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Wall Street IT Director reveals all
Plus: Barracuda Security Threats On-Going
Stetson Blake
June 09, 2023
This is an IT Support Group
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Happy Friday, IT Professional!
Be sure to check out our new Member Highlight section, highlighting interesting IT professionals from our community. This week’s interview is with Paul Joseph, who works on Wall Street as a director of IT Support.
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-Stetson
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Member Spotlight 😎🔦
This is an IT Support Group is about Community!
Because we’re so focused on community, we’re highlighting interesting members in our community.
This week’s interview is with Paul Joseph, who works on Wall Street as a Director of IT Support.
Could you briefly tell us about your background and how you got started in IT?
I grew up in the 80s and 90s and after seeing the movie “Wall St” starring Charlie Sheen, I always dreamed of being a stockbroker. I got an Associates degree in Finance and then made that dream a reality. Soon after, I realized that I wanted to be a NY Stock Exchange floor broker instead as that was where the big money was at. In 2006 after making it on to the NYSE trading floor, it hit me like a ton of bricks that the Exchange’s trading model was outdated and that technology would make the job obsolete so I made a switch in my career and landed at a support desk for a trading application at Fintech firm. There I learned all of the backend technology such as SQL, Unix, and FIX Protocol, those skills opened so many more opportunities for me…
What does your current role entail?
Im currently a Director of IT Support on a trading floor in Manhattan for a Global Bank.
Can you explain the structure of your team and how your role fits into the larger organization?
We have several Level 1 application support team members and a few senior Level 2 members. Our team supports over 40 stock traders across 8 different “trading business lines”, we also support the back office team with “allocating and settling trades”, compliance teams, risk management, and software developers.
How has your role evolved since you started working on Wall Street?
I constantly transformed myself… started out of college in a back office operations role and after a year I moved to front office customer service where I lead a team for a year, I then transitioned over to an assistant trader after getting several financial licenses and eventually became a full blown trader with my own Institutional accounts. After 7 years in trading, I moved into tech support where I was a level 1 app support guy, then team lead, then manager, then VP, and eventually became a director.
What's the work culture like in your office, especially within the IT department?
We have an awesome group of people with a mix of backgrounds and skill sets which complement one another. Everyone shares business and tech knowledge which helps each other to learn and grow.
How would you describe the pace of work in a Wall Street IT department?
Like any tech support role, we have slow days when nothing is going on at all and some times we have raging infernos with full blown outages of trading systems with millions of dollars on the line. We’re either preventing fires or putting them out while completing project work and individual goals.
What are the key IT challenges and opportunities specific to the financial sector, particularly Wall Street?
Keeping up with the ever-changing demands of management, the customers, and technology. Trading itself is becoming more and more automated with algorithms and AI which is great for us tech guys but not so great for old-school traders.
Can you describe a recent project or problem you've worked on that you're particularly proud of?
The firm I work for has hired many new traders over the last year and so we’ve had to onboard several new business lines which we weren’t in before. We had to learn from scratch as we had no prior experience or knowledge of supporting these new business lines. This required working with the traders, PMs, BAs, Dev Teams, various vendors, while learning new trading styles, software, and meeting customer demands.
What are some perks of your job?
Over the years I’ve been able to travel to various cities (some several times) and countries to visit client sites for new onboardings and tech reviews. I’ve been to Boston, Denver, San Francisco, Boca Raton, Toronto, Hong Kong, and Sydney. I’ve meet some high political figures, athletes, movie stars, attended many Yankees and NY Rangers games with clients in company suites, wined and dined at fancy 5 star restaurants, and earned very nice annual bonuses :)
How do you handle stress and maintain productivity on busy days?
I workout, meditate, and journal each morning which sets the tone for the rest of the day. Be sure to give yourself the attention you need and deserve, you can’t help others if you don’t help yourself first. Your health and mindset should be your top daily priorities above all else.
What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue a career in IT on Wall Street?
Find a mentor to guide you (hit me up directly at www.TradeSupportRockstar.com), ask as many questions as you can, and take non-stop notes! From a tech standpoint get familiar with SQL, Python, Unix, and FIX Protocol. Learn the basics of how the stock market works. We are always looking to hire people who are willing to roll their sleeves up and get theiir hands dirty, we want self-starters who actively find the work rather than letting the work come to them. Always have a team-player mindset and a desire to collaborate with others rather than doing things on your own. Be an effective communicator. Humility goes a long way and is a respectable trait, be humble enough to say when you don’t know something rather than faking it or outright lying.
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-Stetson
ITSG Founder
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