Job Responsibilities
Testing of new programs as to how they relate to client
specifications. We are an ASP who serves the securities industry
from front-end orderentry systems, through middleware allocating
block trades and when-issued mortgage-backed securities tba trades
to back end systems calculating real-time margin requirements,
reporting corporate actions, and Fund/Serv account activity. As a
27 year veteran of securities firms back offices I understand the
nuances of each client's issues that are faced by all of the
management, administration, traders and operational personnel who
perform the client's day-to-day business. I leverage that
knowledge with precise requirements for the developers to meet.
After development, I test to ensure the minimum requirements are
met as well as, after consultation with Client Services, to
reccommend additional requirements that the client either
neglected to initially specify or the CSR failed to note.
For the newcomer, a great deal of drudgery is involved in writing
up hundreds of test cases for each new process being evaluated.
The test cases are then carried out noting the success/failure of
each case versus the expected result. Sometimes the experienced
result is a success when the expected result is a failure. At
those times it is up to the QA tech to analyze, maybe go back to
the Client Service tech, and get additional requirements.
Statistical results for each all tests are compiled and reported.
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Job Requirements
It takes a great deal of communication skills and a flexibility to
adapt to a tech way of thinking from a non-tech orientation and
vice-versa. There is a need to know the operational side of the
business you are serving from a workflow standpoint. Academics
can supply a rudimentary knowledge, and certifications such as
Series 7, 22 and/or 24 are very helpful though not required. A
leg up would be in Management with a curriculum of Rational
Unified Process. The most important is/are experience with either
an investment operations background (about 5 years of sequential
experience) or fluency in the programming languages used. A
combination of the two is most helpful.
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Uppers
Working through the failures of the program is the best part of the job.
Identifying a failure, working with the developer to identify the deficiency in
the program and retesting to confirm success is a great feeling, along with the
experience of learning something new be it the logical expressions of code or the
client's unique business rule.
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Downers
The major downer is in writing up the test cases. There are
sometimes hundreds of them to prepare Each need to be written as
if a temporary worker who had no idea of what kind of firm you
were was blindly executing each keystroke as you described in the
case. Luckily there are such things as "save as", so the slight
nuances between each case can be written with overstrikes.
Another downer is when people enlisted to help try a short-circuit
to the process leaving a spoiled test.
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Lifestyle
Since this is a function done in the office, there is very little to no travel
involved. Dress code is generally the same as any IT back-office criteria.
Anybody of any group who has the requisite experience can perform this job. Work
hours are generally normal 8-40 but may be expanded as a project comes to
deadline. Company social events can be interesting because of the close work you
do with developers and project managers.
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Compensation
Although we are a 40 year old firm, we are in the process of
reinventing ourself. Thus we are behaving much like a start-up.
My current salary is $46,600 with no bonus, 144k match or options.
Our medical insurance is fully paid (including dependents) up to
$776/mo. Free parking. We were in a downtown building that
charged 125/mo parking that the company paid. Now we are in a
suburban building where parking is free.
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Advice to Jobseekers
You had better learn about all of the vulnerabilities of your
company's firmware and/or your clients' concerns.
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