What would you say?

Prudential / Product
bakingsoda

Go to company page Prudential Product

 bakingsoda
Sep 5, 2019 6 Comments

Tl:dr: College student graduating soon and wants to know more about the current tech culture in finance/fintech v.s. pure tech at other companies.

I am only focusing on the tech culture at fin/fintech companies, TC and other aspects are a discussion for another time. When I refer to "tech culture," I'm referring to engineering, DevOps, UI/UX, product/design, etc.

For those who work at other financial institutions in a tech role (i.e Citi, JPM, Citadel, etc) or fintech companies (2S, Jane St, RH, etc.) how is the tech culture there? Is it tech-forward? Do you feel valued? Do you not feel like a cost center? Those who work at a dedicated tech company, is the tech culture/forwardness narrative really "true?" 

The reason why I ask is b/c I'm graduating UG this semester in the NYC area. I've had mixed feelings interning at two different Fortune 100 financial services companies in a tech role. My assumption is, for a dedicated tech company the tech culture is at the forefront since you're the "jewel-of-the-crown" of the business. I'd love to work in pure tech, but feel like I should be open to other opportunities early in my career. But I don't want to pigeonhole myself too much though. I felt that the tech culture in those companies is not prioritized as much and wanted to know if this was common at most/all finance/fintech related companies.

Thanks for reading. Please, no troll. I would love to hear from other perspectives or any "debunks" you may have.

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 TOP 6 Comments
  • Chase
    (╯°□°）╯

    Go to company page Chase

    (╯°□°）╯
    I work in fintech.

    I don't recommend working in fintech. You'll be a fungible resource and you'll soon find your NYC job outsources to Delaware, Plano, Europe, Bournemouth, Glasgow, Hyderabad, or Bangalore.

    Shoot for FAANG, where they understand that they get what they pay for when it comes to tech talent.
    Sep 5, 2019 2
    • Oracle / Data
      bendy

      Go to company page Oracle Data

       bendy
      Hearing of Bournemouth for the first time. Didn’t know if was fintech hub

      Delaware is interesting. I thought most fintech companies outside of nyc were largely concentrated in Connecticut
      Sep 5, 2019
    • Chase
      (╯°□°）╯

      Go to company page Chase

      (╯°□°）╯
      Connecticut is also a hub. My company has a presence in each of the locations I listed above, mostly because they can pay people less to work there as compared to NYC. Other locations I left off include Tampa and Columbus.
      Sep 5, 2019
  • Bank of America / Product
    Quacky

    Go to company page Bank of America Product

     Quacky
    Dont work for a financial institution- ever bank tech employee ever
    Sep 5, 2019 0
  • Depends what you define as fintech. If you mean some dinosaur investment bank, then yea tech will be viewed as a cost center and should be avoided. There’s a lot of fintech companies that very much emphasize tech though - Bloomberg, HFT, crypto, etc.
    Sep 5, 2019 0
  • MeridianLink / Product
    XVrn30

    MeridianLink Product

     XVrn30
    I think the requirements are higher at companies where you have to have larger subject knowledge. In computer science you're always programming something that usually involves a larger expertise. Unless you're doing real lightweight consumer stuff. But that's not where the best opportunities are. Are you naturally interested in accounting economics and statistics? Then maybe fintech.
    Sep 5, 2019 0