With regard to top-level financial analyst positions, it has become well-apparent to me after years of experience that people do not want to freely inform competitors what information they need to study hard to improve their chances of success. People who work at large financial firms are very guarded with such information.
I have worked in finance for some time, and, up to this point, I had not yet obtained a document so useful, with regard to elaborating on some of the more arcane aspects of financial software one could familiarize oneself with to improve their marketability.
I am above keeping such information to myself to improve my chances of realizing my ambition by hampering other people's ability to grow. It pleases me to see other people who work hard realize their potential.
Please see below.
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Name: Ethan Castanon Date: 7/29/10
APM-MDLC –CANDIDATE SELF ASSESSMENT
When you finish, please return this document and name it as follows: Lastname-firstname.doc
A. Purpose of this Self Assessment:
- We want to understand what you know. People often list concepts and technologies on their resumes which they are not prepared to discuss in-depth during an interview. This self assessment helps us understand the skills you feel most confident in so we can know up-front what you would be prepared to discuss in an interview.
- This self assessment lists many skills. We certainly don’t expect you to have experience with all or even most items on this form. We just want to understand what you know and how well you think you know it.
- If you feel there are additional strong skills you possess which would make you a more
qualified candidate, please note any such skills succinctly and rate how strong you think you are at that skill on the five point scale.
B. Understanding the Ratings Scale
Please rate yourself on a 1-5 point scale as explained below:
1- You have heard of this technology, concept or financial instrument (FI).
2 - You have employed this technology/concept/FI in the past and would require a
refresher to employ it again.
3- You possess a basic working knowledge of this technology/concept/FI – sufficient
for answering some interview questions.
4- You have employed this technology/concept/FI during your recent work experience
and have a solid working knowledge of the technology/concept/FI.
5- You are an authority in this technology/concept/FI.
C. Business & Tech Collaboration - use the 5 point scale and provide your self-assessed proficiency
Leading Revolutionary Change/Improvement _______
Creating a Tech / Business Vision & Road Map _______
Making Build/Buy Decisions/Recommendations _______
Managing a domain in which you lack a deep understanding _______
Technology Risk Management _______
Project / Program Management _______
Capturing Business Requirements _______
Managing Technical Requirements _______
Vendor Management _______
Overseeing Technical Resources (pls specify avg. team size) _______
Technical Staff Augmentation _______
D. Technology – use the 5 point scale described above and provide your self- assessed proficiency
· Vendor solutions / services
Real Time Market Data Providers and Associated Third Party Tools
Bloomberg (BPod / BPipe / Terminal API - pls specify) _______
Reuters (RDF / RMDS / 3000 Xtra API - pls specify) _______
Direct exchange feeds (pls specify) _______
Wombat Papa, Mama, Feed handlers, Worldview (pls specify) _______
RMDS or other distribution platform (pls specify) _______
_____________________________
Other(s) (please specify)-
FIX engines
TTConnect _______
Appia _______
Cameron _______
_____________________________
Other(s) (please specify)-
Message Bus
Tibco EMS / Rendezvous (pls specify) _______
29 West LBM _______
_____________________________
Other(s) (please specify)-
· Performance & Quality of Service - Management and Tuning
Real time market data quality management (pls specify) _______
General network monitoring (pls specify) _______
Latency Management (e.g. CorvilNet – pls specify) _______
General process monitoring (pls specify) _______
General performance monitoring (pls specify) _______
· “Hands on” Technical skills
Programming Real time systems _______
Programming Multi-threaded applications _______
Languages (pls specify) _______
CEP engines (e.g. Coral8, Streambase, Apama – pls specify) _______
Execution Mgmt Systems API programming (e.g. FlexTrade pls specify) _______
Scripting Languages (pls specify) _______
UNIX / Linux Shell Navigation and Utilities (e.g. grep, sed, awk) _______
Basic SQL _______
Advanced SQL (complex joins & sprocs, perf. tuning) _______
DBA or System Administrator (pls specify) _______
____________________________
Other(s) (please specify)
E. Business Knowledge - use the 5 point scale and provide your self-assessed proficiency
Market Data Sourcing Strategies _______
Order Type / Routing Strategies _______
Transaction Cost Analysis _______
Financial instruments (how they work)
Equities _______ | Futures _______ |
FX _______ | Options _______ |
Credit & Fixed Income (pls specify) _______
Market MicroStructure and Optimal Execution (pls specify regions/markets)
Equities _______ | Futures _______ |
FX _______ | Options _______ |
Credit & Fixed Income (pls specify) _______
Algorithmic / Black-box Execution Strategies (pls specify) _______
Derivatives pricing sensitivies (the “greeks”) _______
Time value of money _______
