Coding languages are a foundational element of any tech job, but not all are made equal.
Python and SQL are among the most popular languages; C++ and Tableau are more specialized.
Business Insider spoke with recruiters and tech workers to identify the top eight languages to know.
Big Tech firms like Apple and Amazon have signaled a move away from the complicated coding language C++, but there's still a place for engineers who know the coding language on Wall Street.
Apple created Swift to replace its use of C++, the company's primary coding language for its devices. Amazon recently awarded a Stony Brook University professor an approximate $100,000 research grant to continue his work to automate converting existing C++ code to Rust, a coding language created in 2006. Even the White House has joined the conversation around C++, urging software developers to move away from the language due to cybersecurity concerns in a February report earlier this year.
But the financial space is still "one of the heavy users of C++ that's really doing cutting-edge stuff," one industry executive told Business Insider. High-frequency trading firms and exchanges rely on C++, a notoriously complicated language that can offer more control over the underlying hardware. It's also prevalent in the video game industry.
Citadel Securities, for one, recently hired a C++ expert from Microsoft to lead training initiatives on the language. Looking at current open technology positions, trading firms Virtu Financial and Hudson River Trading are among the firms also seeking out C++ experience.
It's also good to know in quantitative finance, one of the few bright spots in the current technology hiring slump, Matt Stabile, a tech recruiter who works with buy-side firms including Two Sigma and Susquehanna International Group, told BI.
In today's machine-to-machine world, having some experience with programming languages is a must. Coding languages, like Python and Java, are how humans can communicate with computers by providing a set of instructions for a system to execute. As it turns out, not all programming languages are made equal and some are more relevant to certain corners of Wall Street than others.
Business Insider spoke with recruiters, Wall Street tech execs, and industry insiders and analyzed job postings to learn about in-demand skill sets.
Here are the programming languages to know:
Python
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Areas of interest: Applicable across finance firms, job titles, and levels
Firms using it: Banks, hedge funds, and investment firms
As the fundamental language for engineering work across Wall Street, Python has long been at the top of the skills list for buy- and sell-side firms alike. It has been a favorite at Capital One and Man Group.
From visualization to statistical analyses to modeling and machine-learning applications, Python has multiple use cases. It also lends itself to those who don't have deep coding backgrounds because it is flexible and applies to a wide range of users, Ori Ben-Akiva, director of portfolio management at Man Numeric, a quantitative-focused division of the publicly traded hedge fund Man Group, previously told BI.
When it comes to data science and machine learning roles, "Python is king of the road," said Stabile, who runs his own recruiting shop called Stabile Search.
SQL
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Areas of interest: Anyone who works with databases, data
Firms using it: Almost every financial firm
As data becomes more centralized in financial firms' strategies — from marketing to identifying new deal opportunities and analyzing risk — it's helpful to know SQL, which is one of the most common and basic ways to query or pull information from a database.
SQL is a relational database language, meaning it's designed to be able to tie different data tables together. For any tasks that have to do with analytics, you'll likely find SQL, Deepali Vyas, global head of fintech, payments, and crypto at Korn Ferry, told BI.
C++
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Areas of interest: Low-latency applications
Firms using it: High-frequency trading players and exchanges
For applications and systems where speed (or a fast response time) is the name of the game, experience as a C++ developer is going to come in handy. That's especially true at high-frequency trading firms and exchanges, where companies edge each other out by being microseconds faster than the competition.
The coding language has a reputation for being trickier to master than others, and its ability to interact more closely with technical hardware can lead to nasty coding bugs, but it also generally affords the user more control and speed.
Tableau and Power BI
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Areas of interest: Data visualization, front-office analysts
Firms using it: Wealth managers, banks
When Wall Street tech execs talk about data, it's often broken up into organizing it and finding insights within it.
Korn Ferry's Vyas said the latter benefits from tools like Tableau and Power BI, which visualize and contextualize data. These types of graphics are especially useful if you work in wealth management or advisory, where dashboards and data tables are regularly used.
Java
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Areas of interest: Big banks with more legacy technology
Firms using it: Banks and some buy-side firms
Like Python, Java is widely used on Wall Street. The coding language secured an early foothold in the world of banking because it was believed to have security features that restricted data access, while also offering portability, or the ability to be transferred between machines.
As a result, many big banks are tethered to Java, but other firms like Two Sigma have also relied on the coding language.
Rust and Go
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Areas of interest: App development
Firms using it: Fintechs, banks
Technically, many of the coding languages on this list — like Python, for example — are open source, or available for developers to use without a proprietary license.
But several open-source languages have become more in-demand in recent years, including Go and Rust. When the banking fintech Stash built much of its core banking offering from the ground up in 2022, tech leaders at the company highlighted the use of Go — which they said was picked up quickly by engineers and cut the implementation time for "substantial" new pieces of code to roughly 3.5 days.
Fintechs aren't the only financial firms embracing Go and other open source tools. At Blackrock, much of the firm's cloud work was built upon open-source software. Wells Fargo in recent years has embraced Rust and Go as languages the bank is becoming more comfortable.
Editor's note: This article was originally published in 2022 and has been updated with new information.
Former BI reporter Carter Johnson also contributed to the previous reporting.
