investing

Announcement: We're Hiring An Intermediate Software Developer

November 19th, 2018

Save time and make investing easy

Investing can be so rewarding, but also time consuming and stressful. Passiv is here to save you time and make investing easy.

Get Started

This blog post was originally published on the MoneyGeek.ca blog by Jin Choi. The website no longer exists, but Jin has graciously allowed us to re-publish his research for the benefit of future investors forever.

Image Credit:Marko Aliaksandr/Shutterstock.com

As many of you might have guessed, I make very little money from running this website. I receive a small affiliate income from Questrade, but thats about it. Rather, I make most of my money by writing custom software for asset managers, which is an industry term for those who manage money. (Some financial advisors qualify as asset managers, but the term also encompasses other entities such as ETF providers.)

I have been fortunate to see my company grow. Project requests continue to come in, both from new and existing clients. Its been just over a month since I hired my most recent employee, but it already looks as if Ill need more help.

There are two main areas where were looking for help. The first is with regards to architecting some of our back end. We are currently working on some machine learning projects, all of which are related to investing. While we have enough capacity around the finance and math side of things, we could use more help on the programming side.

As anyone who has worked on machine learning projects can tell you, preparing data for analysis often constitutes the majority of the actual work. Data preparation generally includes provisioning infrastructure, designing database schema, creating algorithms that routinely fetch data, and transforming raw data into useable forms for machine learning models.

The second area where were looking for help is with the new app Im building. You can think of this new app as the successor idea to MoneyGeek, but thats all Im willing to say about the project right now. I havent been able to give this app the time it needs, so Im looking for someone to help accelerate its development. This will involve working on both the back end and the front end.

The main technology stack were using includes Python, Go, Angular 6+ and Postgres. However, you dont need to know all of these, or even any of these technologies, to apply. Im looking for candidates who know multiple languages, who are steeped in solid programming principles, and above all, who love learning new things.

If theres one quality that I want my company to be known for, its the love of learning. This is why, in my company, its mandatory to set aside some time to learn - either through reading, or taking courses - during work hours. As a programmer, youll be expected to learn about math, finance, or any other subject that could come in handy during your career with us.

To ensure that we only get candidates who share our passion for learning, I will only accept applications from those who have significant programming side projects. The candidate will also need at least two years of professional programming experience and be situated in Canada.

Other than these, I dont have any significant requirements. Although Im situated in London, Ontario, the candidate can choose to work from his/her home. The candidate also doesnt need any degrees from a university or a college to apply.

If someone wants to apply for this job, please have the candidate send the application to info@moneygeek.ca. The application must include the candidates resume (LinkedIn profile is acceptable) and details about the candidates significant side project. Once we receive the application, the candidate can expect the following steps to occur.

  1. Someone from our team will arrange and conduct the first interview. This interview will consist of a cognitive test, which should take less than an hour.

  2. Qualifying candidates will go through a second technical interview with me. I will conduct a small coding challenge, and also ask the candidate to design a simple software architecture. I expect this to take about an hour.

  3. We will ask candidates who pass Step 2 to complete a small programming assignment. The assignment will involve using technology the candidate is not familiar with, to see how well the candidate can learn. We will compensate candidates for their time.

  4. We will also ask for two references during this time, and check them.

  5. Well make a final decision and send out an offer of employment.

The employment offer will be structured as an independent contract (i.e. youll be a contractor, not an employee). We anticipate paying in the region of $70,000 to $90,000 (+HST) for 12 months. As a contractor, you wont receive benefits or holiday pay, but youll be able to set flexible hours.

I truly think this is a great opportunity for programmers who are interested in learning about, and working in, the investment management field. If you know of someone who might fit this description, please send them the link to this page. I look forward to meeting them.

This blog post was originally published on the MoneyGeek.ca blog by Jin Choi. The website no longer exists, but Jin has graciously allowed us to re-publish his research for the benefit of future investors forever.

Get all the insider financial info