Wall Street seeks geeks

Nancy Anderson
Posted by in Technology



Attention tech heads: Wall Street wants you.

As the financial sector was the first to receive a stimulus package in the wake of the 2008 economic meltdown, it should perhaps come as no surprise that the financial sector is the first to have fully recovered from the collapse. Bonuses made a comeback before public outcry led firms to scale them back, the stock market regained all the money it lost in '08, and Wall Street firms are back in decent fiscal shape.

Now they've discovered they need to get their IT house in order. A recent post to Halah Touryalai's "Working Capital" blog on Forbes.com, citing figures from eFinancialCareers.com, noted that since the first quarter of 2010, IT job postings in the financial sector are up 75 percent from last year, and the hiring surge shows no sign of slowing down yet.

The need is greatest in the Northeast, where there is a shortage of developers with banking, trading or financial industry expertise, Touryalai reports. The demand is driven in part by new financial rules and regulations that took effect earlier this year; larger companies are relying on technology to ensure compliance.

You may have to ditch the ultra-casual "business wardrobe" to work in IT on Wall Street, but you'll have the money to go out and buy yourself a new one: Like most everyone else they hire, financial-services firms pay their IT people quite well, and the bonus backlash has also had the side effect of boosting regular salary.

The best IT openings from Wall Street to Silicon Valley can be found on TechCareers.com.

By Sandy Smith


Sandy Smith is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his career in public relations and corporate communications. His work has appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia CityPaper, PGN, and a number of Web sites. Philly-area residents may also recognize him as "MarketStEl" of discussion-board fame. He has been a part of the great reserve army of freelance writers since January 2009 and is actively seeking opportunities wherever they may lie.



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