply because your team happens to be
trading a strategy or product that is hot right now. This means that
politics can get get brutal and turnover can be high. As one recruiter has
said "ex-Citadel is the least exclusive club in finance" (Citadel is a very
successful Chicago finance firm with a reputation for burn & churn hiring
practices - hire people, burn them out, fire them).

So to summarize - it's probably easier to get a job in the industry than
Google/Facebook, and it probably pays more on average (especially after
Chicago cost of living adjustment) but make sure you really want it.

On Sat, Sep 19, 2015 at 3:21 PM Jon Sudlow <jsudlow at gmail.com> wrote:

> Does anyone have any books or references about the development of
> computerized trading systems that will shoot straight with you and not
> attempt to sell you a 5 step system? How would you train for a job like
> this? Looks really cool.
>
> On Sat, Sep 19, 2015 at 3:10 PM, Jimmy Calahorrano via Chicago <
> chicago at python.org> wrote:
>
>> worth to share!
>>
>> Why Goldman Sachs is replacing traders with coders
>>
>> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/why-goldman-sachs-is-replacing-traders-with-coders-10503906.html
>>
>> Jason we should bring someone from GS to the finance meetup ;)
>>
>>
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