Overview
Can you say that the traditional means of banking are the same as what they used to be?
I know your answer is a big ‘NO’. But who is responsible for that?
FINTECH. It is solely responsible for the continuous evolution of the financial services industry. We are now approving transactions and opening the apps through fingerprints or voice authentication. This not only helps us execute the payments in real-time but also make sure that it is well protected using blockchain technology.
Digital banking and forex solutions allow people to conduct financial transactions and currency exchange. This is one of the primary reasons why the demand for fintech app developers is growing high. Companies want to meet their customers’ needs and for that, they need some reliable tools. This would help them increase their sales revenue and loyal customer base. But the bigger challenge that stands against them is finding financial application developers.
Where you Could Find a Fintech App Developer?
- Do not be afraid of using your personal network and other connections. It is possible that the people you know might have worked with some skilled and expert fintech developers or one of the best finance outsourcing services providers.
- You can also visit some fintech conferences and seminars to make new connections. You can ask them to delegate your work and even if they aren’t looking for some project, they might have someone to recommend to you.
- You can also find finance app developers on social media platforms like LinkedIn. You can surf through the platform for financial software development companies and software developers in particular. LinkedIn also allows you to check their experience and previous projects. If you liked their work, you can also initiate the talk for project collaboration by contacting them.
- Clutch, Good firms, Appfutura are names of some independent platforms from where you can find top trusted development companies in the software industry. These B2B platforms carefully check all the company-related data and rate the companies based on the reviews and feedback given by their respective customers.
- If you are looking for some freelance developers then you should check out these freelance platforms – Freelancer, Toptal, Hired, Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Guru, Codementor, and more. From there, you will get the ratings of the individual developer, their previous projects, portfolio, and all. But you also need to beware of the fake accounts there.
- If you want the best of the best in the industry then you might want to check out some of the developers’ forums including Code Project, The Verge, XDA Developers, Stack Overflow, etc. and if you already have decided on what technology you are going to use in your upcoming project then it will easier for you to search for developers for specific technologies.
Benefits of Outsourcing Finance Software Developer
Get a Lot of Experience Onboard
One of the top advantages of outsourcing fintech software development services is that you get to hire some of the most talented and expert professionals in the software industry. When you outsource your software development project, you attract third-party organizations.
Now, this software vendor would have a large pool of skilled developers that possesses all the qualifications you need for your project. Remember, recruitment is becoming more difficult with the increasing demand for talented developers. But if you choose to outsource then you are eliminating this problem as your software development partner will do this for you and provide the best professionals around the globe.
Faster Project Completion
To start their projects early and complete them before time, fintech companies collaborate with offshore software development companies. These offshore companies already have a systematic approach to hire professionals for their clients’ software development projects.
Finding potential candidates through various platforms, recruiting the best among them, and training the new employees to the company standards – all of these are included in the process. But then again, the software development agency already has a large pool of skilled software developers who can start working on your project on cue. Now that will save all the time that was going to be consumed in the hiring process.
The professionals we are talking about here, are the specialists in their field. They know what they are doing and they also know how they can get more done in less time. Hence, they can effectively shorten the software development lifecycle. This is only possible because of having years of experience working on a wide range of development projects.
Expert developers leverage this expertise to overcome your challenges, improve your software elements and streamline the complicated parts of the development lifecycle. This effectively reduces the overall length of your project.
There are some software outsourcing companies out there that favor rapid development approaches to build high-quality software products. They have a special type of multidisciplinary team for the job too. They are skilled at every step of the development process like designing, quality assurance, and even data privacy. However, this will reduce the workload at the tail end of the development life cycle resulting in top-notch quality software.
Cost Reduction
If you hire dedicated fintech developers then another top benefit you get is savings on your software development budget. If you hire a dedicated team then you won’t need to buy any office equipment, software licenses, or set up an IT infrastructure. And believe me, that is going to save you tons of money which you can gladly invest in other aspects of your business.
Similarly, the use of the latest technologies and project evolution does not depend on the client. So, there is no need to worry about their costs. You only have to pay them for their work and the forms of communication. Therefore, it is quite possible to get some financial software solutions without going out of your budget. This is very helpful to guarantee the stability of the company’s financial situation.
High Data Security
Reducing the increasing number of data breaches is one of the biggest challenges that finance executives are facing today. Moreover, cybercriminals have to make 300 times more attempts for data breaches against the banks and other institutions in the finance industry in comparison to other industries. Any financial institution in America alone is withstanding an estimated one billion attacks every year.
When you go a little deeper to dig for this type of information, the problem becomes more serious and far more important. Banks have incredibly sensitive data in their storage like customers’ salaries, home addresses, purchase habits, credit card information, social security numbers, and more. Cybercriminals can use this information for their profit.
In response to such threats, banks are investing more in strengthening their cyber security defenses. They also hire software security experts for this. From a rough estimate, banks and other financial institutions spend approximately $2300 per person on cyber security every year which can be stated as nearly as 15% of their IT budgets.
Every government of their respective country has released a mandate of regulations that dictate how banks should protect sensitive information. Therefore, banks and financial institutions of all sizes need to increase their investment in cyber security and data privacy and mount up their defenses against savvy cybercriminals.
Skills Required for Finance Software Development
Blockchain & Distributed Ledger Technology
Who needs it? Fintech Companies that offer cryptocurrency, commercial payments, cash loans, and more similar financial services.
How much experience is needed?
- Minimum 6 months to one year of experience in blockchain development. Additionally, skilled in various programming languages like C, C++, JAVA, and more.
- Though some companies ask for more than two to four years of experience but more often not all professionals can meet these requirements.
Average Remuneration for Full-Time Employees:
- US = $130K/year
- Switzerland = $120K – 180K/year
Average Earnings Of Freelancers: $150/hour
The sudden rise in cryptocurrency has led to increased demand for blockchain technology experts. The value of digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and more has been increasing exponentially for over a decade now. It has disrupted the traditional banking industry.
Blockchain is a rudimentary technology that uses a single, shared, consensus, and ledger-based transaction system that allows users to lend, move, trade, and reconcile money all over the world securely.
The concept of blockchain is very popular but its effective execution is very complicated. There are not many people who can truly understand the environment and develop apps in it. LinkedIn shows a tremendous demand for jobs related to blockchain development. And in many countries like India, America, Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, etc Blockchain is already considered as a skill on platforms like LinkedIn.
It is said that a highly skilled Blockchain developer has an opportunity to earn more than any experienced software engineer or consultant. And that would mean earning a salary as high as $250,000.
Programming Skills
Who needs it? Across the FinTech Industry
How much experience is needed: Depends on the hiring company
Average Remuneration for Full-Time Employees:
- US = $88K/year
- Europe = $50K – 80K/year
Developers that are highly skilled in programming languages like Java, JavaScript, C++, C#, Python, SQL, and more have high demand. A fintech company that is focused on developing innovative solutions for its customers has great requirements for expert software engineers who are proficient in creating native mobile apps, websites, and full-stack platforms.
Additionally, to build APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for new products and services, getting help for maintenance, support, and up-gradation of apps and software, software companies would need qualified programmers, coders, QA experts, and developers.
Although the need of being proficient in a programming language is very high, the developers that have high logical thinking, analytical, and mathematical/quantitative skills can get a competitive advantage.
Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence & Deep Learning skills
Who needs it?
Financial services firms, investment banks, hedge funds
What kind of Experience is required?
- Data science toolkits: R, Python, NumPy, Weka, MatLab
- Data visualization tools: ggplot, D3.js
- Proficiency in query languages: SQL, Pig, Hive,
- NoSQL databases: Cassandra, MongoDB, HBase
- Applied statistics skills: distributions, regression analysis, statistical testing,
Average Remuneration for Full-Time Employees:
- The US = $168K/year ($38K higher than data scientists in non-finance industries)
- India = INR 8,25,000/year (INR 1,75,000 higher than data scientists in non-finance industries)
Because of the industrial integration of the finance and IT industry and also the ubiquity of the internet, more and more people are becoming a part of the fintech revolution. As financial services are redefined, huge chunks of data have been generated that need to be examined, analyzed, and interpreted.
Now if you want to implement these tasks, the knowledge of technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning is very necessary. You can also use some of the predictive modeling techniques like logistics regression and decision trees.
Any company can get easy access to the vast quantity of user-generated data but if you hire dedicated fintech developers then you could make some sense out of the sea of raw data and gain valuable insights about their customers. Hence, individuals that are skilled in data science and have a thorough understanding of related technologies are sought by fintech companies.
Fintech companies can execute best automation practices to make their services more reliable, cheaper, and faster by combining smart machines and skilled professionals for the work. And do not believe that only fintech companies are going after AI and ML. They are also used by investment banks and quant hedge funds. This helps them execute cost-effective solutions.
Soft Skills
Who needs it: FinTech start-ups, financial institutions (banks, investment firms), Regulators, Law Enforcement Agencies, Multinational companies, SMEs
How much experience is needed: Depends on the hiring firm and the specific role
It is a general belief that you need to be an expert at technical skills to succeed in the technology realm. That is true indeed but only partly. If you want to succeed and ensure that your success stays for the long term then you need to have proficiency in soft skills. Technical people, too, need to build their resumes, CVs, and portfolios of soft skills.
Now, there are many kinds of soft skills but the most you need to master are discussed below:
1. People Skills: Emotional Intelligence, Communication & Empathy
Nowadays, IQ is not the only factor to measure how brilliant they are. In the era of the internet and globalization, emotional intelligence is also duly noted. People skills, that’s what they say. Your ability to know how you treat people around you. The disruptive and rapidly growing fintech industry needs people who have good emotional intelligence along with technical skills. Some essential people skills for the software industry include the ability to collaborate effectively with other people and teams at work, building relationships, share or present ideas, and manage conflicts.
2. Creativity & Problem-Solving Skills
Though it is growing constantly, the fintech industry does face a lot of challenges, may it be technological, legal, regulatory, or any other unexpected turn of events, especially in the case of startups. So fintech professionals must acquire analytical and critical thinking skills. This will help them find robust solutions to the problems their company or industry is facing.
3. Adaptability & Flexibility
As we already discussed, the fintech industry is changing rapidly so the employees working in the field also need to be agile and adaptable to deal with continuous changes effectively. The changes will be occurring on both fronts – financial and technological. So what worked in the past will neither work in the future nor in the present. Resistance to change can be proved to be a career killer if you don’t adopt this skill. The fintech industry does not afford to be getting struck down by traditional practices.
Final words
Acknowledging the benefits of hiring dedicated fintech developers is the first step towards improving the customer experience. Though the task of recruitment is quite challenging I’m sure I have shared enough to help you along the way. You can opt for a software vendor or go for a freelancer, the choice is yours (depending upon your business requirements of course). But either way, you will be entering the digital age or your company will be responsible for bringing in the new fintech age all because you decided to delegate your fintech development project to a dedicated team and focus on your core business strengths.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this article. In case you have any suggestions or queries, please share them with us in the comments section below.
