HN Explorer

Ask HN: What are Wall Street programmers up to?

9 points by jhereg ↗ HN
I'm presently employed as a programmer analyst at a Wall Street bank. Probably the "best" one--take the quotes as you will.

My question is this; does anyone have anything to share in terms of experiences working through the recession as a computer scientist, software developer, programmer, etc. on Wall Street? For those who are seeking to leave, or who have recently done so (or even not so recently), what kinds of challenges did you face transitioning to a technology corporation, startup, or other line of work? Did coming out of financial services have any benefits? Or have you chosen to stay in financial technology, either at your original employer or at a new one? Why?

I know I want out in some way, but I'm curious what everyone else who either works or worked on Wall Street as a hacker is up to right now. I sort of ended up here by not properly evaluating all the possibilities, so I'm eager to see where there is to go from here.

4 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 19.7 ms ] thread
jhereg
By the way, I should admit that I created this alternate account (with deliberate symbolism if you catch it) just to post this--banks are notoriously image-conscious employers at times, and I've heard some nasty stories about what happens to people who don't maintain their anonymity.
mechanical_fish
with deliberate symbolism if you catch it

Your business consists mostly of gambling halls?

You know that someone has stolen the operating funds for your entire organization, but you must keep it a secret lest all of you lose face?

wahlee
I've spent time working at one of the "best" Wall Street banks as a student. I'm considering taking a full time job. At the time that I got started down the path I just applied to companies that had the reputations for having the smartest people.

I did indeed work with some very bright people on some challenging and cool projects. The smart people and cool projects notwithstanding, there are still annoying quirks/red tape/etc anytime you work at a big Wall St. firm. Also, there is this conveyor belt system that if you've been around Wall Street you probably notice. Many of the people I worked with follow a similar life pattern: attended a "prestigious" college, landed their first job out of school on the Street, they work hard to get significant promotion after X years, then they work their asses off and finally after 2*X years get a corner office and a major promotion.

I actually asked some of the fellow interns/new hires I worked with point-blank: if you are this talented, and can work this hard for the firm... why not go off on your own and let your ability take you as far as you can go? I got laughed off, and I felt a little embarrassed for even posing the question at the time (this was before the complete sub-prime collapse).

As I mentioned above, I'm still considering a full time job. I think my reasoning is based primarily on the good pay, access to smart people, and interesting projects. Do I think I could be doing better for myself? Heck yes. Why do I settle then? It's hard to get off the conveyor belt.

warfare_expert
I recently moved to NYC to work at a hedge fund after giving up an alternate offer at Google last year. You could say my timing wasn't the best.

I would say the experience as a developer/analyst in any hedge fund or bank depends on 1. How well is it doing (PnL) ? Affects your job prospects and compensation/bonus. 2. How much alpha do you contribute to ? (back office vs mid office vs front office). You make more closer you are to the market, projects are much more exciting and you learn real world finance from the frontlines 3. People and Culture. 4. Compensation: Wall street pays base + bonus where latter takes more and more importance with time. Normally they can grow way faster than any silicon valley firm. But in these times, hard to say unless you work at a place that is still doing quite well.

I love where I am right now because I love learning and I am practically overwhelmed with how much I can learn and grow in my current position + people around me are fantastic (insanely smart brains + nice people). My projects have ranged from script automaton to price modeling, and there is much more to come as I learn. That keeps me excited.