Here are the 8 programming languages to know to land a tech job on Wall Street

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 it 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 report last 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.

Citadel Securities, for one, hired a C++ expert Herb Sutter from Microsoft to lead training initiatives on the language and is already embracing a new version of C++ that has yet to be released. Looking at current open technology positions, trading firms Virtu Financial and Hudson River Trading are among the firms also seeking out C++ experience.When asked how prospective hires could demonstrate their C++ skills in a separate interview, Citadel’s Sutter said they should talk about what they’re looking forward to most in the newer version, C++26, to show their curiosity.

“It’s important to be able to demonstrate curiosity and knowledge about software advancements — and to show that you understand that there’s more than one tool out there and that you know how to use them together,” he said. 

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 has compiled a list of the most-used coding languages through conversations with recruiters, Wall Street tech execs, and industry insiders. We also analyzed job postings to learn about in-demand skill sets.

Here are the programming languages to know:

Python

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

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++

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.According to Matt Stabile, a tech recruiter who works with buy-side firms such as Two Sigma and Susquehanna International Group, it’s also useful for roles in quantitative finance.

Tableau and Power BI

Areas of interest: Data visualization, front-office analysts

Firms using it: Wealth managers, banks

When Wall Street tech execs talk about data, they often divide it 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

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

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 with.

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.

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