How is trading talent set to evolve going forward?
The future trading talent has a different educational background than what has been the norm for decades. Future traders will possess more technical skillsets and they will have quantitative and mathematical backgrounds. This shift has already taken place over the course of several years, and the trend will only continue for many years to come while the industry expands into the technological space.
The new talent is well versed in coding and mathematics. They know all products in depth from a theoretical point of view, and on top of this they have the ability to put their ideas into scripts and programs. They can retrieve and fetch necessary information from databases and other information sources.
How do you expect the trading role to change further in light of automation and AI developments?
The inflow of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) only emphasises the change in educational backgrounds towards more technologically adept traders. Developments in automation and AI will increase the set of available and useful tools for trading execution, and the ability to understand and utilise these effectively will be key for having the best trading desks.
What is the best piece of advice you have been given in your career?
The best advice I have received was given to me while I was employed as a graduate. It was a combination of seeking challenging goals while aligning on expectations. I was encouraged to pursue jobs and tasks that I found most exciting even though they would appear incomprehensible. But maybe more importantly, I was told to make sure to align on expectations continuously with my leaders and stakeholders.
If it was not for this advice, I would perhaps have stayed in my comfort zone and not pursued anything too challenging. But, the combination of having expectations aligned on a continuous basis with challenging goals, made it easier for me to focus on relevant tasks, and calmed me in the process. The process itself became enjoyable and enhanced my development.
How is data changing the way that traders operate and what impact is this having on the type of person joinng the desk?
The trend toward increasing technology use entails a working environment with data-intense information sources. This gives us a unique opportunity to analyse and leverage the information in useful ways. For the desks that embrace these new opportunities, they will take in people with a mixed skillset including the ability to process large amounts of data and recognise useful patterns and connections. I believe that this quantitative approach will become the norm in the future, hence people with more technical backgrounds will become favourable on the desk.