Wondering about this distinction…Bloomberg is technically a finance, tech, data, and media company. Some people refer to as a fintech company too. What is it actually?? Wondering about other finance companies as well (Citadel, HRT, Jane Street, etc.) So do software engineers at Bloomberg work in finance or tech? What’s the right way to say it?
They work in tech for a financial data provider, the core business is selling data
So would you say I work in finance or I work in tech?
Bloomberg is tech but finance is the business domain. The HFT/prop shops, finance is the business and tech is tool to do it. SWE might be “second class citizen”, but like second class and working with amazing people and making boat loads of money ain’t so bad
Bloomberg is a philanthropy funded by selling terminals. The singular goal of the company is to contribute to Mike’s charities. There is no large tech/finance goals to it no matter what anyone tells you.
Tech. It's easy, just think about where the money is coming from. In Goldman, your sales people sell financial products to your clients. Software is only a tool, and not directly revenue generating, so engineers are not treated equally. Emphasis is on finance and markets. Now think about Bloomberg. The primary source of revenue is The Terminal, which is software. We have entire sales and support departments just for that. So engineers are treated well, and whilst we care about the market (it affects our clients, and therefore our sales), we care more about technology and how to make the product we sell, better.
So what you are saying is you are doomed when either wallst sneezes or tech competitor surfaces.
Logic would make one think so, but historically Bloomberg has done really well especially during market downturns. Not saying it can't happen, just that it hasn't happened so far. As for competition, that's a valid concern, too, but there were many unsuccessful attempts previously. It's just really hard to reach parity when you're competing with a behemoth that was built over a period of 40 years.
We have a lot orgs, media org, terminal orgs, and philanthropy. There’s a tv studio in the building, and two cafeterias. The lower floors feel more like a Media company than Finance. I have not went upstairs yet to the higher floors. But it does not feel like a finance company on the lower floors.
Can I DM you please?
Sure
Bloomberg is definitely tech if you're a SWE. I was hoping I'd gain more finance knowledge, but hasn't happened in >3 years, even when I worked on customer facing terminal products. Maybe YMMV, but the average SWE at Bloomberg doesn't know more about finance than any other SWE.
Neither. Bloomberg is a data vendor. They do no trading, and no one is paying for 90s era tech. They're charging for access to one of the biggest and best repositories of data in existence.
So then how would you describe the company to a layman who hasn’t heard of Bloomberg before? “I work for a data vendor?” Usually people will say “I’m in finance” or “I’m in tech”
I’ve worked at tech and finance before HRT. It’s different than both, for the better.
Thanks for the insight! Got an offer from BB so was just wondering what I’m getting myself into lol
The vibe is finance, especially in NYC. The tech stack is weird and not industry standard, use cases are unique and at a larger scale than any bank or financial institution.
What is their tech stack? If c++ how is it weird? Unique use cases?
can confirm this for the majority of teams, first team here I hated