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News & Analysis

The most in-demand programming languages on Wall Street

by Beecher Tuttle
28 January 2015

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein raised some eyebrows last year when he said that banks are, in essence,
technology companies. But the fact is, roughly 25% of Goldmans staff work in technology more than in any
other sector.
With analytics, mobile and web security poised to be major priorities for banks in 2015, tech departments on Wall
Street should only continue to grow. But where will all the hiring occur? The key is to look at the programming
languages that banks are, and arent, using.
We conducted an informal survey with banking technology recruiters to see what their clients are asking for
most. Heres what those who went on record said.

Java
The clear runaway winner has been the most sought after programming language for years on Wall Street. Recruiters told us two years ago that
investment banks were thirsty for Java developers, and little has changed.
Java developers are needed for anything from low latency execution and order management systems to in-house risk and valuation platforms, said
Jared Butler, head of financial technology recruitment for North America at Selby Jennings. Java is also really well-suited for data simulations and
modeling, added John Reed, senior executive director for Robert Half Technology.
Also, with the importance of being able to have user-friendly, fast-loading and secure websites, languages like Java and Javascript, which can be used
in front-end web design, will be critical moving forward, said Gina Schiller, vice president at Jay Gaines & Company.
The reason for the all the fervor around Java is two-fold. Theres a high demand for the skillset along with a dearth of qualified candidates. Late last
year, our resume database contained only seven candidates for every job that required the skill, the lowest ratio among all major programming
languages.
Reed said that Java developers can demand up to a 10% premium on salary compared to others in the market.

C++/C#
Finishing in a virtual tie were C++ and C#.
C++ continues to be the go-to language for high volume/high frequency trading, simply because its the most efficient tool to build an extensively
optimized backtester and execution system in order to process the high volumes of data, said Butler.
Schiller agreed, adding that C++ is also often used for building applications running on many banks legacy systems. Due to the high cost of moving
to new technologies there will continue to be significant demand for those who can program in languages compatible with the legacy environment,
she said.
Like Java, C# can be used in a variety of projects, particularly data simulations and modeling. It had the second lowest ratio of candidates to jobs in
our database, giving qualified job seekers plenty of leverage when it comes to pay. Reed said that C# developers can also demand a 9% to 10% bump
in pay over colleagues with expertise in other languages. SQL is the third language that tends to offer terrific bargaining power, he said.

Python
Following the big three is an up-and-coming programming language that wasnt as hot a few years ago. Python is great for creating analytic tools and
quant models critical tools that contribute to investment banks and hedge funds trading strategies, according to Schiller.
In addition, Python is becoming better known for being easier to use and faster to program than the traditional languages, said Butler, who offered up a
number of reasons why it could replace the aforementioned languages in popularity, particularly in investment banking.
Firstly, programmers are able to do as much with 10 lines of Python code as they are with 20 lines of C++ , and with a much lower margin for error,
he said. Given the increase in regulations/ best practices, you can see the appeal in using it from this perspective. Moreover, given its performance
and usability, Python is fast-becoming the language of choice for red hot modelers in comparison to C++.

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Plus, as technologists crave greater exposure to the business side of banking, Python has become more popular. It enables programmers to better
collaborate on projects with quants, researchers and analysts, Butler said.
However, unlike Java, C++ and C#, along with SQL, Python doesnt provide much at the negotiating table, simply due to the ease of learning the
language.
From a hiring perspective, most hiring managers are willing to forfeit Python proficiency on the basis that most skilled programmers should find it easy
to pick it up, Butler said.

The rest
Other languages that got some votes include SQL, PHP and ETL. We are seeing strategic hires from associate to executive level for candidates
carrying an array of skills, from older ETL technologies such as Informatica to more modern Big Data related tools like Hadoop tech stack, HBase,
HDFS, MapReduce, Pig, Hive, Impala, Flume and Cloud, Butler said. ETL technologies continues to be important for successful data warehousing
and the fat-cutting financial data used by investment bank trading arms globally.

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