10 Skills You Need For A Fintech Career
Publié le 28 June 2023
Step into the job market and find the role you want with 10 skills you need for a fintech career.
So, You’re ready to kick-start your fintech career.
Maybe you’re a new graduate who majored in accounting or financial programs and now you want to utilize your new-found expertise at work. Or perhaps you’ve been working in a different industry but your true passion lies with fintech.
Whatever the case, fintech is a challenging yet rewarding sector with plenty of future growth potential.
Fintech – or finance technology – is a sector that’s built on innovation. Since it’s all about the newest, most cutting-edge tech tools and the latest financial developments worldwide, it’s ideally suited for people who look to the future to shape the present.
To help you land your dream job in the fintech sector, we’ve rounded up the essential skills that will help you thrive.
The 10 Skills You Need For A Fintech Career
- Data analytics
- Creativity
- Adaptability
- Subject-specific knowledge
- Positivity
- Numerical reasoning
- AI
- Communication
- Growth mindset
- Curiosity
1. Data Analytics
Anyone looking to start a fintech career needs to have strong data analytics skills. If you’re wondering what industries are growing in the UK, you may want to consider fintech as a promising and rewarding sector to start your career.
Data analytics is one of the digital skills that’s useful to anyone working with numbers in finance or tech, making it a key requirement for fintech professionals.
You’ll want to make sure you’re great with numbers in all their different formats. Whether it’s graphs, charts, or raw data, you’ll need technical skills that allow you to analyze numbers to develop valuable insights.
It doesn’t stop there, though. Your data analytics skills should also extend to digital tools, so you can use platforms like expense report software to analyze expenses, determine how to increase savings and identify any areas that can be optimized.
These skills have practical applications in many fintech jobs, making them particularly valuable.
2. Creativity
Many people think creativity is a skill specific to those working in media, entertainment, and the arts, but that’s not the case. Being creative also means being adept at finding unique approaches to problems, which is a particularly beneficial skill in today’s ever-changing digital landscape.
By showing off your ability to solve problems creatively, you can make your resume stand out.
This shows recruiters that you don’t settle for less when overcoming obstacles. That’s because creative thinkers try different problem-solving tactics to find a solution instead of sticking to conventional approaches that might not always be the best option.
When you consider how quickly fintech is evolving and growing, it only makes sense that the people willing to try new things are best suited to the field.
3. Adaptability
As mentioned, fintech is a fast-paced sector. With new strategies, tech solutions, and information cropping up nearly every day, candidates hoping to apply for a fintech career must be able to adjust to these changes.
In other words, adaptability is one of the key skills you need for a fintech career.
When you’re faced with a new tool, workflow procedure, or other challenge, you need to have the kind of attitude that sees you rolling up your sleeves and learning the ins and outs immediately.
For example, imagine you’re applying to a company that requires you to be experienced in scalable payroll software. In this case, you need to learn how to maximize its utility quickly. Regardless of your experience with HR software, you’ll want to become a scalable payroll software expert in no time to prove you can adapt to new environments and platforms seamlessly.
4. Subject-Specific Knowledge and Experience
Of course, as helpful as it is getting up to speed straight away when starting a new job, you can also set yourself apart from the crowd by already being an expert.
This is particularly relevant for graduates who want to secure a fintech job immediately, as they’ll have acquired the knowledge needed for their new careers. This is why it’s important for graduates to showcase their academic experience and success during the recruitment process.
Experience is just as valuable as detailed knowledge in this instance. Whether you’ve personally been involved in processes like functionality testing or read about them extensively, that background knowledge will be instrumental in helping you hit the ground running.
5. Positivity
It’s easy to dismiss positivity as an attitude rather than something you can practice and get good at. But, it’s one of the most essential skills for success in fintech.
We’ve discussed how fintech’s fast-paced nature can lead to exciting, opportunity-rich working environments—but it can also lead to frustration. When things are constantly changing, it can be easy for employees to feel lost or isolated.
In those situations, every team needs someone who can remain upbeat and motivate others.
Lifting your team’s spirits is a desirable trait in any employee. But it’s particularly crucial in a high-stress environment where workers deal with a lot of pressure. Staying positive helps you tackle new challenges calmly while ensuring you and your coworkers deliver the best possible results.
6. Numerical Reasoning
Mathematics skills are helpful on their own. In fintech, what’s exceptionally useful is the capacity for numerical reasoning.
People who are strong in this skill can take one look at a piece of software for payroll or other procedures and develop valuable insights into the status of a company’s accounting team and its processes. To them, numbers make sense on a fundamental level, such that they can make sense of them better than just about anyone.
To put that another way, you’ve got to be great at working with numbers in addition to processing them. By showing that you can derive insights from data, you’ll set yourself apart from the competition and establish yourself as a promising fintech employee.
7. AI
Like many other forward-thinking industries, fintech is beginning to incorporate AI into more and more of its processes. So it stands to reason that anyone looking to position themselves for a career in fintech must be skilled at using and working with AI tools.
Whether you possess programming skills or are skilled in specific AI programs, you can make the most of your expertise working in fintech. The integration of financial software development services into fintech solutions is becoming increasingly crucial, as these services facilitate the efficient handling of financial data and enhance the overall user experience in digital financial environments.
The sector is heavily concerned with data, and AI is increasingly used to optimize the way data is processed and stored. So if you have the know-how to make AI do this efficiently and utilize it to its full potential, you’re already one step ahead of the curve.
8. Communication
Much like any other career that relies on working effectively in a group, a job in fintech is bound to call for proficient communication skills. Here’s why.
Communication helps you be an excellent team player, avoiding miscommunication, mediating conflicts, and working well with others to develop optimal solutions. All of this benefits teams by improving productivity and generating desired outcomes.
For example, let’s say your team is tasked with devising a brand-new domain name. A team of strong communicators will ensure individual voices are heard, conflicting opinions about the new name are taken into account, and the team is all working together towards one goal. As a result, the group should agree on a decision for the final choice of domain name.
9. Growth Mindset
Planning for a long-term career in fintech requires a commitment to professional development. It’s crucial to adopt a growth mindset from the get-go, as it is one of the most important skills you need for a fintech career.
Rather than limiting yourself and seeing challenging situations as potential problems, you see valuable opportunities to learn, grow, and do better.
In the fast-paced world of fintech, it’s vital to roll with the punches. When you can show that you’re skilled at turning difficult situations into chances to improve yourself, you show that you’re prepared to grow, adapt, and overcome any future challenges you might face.
On that same note, it’s worth viewing the list of skills in this article as opportunities to develop. If you lack any skills or experience, it’s essential to know that you can develop your skills for a fintech career by working hard, staying dedicated to your job responsibilities, and learning from others in the industry.
10. Curiosity
Much like positivity, this is both a skill to improve on and an attitude you can cultivate naturally.
Curiosity is one of the 10 skills you need for a fintech career for various reasons.
First, the ‘tech’ aspect is young, fast-growing, and ever-evolving. In other words, there’s always something new to learn. Showing interest in the latest innovations and staying abreast of industry trends ensures you’ll continue to grow in your fintech career.
What’s more, a healthy curiosity can lead to becoming knowledgeable in facts and approaches relevant to your field. For example, if the concept of on-demand pay piques your interest, tap into that curiosity by reading more, asking questions, and becoming an expert on the subject in your own time.
Simply put, curiosity makes you a suitable fit for a fintech career. It shows employers that you’re in it for more than money and have a genuine interest in what you do.
Fintech Careers: Final Thoughts
Working in fintech is its own reward to many people. It’s a field that’s unlikely to ever get boring. After all, when societies evolve, the changes are almost always evident in the tech they produce. And as long as we live within a world that runs on money, finance is always going to be relevant.
Fintech careers have the potential to be fulfilling and engaging in the long run. That’s why working on the 10 skills you need for a fintech career we’ve explored here can help set you up for a fruitful professional life in this growing sector.
