*what made GS a dirty player in this particular context? Just another example of preconception. Do you really think they are any dirtier than any other ibank, hedge fund, your local meat packer, your lottery vendor, the chicken farm, or sewage facility? Dream on!!! * Simple answer why GS did what they have done. Its called "scare potential suitors". the law stipulates maximum sentences for specific crimes. So, you have an issue when a judge speaks the verdict at some times and now you have an issue that a jury decided? Which part of just and fair do you feel is violated here? Why do you not have a single problem with torturing terrorists in Guantanamo in order to make a point, why you do not mind a CIA whistleblower who is chased around the world for speaking out what every upright citizen and person with clear conscience should have done but you have a HUGE issue with GS making sure the thief gets the maximum prison sentence possible? Because its evil GS? * Oh I reached your own conclusion point 1: There you go, we seem to agree. But ..." that code was code he had taken from an open source?" Lol, what a bollocks. Then he should have kept his dirty, gluey little thief fingers off GS's machines and should have downloaded the open source code. Well he can now practice speeding by escaping from a nice chocolate kiss he can expect each night in federal penitentiary. I hope they grill his Russian ass.
finally someone with his senses at the right place. Guys what is wrong with the rest? Is GS grabbing some people's balls that hard that they cannot differentiate between legal and illegal anymore?
Ha, are you serious about what you said? So, you think every schmuck on this board claims to understand the basics of HFT but a coder as part of their team does not have the slightest inkling? You do not smell any stink here? Then I cannot help you...
Yeah actually. I see it every day. Almost every HFT coder is an arrogant nerd sitting in a back-room cost center, far enough away from the business to not interfere, nor stink up the room with their often lack of social awareness and poor personal hygiene. Worlds apart. The full article gives rare insight into that reality. He was apparently one of the best coders on the street, yet as usual, traders don't know or care who he is. A replaceable tech drone.
Incorrect!!! I am a quant trader and there is no way in hell a hft developer is not in constant contact with the guys that design and profile strategies (quants), and the quant traders. Please stop making up stories. A high frequency software developer need sto closely work with hard ware engineers, the quant trading team and also with frontUI and indirectly quant traders to understand exactly the requirements. Do you honestly believe quant traders have the patience and insight to write up a clear, concise, and well-understood spec sheet that developers can use and never have to sit down face-to-face to clarify things?
Sounds like a good environment for the developers in your shop. Presumably you are in a quant hedge fund, market maker or similar (?) I am writing from the point of view of a global investment bank (blah blah), as a pier and competitor to GS. The environment is as I described. No BS. A severe divide between perceived cost and profit centers, complete with Indian outsourcing support headaches. Developers come with high hopes, and usually leave in disgust having learnt nothing about trading. The description in the article of a "ball of rubber bands" is entirely accurate.
I worked for 3 tier1 investment banks, and one tier2 bank each time on the prop trading side in a quant trading capacity. So, no market making involved at all. And my developers worked each and every single day with me, whether on medium frequency strategies or higher frequency. I think you confuse general IT at banks with highly talented programmers that are paid directly out of the pockets of trading desks. I worked with guys from HKU, Stanford, CMU, and others, not a single indian guy (not saying that there are none) but you saying there is any outsourcing involved means you clearly do not understand how front office quant teams source programming capabilities.
Hmm, I am in a similar role currently. I think things may have changed post financial crisis. Perhaps the old world you worked in had budget for tech guys on the desk? It's "do it yourself" in my world. The alternative is to write a spec and wait for 3 months. Entirely hopeless.
I do not think it has to do with now and then but where you work. I never experienced what you witnessed and I worked in such banks all the way before the end of 2009.