Getting Hired: Financial Technology

Every company and every industry is going to be different. I can only speak to my particular experiences. The financial technology space operates under very specific constraints that are somewhat similar to games, especially in terms of building reliable systems; but, there are a unique set of constraints that exist for financial technology engineers.

Imagine a government not being able to issue a bond because your software is down.

I have spent a lot less time in FinTech than in video games; but, when I was in FinTech I worked for a true giant in the field. Admittedly, my particular role required both a breadth of knowledge and a good deal of depth (sound familiar? Yup, just like a games engineer) and an ability to teach large groups of engineers the same topics; so, my personal interview experience was definitely colored by those requirements. Luckily, I was also responsible for interviewing other candidates across the company. As such, I feel pretty comfortable “generalizing” the experience and process.

The Interview

Interviewing in FinTech (unsurprisingly) involves the usual HR phone call, two or more phone screenings (usually focused on specifics of a language the candidate indicates they know well), possibly a small code test or challenge (this is usually executed online and involves multiple choice questions or small code problems), and then involves an on-site with multiple engineers. Topics will relate to operating systems (I/O, IPC, concurrency, memory layout, etc.), data structures, algorithms, language specifics (usually C++ and Java, but this will heavily depend on the position), and there will usually be a small amount of topical problem solving in there (topics the candidate is expected to know based on their history, resume, etc.).

The company I was at spent a great deal of effort and training making the interview process as good an experience for the candidate as possible — this stuck with me. As a giant of the tech world, the company could have turned the interview into a meat grinder (similar to games); instead, they wanted to make sure every single candidate felt great at the end.

What I found interesting about the FinTech world is that the interviews felt tailored to what I had already indicated I knew and what I was applying for, rather than a blanket application. As a candidate, I greatly appreciated this experience. Instead of trying to solve some Google-esque problem, every question was concrete, meaningful to my future job, and asked by an expert level individual in the topic (my C++ conversations were with core maintainers of a high performance C++ library, my Java questions by individuals teachings and writing books on high performance Java, etc.).

FinTech in Summary

• Companies want engineers of all experience levels
• As a whole, there is a willingness to mentor, grow, and educate
• Long term focus on personal growth goals
• Interviews are reality- and practicality- focused with a greater emphasis on “do you know what you say you know”
• A lot of focus on making the candidate have a good experience
• Product needs to work all the time regardless of outside or internal factors

Want to know more? Feel free to reach out to me.

And, as always:

We’re hiring! Come work with us.