If you’re a financial institution short of a few good software engineers, you’re not alone.
Fueled by a pressing need for constant innovation, compliance adherence, and flexibility, over 90% of banks and insurers are in the midst of migrating their legacy systems to the cloud — up from 37% just three years ago.
At the same time, the scarcity of software engineering talent is deepening. Financial firms aren’t just competing with other organizations within the industry, but with virtually every industry — and not just here in the U.S., but the world over.
| “You’re always going to be playing catch-up to some degree — and the challenge will always be: How do we evolve our skills, capabilities, and competencies to keep pace?” |
So the question is: How do you fill open software engineer roles, future-proof their skills, and maintain a steady stream of talent to help your financial institution keep pace with its modernization goals?
Why Software Engineering Skills Matter to You
As technology evolves, traditional roles are becoming more technical. For example:
- Financial analysts and risk managers are learning programming languages like Python so they can manipulate, analyze, and model large data sets.
- Compliance officers apply data encryption methods, monitoring tools, and cybersecurity protocols to meet evolving industry and regulatory requirements.
- Loan officers use technical literacy to interpret and leverage data generated by automated underwriting systems and make more effective decisions.
In addition, software engineers are among the top 10 sought-after roles in finance, and play a critical role in:
- Streamlining transactions with blockchain
- Developing personalized apps and portals
- Maintaining compliant code with cloud computing for agile development
- Creating big data tools for operational efficiency and risk mitigation
Recognizing that “future-ready teams create future-ready solutions,” forward-thinking finance leaders are becoming top investors in disruptive tech skills training.
How to Develop the Tech Skills Your Org Needs
Long gone are the days when software engineers are hired for one niche project and that’s that. The difference between “scarcely surviving” versus “innovating and thriving” can be found in the top financial institutions that develop highly skilled T-shaped teams, consisting of software engineers with both the breadth and depth of training to serve critical needs across projects.
It may sound like a tall order, but most financial institutions rely on a mix of resources from brick-and-mortar academia, supplemental tools, and General Assembly’s tailored tech training programs to bring their in-house capabilities up to speed.
| Asynchronous Content | Fluency Training | Hands-on Training | |
| What is it? | Employers pay for access to online educational content aimed at bolstering particular areas of expertise like AI or C++. | Corporate leaders take courses to bolster their existing knowledge base and learn how to work with cross-functional teams. | For a more hands-on training method, financial companies can partner with General Assembly for instructor-led, targeted training. |
| Pros | These courses offer a flexible and convenient way to build fundamentals. | These courses improve top-down understanding of the tech landscape. | Training is both comprehensive and tailored to specific business needs. |
| Cons | Engagement issues are common. Many employees won’t ever use or complete these programs. | This measure won’t cover the breadth and depth of software engineering needs at the application level. | Businesses must be ready to invest in long-term talent development. |
What General Assembly Can Do To Help
General Assembly delivers innovative solutions for financial institutions. Are you ready to invest in employee skill development in order to drive productivity, efficiency, and profitability?
Here’s how:
- We Upskill Your Current Engineers: Our live, instructor-led Modern Engineer course brings legacy mid-career software engineers up to speed in 35–45 hours of study, with foundational topics ranging from cloud infrastructure and microservices to test-driven development and integration.
- We Reskill Existing Employees Into New Roles: We make it easy to select promising candidates for career investment and set them in motion. With our fast-track program, bank tellers, business analysts, project managers, and operations specialists obtain the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to become software engineers.
- We Recruit New Engineering Talent: Our Hire-Train-Deploy and external talent pipeline programs build permanent recruitment solutions. When business is booming, financial institutions can recruit and hire in great numbers by tapping into our pipeline of career-ready program graduates with targeted train-to-spec programs.
The Future of Finance Starts Here
To thrive, financial institutions must prioritize continuous learning, diversify their talent pool, and adopt innovative workforce development strategies. General Assembly is your strategic partner in building a resilient, future-ready software engineering team.
Download “Coding the Future of Finance” to learn more about the software engineering skills, courses, and case studies behind the finance industry’s transformative growth.