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- Is Finance a Good Career? The Rise of Fintech
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Finance is a very alluring career thanks to its high salaries, potential for big bonuses and ability to have a significant impact on client success. But is it a good career path in today’s digital world? The rise of fintech has forced individuals to rethink what the finance field will look like in the future, creating potential for a new segment of qualified candidates within the sector. Luckily, this career path holds much promise, including high potential for progression within the field and a variety of open roles for individuals with the right skills.
In this article, we’ll review why finance is such an appealing career and how fintech fits into the current finance job market.
Why Is Finance a Good Career Path?
The finance industry offers an array of exciting career options — particularly in the fast-growing world of fintech. Fintech, short for “financial technology,” is an umbrella term that encompasses blockchain, cryptocurrency and robo advising. It also refers to all technology that facilitates the delivery of financial services, such as basic online banking or Tap To Pay on your phone.
Available roles in fintech range from finance-focused roles in financial analysis and compliance, to tech-focused roles like data analysis, blockchain development and product management. Fintech professionals are responsible for developing the technology used in the field, developing mathematical models, creating fintech apps and managing the teams that accomplish all of these tasks. The field is hospitable to all sorts of skill sets and it doesn’t require going back to school for a formal degree to enter the industry. Fintech bootcamps are an intensive, quick way to learn in-demand fintech skills while receiving job search coaching and networking experience.
An important thing to know about a career in finance is that it often requires long hours — to be successful, you will need to feel comfortable committing to that schedule. If you’re ready for the longer hours and larger workloads, you’ll be rewarded with lucrative jobs that allow for serious growth. After all, finance is at the heart of every corporation, and finance offers a fast-paced, fast-growing and endlessly evolving career with limitless opportunities.
Finance Job Outlook
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), financial analysis jobs will grow by 6 percent between 2020 and 2030, with a projected 41,000 new positions to open up each year. This level of growth is healthy for such an established industry, and can be attributed to the increasing number of fintech products on the market, as well as the growing need for finance data analysts who can make sense of the ever-increasing amounts of industry data generated every day.
For financial managers, the growth outlook is even stronger. According to the BLS, financial management positions will grow by 17 percent between 2020 and 2030, with 64,200 new job openings each year. This rapid growth rate is thanks, in part, to increased globalization, as companies with foreign operations have accumulated more cash on their balance sheets and need managers to advise them on how to invest it. There has also been an increased emphasis on risk management in the financial sector, creating greater demand for risk managers.
Is FinTech the Future of Finance?
In a short time, fintech has changed how customers spend and interact with their money — and how businesses all over the world operate. But what is fintech, and why is it growing?
As our economy becomes increasingly cashless, there’s no denying that fintech is indeed the future of finance. Digital transactions are on the rise, and companies are finding ways to expand on that model. Take Amazon, which is offering cashier-less brick-and-mortar shops where consumers simply take what they need without any sort of transaction to complete their purchase. All shoppers need to do is scan a QR code at the entrance, grab what they want and leave.
In addition, financial transactions are increasingly happening online as payment apps such as Venmo gain popularity. Even Bitcoin and other digital currencies are changing how individuals invest and spend their money.
Fintech has also created new consumer markets for financial services providers. Without the burden of brick-and-mortar locations, it’s much easier for western fintech companies to access potential customers in new markets in the Southern Hemisphere and Asia. Fintech has also enabled rapid growth for companies in these markets, according to a McKinsey report.
The fintech industry is also tracking to grow at an impressive rate over the next five years. According to a recent industry report, the fintech market is anticipated to grow 20 percent globally between 2021 and 2025, at which point market value is anticipated to reach an estimated $305 billion. This enormous growth comes from the many banks and firms that have invested aggressively in technology-based financial solutions reshaping the financial services industry. McKinsey also explains that fintech is growing so rapidly because these companies are “delivering low-cost personalized products on account of emerging developments in the technology sector, leading to rising customer expectations, thereby boosting the market growth globally.”
How to Get Into Fintech
Fintech is a rapidly growing field, with important applications for legacy financial firms, successful startups and individual users alike. Its applications are wide-ranging, and its influence on the way we financially transact as a society is only going to expand over time.
Fintech Requirements
While the fintech industry is not as regulated as the legal or medical industries, you’ll still need to demonstrate your educational experience and skill set to gain a foothold in the industry.
- Degrees
- Bootcamps
Degrees
A bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, math or computer science is one option. Interestingly, some people interested in the field even pursue a double-major (e.g., finance and computer science), to ensure they have the necessary tech- and coding-specific skills needed for most fintech jobs. Full-time degrees offer the opportunity to explore many interests as you pursue your degree program, include plenty of networking opportunities and can provide young adults with an excellent transition into adulthood and living on their own. That said, traditional degrees are time-consuming and may be cost prohibitive for some.
Bootcamps
On the other hand, a fintech bootcamp can be an excellent opportunity to acquire the necessary skills for a career in fintech in less time and at a lower cost. These are intensive, short-term courses focused on practical skills that are reinforced through real-world project work. Bootcamps take between three and six months and offer flexible schedules for people who wish to maintain a part- or full-time job while they study.
Ready to get into fintech? Jump into the industry with Berkeley FinTech Boot Camp and start your future today.
Fintech Careers
While we’ve mentioned some dynamic fintech careers here, we’ve only scratched the surface. This industry offers a variety of options for those with fluency in coding and finance. Interested in the coding aspects of fintech? Consider more technical roles, such as blockchain developer or fintech app developer. Is discovering insights through data your passion? If so, there are a variety of analyst positions that may be right for you. Or, do you constantly find yourself reading the Wall Street Journal and tracking the markets? Perhaps a role as a financial manager or risk analyst is the right next step.
To learn about more potential roles, here is a guide on fintech jobs to watch as you consider a career in the industry. To help, we’ve also broken out some top roles in fintech for you to consider as well.
FinTech Job Titles
- Blockchain Developer
- Financial Analyst
- Data Scientist/Data Analyst
Blockchain Developer
Blockchain developers are in charge of designing, launching and maintaining the systems that store data in a blockchain. What is a blockchain? A blockchain is a database shared throughout a decentralized computer network that collects financial data in groups, called “blocks.” Blockchains are special because they are not managed by traditional financial institutions, so they are more accessible to those of any income, and are very hard to hack due to their decentralized nature.
Blockchain developers are responsible for developing blockchain protocols and crafting the specific architecture of blockchain systems. They oversee the maintenance of their network and have to stay up-to-date on the latest blockchain technology. They also have to stay on top of security protocols, which keep things like cryptocurrency and digital assets secure.
Financial Analyst
Financial analysts are in charge of managing budgets based on projected income for a given period. They have to forecast revenue, thoroughly analyze a company’s financial data, assemble and share financial reports and recommend investments and investment portfolios. Analysts need to have a strong understanding of securities and commodities, as they are closely involved in how their companies or their clients invest their money. These professionals must also understand corporate and municipal valuation through extensive research.
Among the many jobs in fintech, this position requires the strongest background in finance. This role is perfect for anyone with a finance degree or experience in the field. Financial analysts are in charge of creating financial plans and models — whether that’s for a fintech app or a company like Amazon — looking to digitize transactions further.
Data Scientist/Data Analyst
Data analysis is a field that requires taking large data sets and turning them into digestible insights and visualizations that fuel effective decision making. In the fintech industry, data professionals often work with financial information to make their company more successful and create a better product for their clients.
These are very statistics- and math-heavy roles, and are perfect for people with strong quantitative skills or a background in applied mathematics. Programming skills can also help, as machine learning (a subset of artificial intelligence) is often employed by these professionals.
- Product Manager
- Cybersecurity Expert
- App Developer
Product Manager
In the world of fintech, product managers are in high demand. These professionals require a diverse skill set, as they oversee a product’s entire life cycle — from development to deployment and maintenance. Their job is to make sure the product is of the highest possible quality, functions as designed, gets deployed on time and remains on budget.
A product manager must also understand user needs, which helps them design better products that provide desired customer solutions. They also need a basic understanding of coding, so they can work closely with developers as they build their products.
While fintech product managers need hard skills like coding and financial modeling, they also need well-developed soft skills, such as excellent communication and conflict resolution, to successfully guide their products through the development life cycle. Being organized and detail-oriented is also important, as their role requires meticulous reporting, ongoing measurement of performance to KPIs and monitoring budgets.
Cybersecurity Expert
There are many potential cybersecurity risks in the fintech space, which causes cybersecurity experts to be in high demand. What’s more, fintech products are common hacker targets given their lucrative data and financial resources. Cybersecurity experts help safeguard fintech products and their users from cyber attacks and are constantly monitoring to detect the next threat.
To be successful, cybersecurity experts need to be well-versed in governance and compliance, risk management and fintech product functionality. They also require a deep understanding of cybersecurity tactics such as penetration testing, incident detection, security audits and delivering security training to company employees. This is another job that requires both hard and soft skills, as cybersecurity experts are always reporting to other parts of the company to share their findings and working in tandem with other teams.
App Developer
As the fintech sector grows, so too does the number of fintech products. So, as you can imagine, fintech app developers are in high demand. These developers are in charge of creating next-gen apps that are secure, appealing to users and high-functioning. These apps include consumer finance resources that help people make mobile payments or make traditional banking more mobile and convenient. An understanding of fintech consumer needs, creativity and strong coding skills in such languages as C++, JavaScript, Python and Java are but a few successful fintech app developers need.
Start your Fintech Career Path
Fintech offers exciting and challenging careers thanks to the many solutions the industry offers for consumer- and corporation-based problems. If you’re interested in pursuing a new career path in this exciting, fast-growing industry, Berkeley FinTech Boot Camp is an excellent place to learn the in-demand skills you need to succeed. It will provide you with real-world projects to hone the skills you learn, and you can use them to populate your professional portfolio. Berkeley FinTech Boot Camp also offers Career Services support to make sure you’re prepared for your job search in the fintech industry. What are you waiting for? Get started on your future today!
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