A Frenchman in New York
Sacha Rinaudo, a Partner here at Durlston Partners, recently travelled to the USA to meet with our team and a number of our clients. Below are his memoirs.
Throughout the whole of August, I’ve had the awesome opportunity to spend 4 weeks in the Big Apple, absorbing its atmosphere and magic that spreads all over the city. Exploring from Brooklyn / Williamsburg, all the way up to Central Park and Yankee Stadium, I’ve enjoyed the buzz of this wonderful city.
Networking was at the core of the agenda (as always), and I’ve had the absolute pleasure of meeting inspiring, passionate, and experienced people from the industry. Below are the main takeaways available for the public.
Market Trends
Let’s savour the moment!
It is now no surprise that the market in 2023 took a 180-turn compared to what we saw and experienced in 2021-2022. The feedback overseas aligns with the one in London/Europe: The market has slowed down, supply went up whilst demand went (have a guess), down.
Earlier and ongoing rounds of layoffs are the cause of a market flooded by competent engineers. The struggle is real and competition is fierce across the ranks.
From a recruitment perspective, internal recruiters were impacted first, then agencies and freelancers/consultants. Internal Talent Acquisition teams ramped up, so you might be wondering – how Durlston Partners can help you?
Should you be a client or candidate out there with niche / tailored requirements that you believe would be hard to match, please do not hesitate to reach out to one of our consultants (or myself).
Durlston Partners “brings simple solutions to complex problems.” – (Sales time, sorry). Historically, Durlston Partners is known for its targeted, comprehensive approach to our client’s and candidate’s searches.
Providing a 5⭐ service based on:
- A strong understanding of our client’s/candidate’s projects and needs.
- Access to a wide range of firms / premium pool of candidates.
- Tailored and personable approach – Durlston Partners isn’t a spamming agency.
- Availability of our consultants is pretty much around the clock, covering multiple time zones.
- A fun and enriching experience for all parties involved along the way! (Hopefully).
DP’ers are trained to optimise their delivery based on their strengths and areas of interest which most times results in a smooth and cost-efficient (time and money wise) process for everyone.
No need to panic, there are plenty of opportunities out there – so again, please do not hesitate to get in touch if you’re on the lookout, so we can help you prepare and guide you throughout your journey. Alternatively, advise you on how to approach the market should you be a client.
Generative AI – The race to where?
The 2nd main trend picked up in NY was around AI, and more specifically Generative AI, which has been impacting our lives from both personal and professional standpoints. Hard to ignore the hype and the large amount of investment being made into the technology. Companies are keen to stay ahead of the curve and engineers are determined to dive into the vast, not fully explored, world of AI.
The AI race is on and thus across industries, Generative AI is growing in popularity and interest. This is not only noticed within AI/ML or FinTech startups but also within Trading firms – it’s a great time to be an ML Engineer, (AI) Researcher, or Data Scientist who specialises in NLP or LLM, you must be in high demand!
The main common feedback gathered over the last 4 weeks is that challenges are identical for pretty much everyone:
- Where are the experts?
- How do we approach the problems?
- Can we actually keep up with the technology?
How can we find the individuals with the most knowledge in the space, knowing that Generative AI was brought to the public only “recently” some may wonder. Once the right people are on board, the possibilities of leveraging the technology are infinite: how do we embrace it, are the right features available and relevant to our problems etc.
We are happy to provide some pointers should you be interested in finding out more, so don’t hesitate to reach out!
Chicago – Voted the best city in the US
More than 240,000 readers of Condé Nast Traveler weighed in on their favourite American cities, and Chicago was ranked first overall for an unprecedented sixth straight year.
I personally loved it, but this is definitely one that’s up for debate between Americans – Lake Michigan does add some pizzazz, trading firms are all located within 20min walk of each other, and no matter if you are in NY or Chicago – you will find great places for food & drinks.
The windy city impressed me, almost equally to the grandeur and majestic appeal of NY. Where would you prefer to visit in the US? And similarly, where would you prefer to work?
A couple of side notes
NY Yankees: Although it is one of the toughest seasons in history for the Highlanders, I’ve been lucky to see Aaron Judge hitting that ball off the field and scoring a Homerun against the Boston Redsox!
Pickleball: Even though I stopped by Central Park Fields pretty much every weekend, I unfortunately still haven’t had a chance to play this rather popular game that hooked so many New Yorkers! Fair to say that I remain confused by this plastic ball barely bouncing.
Thank you to all of you in my network that I’ve been able to meet and the newly made connections for the great recommendations.
New York, I’ll be back!
Written by Sacha Rinaudo
📅 This Week in Crypto 📅
London Stock Exchange (LSEG.L) is looking into using blockchain to build what it described on Monday as “an end-to-end digital market ecosystem to raise and transfer capital across asset classes”. Murray Roos, head of capital markets at LSEG, told the Financial Times that the London-based exchange had been examining the potential for a blockchain-powered trading venue for around a year and had reached an “inflexion point”.
The Financial Stability Board, a global standard setter, and the International Monetary Fund, the global economic agency, are set to deliver a paper calling for global coordination on crypto policy at this weekend’s G20 summit. The paper includes a roadmap for the implementation of policy frameworks for crypto including global coordination, cooperation and information sharing.
Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong has unveiled the ten ideas he is most excited about when it comes to crypto’s future, sharing hopes that developers can use the bear market to take them to the next level. From flat coins to on-chain advertisements, he hopes aspiring developers take the time to build out these crypto concepts.