“Fintech”, a well-known term from the past decade is essentially used for a blend of financial services and technology. In recent times, Fintech has grown exponentially. It has given tremendous & unpredictable banking and financial solutions to the world. Initially, fintech startups used to look for people who are good in either finance management, or the IT sector, or both. Nowadays, when technology has expanded its scope of work and capabilities. Startups look for various fintech key skills that we will discuss in this blog.
If you are someone, who is keen to enter the fintech industry and willing to know the most in-demand skills for fintech or planning to enhance your knowledge to become a fintech expert, this blog is a must-read for you.
However, one must know the growth potential of the industry before selecting it as a career option. In the CNBC article of 2016, a report states that the industry had received around USD 17.4 billion as investments that went to USD 31 billion, which went up to USD 122 billion in the next three years. Therefore, you can estimate the growth rate of this industry and should accept that the fintech industry has the potential to offer full-fledged financial solutions, i.e. entire banking and financial services.
Fintech Organisations Are Looking For These Essential Fintech Skills
1) Programming Skills
Since fintech involves technology, technology needs infrastructure, and infrastructure needs programming skills. Fintech companies keep looking for programmers with Java, JavaScript, C++, C#, Python and SQL skills. Innovation is the key to driving more attention. Therefore, it is mandatory to keep updating your mobile applications, websites, and full-stack platforms. Moreover, the coders, programmers and developers are in high demand to create Application Programming Interface (API) for new services and products, maintenance and upgradations of those products and services.
Along with programming skills, a person may get an advantage over other candidates if having advanced mathematical & quantitative skills, analytical skills, and logical thinking skills.
Experience required: Differs company to company
Average salary: USD 50000 – 80000 PA
2) Blockchain Expert Skills
With the rise in digital currencies such as Bitcoins, XRP, Ethereum within the cryptocurrency industry, demand for blockchain experts have increased too. The reason behind the demand shift is, blockchains’ single, shared, consensus, and ledger-based system of transactions, that allows moving, reading, lending and reconciling of money worldwide.
The majority of the population knows blockchain concepts, but the implementation of the same is not an easy task. You must be a pro at your work to cater the blockchain requirements of the fintech industry. Of course, it requires experience, which you may get by working under the experts. However, if you have the potential to grasp the practical approach of blockchain. It is one of the top skills for the fintech industry.
Experience Required:
- Minimum 6 months experience with Blockchain development and programming skills (Java, C++, JavaScript, etc.)
- Some Fintech firms perhaps ask for 2-4 years of experience
Average Salary: USD 120,000 – 180,000 PA
3) Machine Learning And Artificial Intelligence Expert Skills
AI and ML intervened in all business industries so, as the fintech industry. The fintech industry has gathered innumerable data that needs to be read, synced, analysed and interpreted. For this matter, AI and ML offer the best applications to the industry. Moreover, understanding predictive modelling techniques like logistic regression and decision trees is valuable too.
Big financial institutions have the resources to sort big data into valuable information. Whereas, small fintech firms are unable to process the same without Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning experts. Therefore, AI & ML experts are always in demand for fintech firms to generate user-based data and analyse them to get valuable insights and information.
A firm may have smart machines and software for this purpose. However without human intelligence, artificial intelligence can not give the desired output. Perhaps, one will have to compromise somewhere with the information which may affect the business. Thus, if you have AI and ML knowledge, the fintech industry is waiting to welcome you.
Experience Required: Differs company to company
Data Science Skills: R, Python, Weka, NumPy, MatLab
Data Visualisation Skills: D3.js, ggplot
Query languages required: SQL, Hive, Pig
NoSQL Database: MongoDB, Cassandra, HBase
Applied Stats Skills: Stats testing, regression analysis, distributions
Average Salary: USD 168, 000 – 825,000
4) Cybersecurity Expertise
Fintech is a sensitive industry that should not be hacked or attacked by cybercriminals as it contains public data. If attacked, the economy of the affected region can be affected dramatically. Not just this, it can lead to public information loss, damage to brand image, ruin business relations, affect international networks, legal complications, etc. The more it is crucial to keep it secure, this industry is more prone to such attacks.
Therefore, it is essential to have staff or professionals who ensure that such events do not happen. This profession means a lot to the fintech sector, so the pay goes high. However, the employee must be capable enough to justify the salary by understanding the seriousness of the job and planning high-level security arrangements for the data.
Experience Required: Varies as per the firm and the role
Average Salary: Depends on the business scale, company type and role
Conclusion
The Fintech industry has developed and developing at a high pace. Therefore, if you are a person who likes to be a part of this industry, you must have expertise in the above professions or at least have the theoretical knowledge of the same to get exposure by working in small-size businesses. Many companies offer internships or on-the-job training to train personnel in their respective fields as the demand for the above skills is more than the supply in the job market. To enhance your fintech key skills, subscribe to our newsletter. We keep posting about the fintech industry.