Career Shift to Software Development

[nodakfan17]

I’m in my early 30s and work as a financial analyst for a local bank.

 

After using Robinhood, the free brokerage account app, I’m convinced that it’s only a matter of time before my industry is completely transformed by technology. Frankly, I think the only reason why someone like Amazon or Walmart hasn’t come along and invented a better way to bank is because the powerful banking lobby is blocking their attempts.

 

In the interest of self preservation, I’d like to learn how to code. This Fall, I started taking an introductory class online through my local technical college. I’m a few weeks in to my class, but I’m unimpressed by the delivery format. I think I would be better served by places like Tree House or Code Academy who specialize in this type of content. Beyond that, I don’t know where to start.

 

Any suggestions from the BF community would be much appreciated.

[jerichoholicninja]

Watch Office Space, do what they did, but don't give the money back. Live the rest of your life on an island like Milton.

[Baldkin]

I’m in my early 30s and work as a financial analyst for a local bank.

 

After using Robinhood, the free brokerage account app, I’m convinced that it’s only a matter of time before my industry is completely transformed by technology. Frankly, I think the only reason why someone like Amazon or Walmart hasn’t come along and invented a better way to bank is because the powerful banking lobby is blocking their attempts.

 

In the interest of self preservation, I’d like to learn how to code. This Fall, I started taking an introductory class online through my local technical college. I’m a few weeks in to my class, but I’m unimpressed by the delivery format. I think I would be better served by places like Tree House or Code Academy who specialize in this type of content. Beyond that, I don’t know where to start.

 

Any suggestions from the BF community would be much appreciated.

 

There is so much good, free content out there about learning to code, I would start there. Get an idea about the basics and go from there.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/wiki/faq#wiki_getting_started

 

Reddit is a seriously great resource for things like self learning.

[nodakfan17]

Thanks for the Reddit link. I forgot what a great resource that can be.

[DHonks]

A couple of thoughts.

 

First of all, Amazon is finally getting attention for monopolistic practices. If this were the TR or Taft era, the govt would be breathing down their necks. So if Amazon moves into banking, it would be only a matter of time before they are broken up by the Govt.

 

Secondly, while there are a lot of worthless analysts and brokers, most of them genuinely know more about more about investing than the average Joe. When the next recession hits and Robin Hood investors aren’t adequately diversified or millennials are stuck with their crypto, there will be a need for good financial advisors. Why not look into how you can bridge this gap? People need info and tools, yet they elude most Americans. The lack of saving for most Americans creates a problem that is a true market failure. Financial advisors chase the big guys, but there are a lot of regular guys that need the savings and advice

[owbc]

There's still a huge shortage of people who can skillfully work with data (e.g. data analysis, data scientists, data engineers). So if you are looking for a career move that's where I would look to pick up skills that could be combined with your expertise in finance.

 

As for coding in particular, my main bit of advice would be that learning to code is fairly straightforward but learning to write good code is hard. Best to develop good habits when starting out.

[nodakfan17]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

 

I think I’m pretty well positioned for industry disruption as it stands. My educational background is in applied economics, which is a blend of economics and statistics. I know ‘analyst’ is a vague term, but I don’t work with clients or investments. Instead, I run the bank’s balance sheet through a set of hypothetical scenarios to assess how well it would perform under adverse economic conditions. This process is called ‘stress testing.’ I’m familiar with a several statistical software programs like Eviews, SAS, Stata, and SPSS that would probably allow me to eventually catch on elsewhere. Unfortunately, these proficiencies are becoming increasingly standard. Recent college grads usually know a few of these programs because they grew up with better math and technology education and didn't waste their time learning how to write in cursive when they were in school. I’m looking for ways to stay up to date with technology and ride out whatever storms may be ahead.

 

Edit: Put differently, if I’m at risk of losing my job to automation in the next 10 years, I guess I’d like to be the person who automates it.

[GAME05]

But isn't coding in the same or worse position in the US, that so much of it is being outsourced to Hong Kong? Plus as someone who has made a complete career switch, you just end up starting at the bottom of the new industry, making less money and working your way up again. Just to play devil's advocate, wouldn't you actually be better off making a lot more money now even in a dying field, than less money over a longer period of time? Plus industry change is often slow and not sudden, so even if your field bottoms out in 10-15 years, you'd be the guy with tons of experience who could still get what few jobs exist, even if they did pay a lot less.

 

Plus, wouldn't there be career options out there which would at least be related to your current career? Then you wouldn't have to navigate such a huge transition. I'd have to think if not a bank, then a mutual fund which has to do much of the same work managing lots of money.

[Samurai Bucky]

Software development can be a very rewarding field. I have been in the industry for a long time, so hopefully I can articulate some ideas from my career along with what I look for when hiring somebody.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that there are many people who are coders. Although I graduated with a CompSci degree from Madison, I spent a lot of time learning on my own. My first language was BASIC on a Commodore 64, and has grown over the almost 40 years since then (yikes). I guess my point is that it is a rewarding field, but you need to keep learning.

 

Here is an article that gives some good tips. https://lifehacker.com/top-10-ways-to-teach-yourself-to-code-1684250889 I wanted to highlight a few things.

 

Get a programming book. Write in the book. Over time, you will remember certain concepts and you can go back to the book to reference what you did.

 

Take the initiative. Google is your friend.

 

Don't get overwhelmed by the many programming languages. When all is said and done, I code in anywhere from 3-6 languages a day mostly because SQL Server requires, well, SQL. Web sites require HTML, JavaScript, and jQuery. We also use C# when programming MVC or other web applications. The main point, mentioned above, is to remember concepts. Programming is structured. There is something that needs to be solved, so code to solve it. Break it down as much as you can and program against each piece.

 

Test, test, test. Make sure your code is testable. I could write a dissertation on this topic, but really don't want to...

 

Finally, be content to work your way up the ladder. I work for a very, very small company, so when we hire somebody, we can't afford to pay somebody with three years experience $90k / year. We have taken fliers on a few people and have been burnt badly. It seems like most people coming out of MATC, Wisconsin, etc. are demanding at least 70k. Crazy.

 

Anyway, I would suggest downloading the Community version of Visual Studio. There may be other tools, but it can get you started. https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/

 

Best of luck... I hope this helps

[LouisEly]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

 

I think I’m pretty well positioned for industry disruption as it stands. My educational background is in applied economics, which is a blend of economics and statistics. I know ‘analyst’ is a vague term, but I don’t work with clients or investments. Instead, I run the bank’s balance sheet through a set of hypothetical scenarios to assess how well it would perform under adverse economic conditions. This process is called ‘stress testing.’ I’m familiar with a several statistical software programs like Eviews, SAS, Stata, and SPSS that would probably allow me to eventually catch on elsewhere. Unfortunately, these proficiencies are becoming increasingly standard. Recent college grads usually know a few of these programs because they grew up with better math and technology education and didn't waste their time learning how to write in cursive when they were in school. I’m looking for ways to stay up to date with technology and ride out whatever storms may be ahead.

 

Edit: Put differently, if I’m at risk of losing my job to automation in the next 10 years, I guess I’d like to be the person who automates it.

I don't think there will be any reduced need for bank stress testers any time soon, but what's important isn't the programs that you know but, like Samurai Bucky said, it's knowing the concepts and principles behind what you are trying to do with those programs.

 

If you know statistics and what you are trying to do with statistics, it's just a matter of leaning the interface and application which only takes a couple of months. Hiring managers will understand and look beyond that. It's about knowing how to solve the underlying business problems behind what you are using statistics and analysis for. Hiring managers look for people who know how to solve problems, work through others, can continuously learn, and know how to find someone who can help solve the problem if you can't. Knowing how to code doesn't provide any advantage if those people always need to be told what to do.

 

One thing I'd recommend if you already know those statistical software programs is to learn R. PLENTY of analytics jobs out there where you are using R and/or SPSS.

[nodakfan17]

Wow. Again, I’m overwhelmed by the support here. Thank you.

 

I enjoy my current job and the people I work with. I plan on being here as long as they want me to be here. That doesn’t mean I can’t find ways to learn new skills and innovate in my current role. However, I have a mortgage and a tiny mouth to feed, so I need a Plan B. Software development just seems like a more natural transition for me than say pipe fitting. I’ve also considered the data science route, given the demand for that field and some prior exposure to those concepts.

 

To anyone with an HR background or lots of hiring experience - would you prefer to see a lot of self tought skills on a resume or IT credits from a local technical college? (I already have a MS in a somewhat related field, so I’m not really interested in another degree, just skills).

 

And despite the recent scrutiny over big tech, I’m still convinced they’ll transform entire industries over the next 10-15 years. I just want to remain relevant.

[nate82]

If you go for data scientist or something similar you already have some skills needed for those jobs. SAS is a good skill to have it is similar to R and Python is another program you would need to learn.

 

I use datacamp to study up on Python and R.

 

https://www.datacamp.com

 

You have to pay to use it but it is fairly cheap and the courses are pretty good.

[owbc]

Wow. Again, I’m overwhelmed by the support here. Thank you.

 

I enjoy my current job and the people I work with. I plan on being here as long as they want me to be here. That doesn’t mean I can’t find ways to learn new skills and innovate in my current role. However, I have a mortgage and a tiny mouth to feed, so I need a Plan B. Software development just seems like a more natural transition for me than say pipe fitting. I’ve also considered the data science route, given the demand for that field and some prior exposure to those concepts.

 

To anyone with an HR background or lots of hiring experience - would you prefer to see a lot of self tought skills on a resume or IT credits from a local technical college? (I already have a MS in a somewhat related field, so I’m not really interested in another degree, just skills).

 

And despite the recent scrutiny over big tech, I’m still convinced they’ll transform entire industries over the next 10-15 years. I just want to remain relevant.

 

Recruiters love side projects because it shows initiative. At least for data science (which I've been considering moving into after I finish my dissertation), they like if you have projects that are available on the web--code on github, writeup on a blog, and/or posts on twitter. Plus it's more fun and easier than taking structured classes since you can do the projects on whatever interests you. I've also considered a data science bootcamp but decided that it isn't for me right now. Another thing that people want is some experience with machine learning--it seems that many people interested in the field started by taking one of the MOOCs, usually the Andrew Ng Stanford one although I recently talked with a data scientist who preferred the Udacity one.

[nodakfan17]

Good stuff, Folks. Thank you.

 

It may be hard to believe, but banks are investing less in stress testing now than they did 5 years ago - mainly due to decreased regulatory scrutiny. It was a very ‘in demand’ career not long ago. But yes, even futuristic online banks will require some type of stress testing.

 

A challenge for me is that I don’t live in a large job market, so I need skills that transcend one industry. My wife loves her job and we bought a home a few years ago with our young family in mind. It would take a lot to uproot us. One up side to my current situation is that when one bank is acquired by another, it usually takes 6 months for the sale to legally close. So, I’d have 6 months (plus severance time) to find a new job. It’d be an uncomfortable few months, but I think we’d by fine.

 

I used R once upon a time in class and even pushed for it at my current employer after reading about a few neat applications in a trade magazine. Unfortunately, the bureaucracy couldn’t wrap its head around the freeware concept and had all sorts of security concerns. I use a few similar, more expensive programs.

 

I still like my current job and employer, though. I can’t underscore that enough. I just worry about our ability to compete with top innovators.