Sites for Financial Programming?

So!

I've been living in New York recently, and I've been hearing tales of the rather lucrative financial programming industry. I've heard stories that there might be some high performance C++ to be written there.

However, since I'm not a moneyhead I don't know what the best sites to go to for financial programming are. Is there a forum that's known for it? I'd like to stay up to date on the latest things (I guess High speed trading would be a place to start?)

Not super serious about it, but I imagine some of the problems involved would be fascinating to work through in my spare time.
There was a job posting on some website(stack exhange or tech crunch maybe) of a need of senior developers in chicago approaching salaries of 200k(financial stuff). Maybe you should look at one of those job descriptions to find out what you need to know.
Last edited on
You don't need to be a "moneyhead" to work in finance in NYC as a C++ programmer. The shortage is really quite painful. If you actually know the language and software engineering in general, that's all that's really needed in most cases.
In particularly demanding areas, like high-speed trading that you mention, or quant, you may need to have a PhD and some serious experience, but to work on some trading or order management system - it's all about good engineering.

I don't know of a forum.. but lots of recuiters seem to pick up candidates from linkedin here. Also, get on glassdoor to see what kind of things get asked at interviews and what the employees say about their companies.
closed account (3T7k92yv)
So, unless you have the credentials which will include a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science degree - don't worry about those types of Jobs. No matter how expert you may be at C++ you will not get a 'Financial Programming' job because there are way too many graduates out there seeking the same job.

Sorry to sink your boat - just being realistic.

Most of those high-paying jobs are in HFT. And HFT is gambling and actually works against economy (only lucrative for market-makers and HFT traders, but *not* for investors and companies, which produce goods). Sure, you may as well work in casino, or sell legal addictive substances, but there is nothing to be proud of; regardless how much you make.
Last edited on
@correctcode well, we don't know baordog's credentials or experience.

@rapidcoder you're wrong both about HFT (although you're not alone: I should look up that beautiful in its stupidity recent class action against the stock market) and about "most". Enough NYC firms offer 250k+ C++ jobs in finance outside of that space (although many of them are not so exciting). I don't even think HF drives the prices on the high end anymore, I think it's the quants.
Last edited on
I didn't count boring jobs no-one wants. Sure, offering a boring / dangerous / dirty job may drive up the offer price signifficantly beyond the average. :P
They'd have to pay me at least $250k if I had to be working on embedding SQL queries in a legacy C++ app for an investment bank. :D

BTW: 250k offers in NY are very rare. Most offers in NY, even for senior devs are much lower than that; there are more than 20 offers in range $100k-$200k range per one offer $200k+.
Last edited on
Thanks for the replies so far!

I am pretty sure there is a forum for some of this stuff, or a central community. My idea is to explore it on my own for a while and see if it's something I'm into. I'd like to see what the culture for that kind of thing is like.

I don't have a C/S degree (have other ones though.) I'm not sure that would be an impediment if I had relevant experience in most cases. I've been doing C++ full time for over a year.

In interviews (for other things) people have even offered to train me. There must not be very many c++ devs in NYC.
My idea is to explore it on my own for a while and see if it's something I'm into. I'd like to see what the culture for that kind of thing is like.

It's really no different from any other slice of the software industry: there are hot startups where everyone knows everyone and does everything, there are tightly-focused mid-size companies with maybe a few hundred developers, there are established big names with thousands of programmers and hundreds of millions lines of code. Some have cubicles, some have open floors. Some have complex management structure and ranking system, some cut the management out.

It's only when you get into the specifics of a job that there is anything to talk about: working on a platform for a prop trading desk is a different dynamic from working on a middle office product for multiple buy side clients.

I don't have a C/S degree (have other ones though.)

others could be fine - my degree is in chemistry, yet I work in finance

've been doing C++ full time for over a year.

Okay, forget 250k+ for ~10 years then. I am not sure how hiring works at your level, to be honest. But it's certainly happening a lot.

There must not be very many c++ devs in NYC.

There are many - several thousand in any one building of a sufficiently big company. There aren't many that don't have jobs already, especially on the experienced end.
Last edited on
https://www.quantnet.com/forum/

I found one that's fairly active. It looks as if the discipline I am after is generally referred to as "Financial Engineering"

Like I said before, my idea is to get good at it more or less because I am interested. I like areas that force high performance coding.
In that case you should also like http://www.nuclearphynance.com/
Topic archived. No new replies allowed.