In the six and a half years I’ve been recruiting in the Java development space, I’ve seen many different markets. I’ve seen markets where Java developers couldn’t fail to get a job and I’ve seen them where there were only a handful of roles available. I’ve seen hundreds of start-ups appear, hoover up talent and then disappear just as quickly. I’ve seen Investment Banks hire 250 people and then make 500 redundant the following year. However, I don’t feel like I’ve ever seen a market quite as buoyant as this one and not just because of the numbers of roles available but because of the sheer variety of them. 

It used to be that the most interesting projects were limited to a very small number of companies whilst more established firms just plodded along making small, incremental changes to the technology they worked with. However, that has now been turned on its head by some of the larger developments in the technology space and the opportunities that has created. 

Starting with the Investment Banks, for those who do still see them as desirable places to work, the passing of the MiFID II deadline has opened up money and resources for many new projects. Firms like Goldmans, JP Morgan and Barclays have hundreds of open headcount across their divisions and are trying to adapt their recruitment to compete with smaller, more nimble firms. 

Switching to the complete opposite side, we’ve seen an increase in the number of start-ups, particularly in the Blockchain and Crypto currency space, who are recruiting again. This is offering developers the chance to build something from scratch, learn new protocols and often they are given equity to share in the success of the firm. 

Then finishing with everything in between including Trading firms, Exchanges, Index Companies, Brokerages, Hedge Funds, Retail trading platforms and Peer to Peer lenders. There is a common theme amongst them that their technology needs to improve and be updated. Projects going on at the moment include reengineering of platforms, reductions in latency, moving to the cloud, new trading systems and building in-house platforms to replace vendor platforms. 

So whether you want to work for a company of 4000, 400 or 4 the likelihood is that there is a firm like that recruiting right now. If you want to build a new system or reduce the latency of an existing one, the likelihood is that you’ll be able to do that. So now that bonus season is out of the way, don’t miss out on this opportunity to really see how much better your job could be.