INSIDE GOLDMAN SACHS: This is what a day in the life of a technology analyst is like
Meet Samira. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2014 as a developer building data visualisation apps used by the FX traders to show trading trends between the bank and its clients.
Meet Ria. She also joined Goldman Sachs in 2014 after a year on a graduate work placement. Ria works on projects to improve the bank's cyber-threat detection and response.
Both work at the Goldman Sachs' London head office, on Fleet Street. Their day starts at around 8:30 – 9am.
These are the flags that greet them on the way in. The international dimension of the office is emphasized right from the start.
The bank has models of its new office in the foyer, being built close to the current HQ.
First up, breakfast. The developers have a breakfast club, and Samira spends the first 20 minutes of her day in the well-stocked canteen.
There are plenty of unhealthy options at low, low prices.
And even more healthy ones.
Including a fruit smoothie bar where you can ask for anything you like.
And some bizarre drink options.
After that Samira is back at her desk, preparing for an informal "stand-up" meeting with the rest of her four-person team.
Each member of the team talks for about one to two minutes about the projects they're working on. Only the person holding the stuffed toy (in this case a Minion) can speak, while the others have to listen.
Here's one of the data viz apps Samira is working on. It shows FX trading activity minute by minute.
Meanwhile, Ria gets to work, taking the hand-off from cyber-security colleagues in India. She'll research any active cases the team is looking at, checking blogs, paid-for information services and newswires for information on hacking threats.
She'll co-ordinate with colleagues using Symphony, Goldman Sach's in-house messaging system. It's like a mix between Twitter and Slack and looks a lot like Bloomberg's chat product.
Anything Ria finds out that could be useful for identifying cyber threats, the people behind them and what they want, she'll post it to GSConnect, an internal social network a bit like a Facebook or LinkedIn.
There are more Minions on the cyber floor.
Over to Samira again, and she's crossing the bridge to the FX trading floor for a chat with the traders.
The trading floor is louder than the tech office and, even though it's a quiet day with no central bank announcements, it hums with energy. It's also noticeably warmer by a few degrees,
Samira chats with Adam, an emerging markets currency trader, about the apps she's working on and the features traders and clients want. Samira said she finds the traders approachable and fun to talk to.
Some of the traders had these cool keyboards to punch out orders.
Finally it's lunchtime, and the canteen begins to fill up from about 12pm.
Lunch is an event at the London office. There's a fully-functional pizza oven and you can order whatever pizza you want.
Friday means fish and chips are on the menu.
And there's also a huge salad bar if fried food isn't your thing.
It's a good time to catch up with colleagues.
There are ping pong tables next to the cafeteria to work off the pizza calories.
The canteen is a focal point for a lot of the office amenities. Like this cash machine that does a decent line in dollar and euro exchange rates.
And the in-house dry-cleaners which seemed very busy.
In the afternoon, Ria will link up with US colleagues. Twice a week she'll have a video conference with the team in Texas. The cyber threat group is a 24/7 operation. Ria said her day will end at around 6pm or so but it can go later if she's working on an active threat and needs to stay in touch with the US.
Here's how the video conference looks. Most of the people at the meeting are recent joiners and the threat intelligence team itself is relatively new. The meeting lasts around 30-60 mins.
Staff can also use a huge gym on the lower ground floor. The gym is run by a concession and analysts can get monthly memberships at a subsidized rate.
It has all the running machines, weights and facilities you'd find at a decent city gym.
As if that wasn't enough, the office has the only on-site corporate child care centre in the City. Parents returning from maternity or paternity leave get four free weeks of childcare.
And we're done ... Samira's day ends around 6 p.m. unless there's something that needs urgent attention.
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