Are you considering a career in financial technology (FinTech)? This comprehensive guide offers insights into the complexities of learning FinTech, including industry-specific tools, demands for innovation, and the balance of hard and soft skills required to excel in this fast-paced field.
Key Insights
- FinTech refers to a broad spectrum of products, services, and companies in the financial technology arena, including well-known names like Stripe, Plaid, and Venmo.
- FinTech services are varied and include payment services, investment apps, cryptocurrency platforms, and more. These services often overlap with FinTech products.
- Learning FinTech involves mastering industry-specific tools such as Python, as well as constantly staying ahead of technological innovation in the field.
- Professionals in FinTech need to combine both hard skills, such as data visualization and programming, with soft skills like communication and business acumen.
- Salaries in FinTech can vary significantly; a Data Scientist can earn a median annual salary exceeding six figures while a Financial Analyst may earn around $81,000 annually.
- With the growing concerns over cybersecurity in the FinTech space, positions in this subspecialty may soon become the most sought-after among FinTech professionals.
If you plan to study FinTech, you’ll need to know more about how much of a challenge it will be to learn. FinTech stands for financial technology, a term broadly applied to a range of products, services, and even companies.
Before delving into the challenges involved in learning FinTech, consider what the phrase means—in the context of today’s constantly growing digital landscape.
What is FinTech?
The term FinTech applies to three main categories: products, services, and companies. Here are some examples of how businesspeople currently use the phrase.
- Companies - Many companies, including a host of startups, are classified as FinTechs. While not many have become household names yet, a few have: Stripe, Plaid, and Venmo all fall into the FinTech category. For more examples, check out the top FinTech companies and startups from Insider Intelligence or the FinTech 50, rated by Forbes.
- Services - Stripe may be classified as a FinTech, and its payment service also falls under the general heading of financial technology. The same can be said of other payment services like PayPal and Klarna, investment apps like Robinhood, and cryptocurrency platforms like Coinbase.
Companies that offer FinTech services, but are more than FinTechs themselves, including Apple, Amazon, and JPMorgan Chase.
- Products - FinTech products include everything from robo advisors to digital banking. While cryptocurrencies may not technically be considered products, they are neither companies nor services. Thus it makes sense to include digital currencies in the product category.
The service platforms of companies like Venmo and Coinbase are frequently classified as products, as some offer multiple features like merchant accounts, payment gateways, and overdraft protection. Embedded lending is an example of products and services syncing up with a company’s financing department.
Further subcategories within the three primary categories include:
- Insurance (a.k.a., “insurtech”)
- Wealth management/investment advisory services
- Payment providers
- Banking as a Service (BaaS)
- Cryptocurrency exchange platforms
What Can You Do with FinTech?
FinTech refers to the many Financial Technology products and services you can use today and some of the companies that offer them. Consider FinTech as an umbrella term referring to three main categories:
- Services - On a basic level, many FinTech services may be considered products, and vice versa. PayPal is a service, but the platform of services PayPal offers may be called a product itself. To simplify matters, look at services that are now commonly provided and named as such: Banking as a Service (BaaS), payment services like Venmo, and investment services like Robinhood.
- Products - FinTech products range from the payment app you use on your smart device every day to robo-advisors and digital banking. Currencies aren’t typically referred to as products, but cryptocurrencies certainly fall into the product category as opposed to a service.
- FinTech Companies - Organizations like Visa and Mastercard top the list of major FinTech companies in the U.S., followed by Tencent and Ant Financial in China, then U.S. companies Intuit, PayPal, and Stripe. These firms offer FinTech products or services, and people generally refer to the companies themselves as “FinTechs.”
Additional FinTech products, services, and technological innovations include wealth management, insurance (a.k.a., “insurtech”), and credit reporting/identity theft protection services.
What Are the Most Challenging Parts of Learning FinTech?
The built-in challenges of learning FinTech include industry-specific tools, the constant demand for innovation, and the need to combine hard and soft skills. Consider the following:
- Learning industry-specific tools - If you plan to become a Data Scientist, you’ll need to learn programming languages like Python. This essential tool applies across a wide range of fields. But additional skills like data visualization may depend on the position. Some companies may require Power BI training, others will want Tableau expertise, and others may expect familiarity with both.
- Innovation - Because FinTech itself is based on the idea of innovative financial technology, the demand for high-tech solutions never stops. What someone learned in 2021 may become nearly obsolete by 2024. For that reason alone, focusing on in-demand skills like programming languages and machine learning first makes sense.
- Hard and soft skills - While you’ll likely need Python and data visualization experience for a FinTech role, soft skills never fall out of favor. Great communication, strong business acumen, and even storytelling skills can take tech professionals far.
How Does Learning FinTech Compare to Other Fields?
In many ways, you can consider FinTech a field within a field. Careers in cybersecurity, banking, mobile app development, and even insurance all fall within its purview. “Learning FinTech” means one thing in wealth management, while its meaning differs considerably in the insurance field.
Top FinTech roles can include anything from Data Scientist to Blockchain Developer. It pays to train in the most in-demand skills, from Python, Java, and SQL to broader categories like artificial intelligence (AI). Some may prove more challenging than others to master, but a comprehensive bootcamp or certificate can offer a solid foundation.
Read more about how FinTech compares to other fields.
Degrees of Difficulty
Learning FinTech may be a small part of a person’s career, or it may be the primary focus. If someone trains for a data science position, they will study numerous topics essential to FinTech, like Python, SQL, and machine learning.
Data Scientists earn a median annual salary exceeding six figures, so one can expect a degree of difficulty in mastering both fundamentals and more advanced skills. However, given a student’s unique aptitude and skill set, learning the tools common to FinTech and data science might provide a welcome challenge.
Financial Analysts, who earn a median annual salary of around $81,000, need in-depth knowledge of FinTech products and services. Their learning curve will differ significantly from that of a Data Scientist, Blockchain Developer, or Cybersecurity Analyst.
The job outlook for entry-level positions in FinTech is even more inviting. Some roles require little more than a high school diploma and the ability to pass a background check. One might find work as a Junior Mortgage Loan Processor, a Junior Cybersecurity Analyst, or a FinTech Customer Support Agent.
Additional Considerations
As in so many ventures, learning FinTech can vary in difficulty based on internal factors like a student’s natural aptitude and background and personal situations such as availability, budget, and family obligations.
If a person wants to study FinTech in-depth, they can complete a targeted bootcamp in a few weeks or months. While this is an obvious benefit, consider other factors that can make FinTech an attractive area of study.
An important consideration is the fact that the growing popularity of FinTech brings with it a host of security challenges, including:
- Fraud and identity theft protection
- Mobile security
- Data breaches
- The dark web
- Regulatory concerns
Because cybersecurity is so essential to the safety and transparency of FinTech products and services, positions in this subspecialty may soon become the most in-demand among FinTech professionals. If one plans to become an IT Security Analyst or Risk Manager, they might end up with greater job security than that of other roles in this ever-changing world.
Learn FinTech with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop
For those entering the field, it’s possible to find an entry-level position in FinTech or data science after attending a bootcamp or certificate program. A person can compare courses from providers like Noble Desktop by using their online search tool.
Here are some of the most popular courses in the FinTech space, which range from 18-hour bootcamps to 102-hour certificates.
- FinTech Bootcamp - The FinTech Bootcamp is Noble Desktop’s most comprehensive FinTech program. It’s made up of five training modules, some of which can be taken by experienced students as separate bootcamps. The FinTech space typically requires considerable Python expertise, so this program features Python for finance, data science, automation, and machine learning. Enrollees should be familiar with basic financial concepts, but there are no other prerequisites.
- Data Science Certificate - Noble’s Data Science Certificate program offers in-depth training for data professionals. While many Data Scientists work outside the FinTech sphere, there’s much overlap with FinTech in their training. The Data Science Certificate and FinTech Bootcamp both include Noble’s Python for Automation training, Python for Data Science Bootcamp, SQL Bootcamp, and Python Machine Learning Bootcamp.
- Python for Finance Bootcamp - The final module in the FinTech Bootcamp, participants can also take this course separately. Students save by taking it as part of the FinTech program, but for those with a finance background and Python data science experience, this bootcamp can jumpstart a person’s current FinTech career.
- Financial Modeling Bootcamp - Offered separately from other FinTech courses, Noble’s Financial Modeling program is an immersive 21-hour bootcamp for those interested in corporate banking and finance. Check course listings for Excel proficiency and other prerequisite information.
- Python for Data Science Bootcamp - While not strictly a FinTech program, this Python-centered module is essential for data science and FinTech students alike. Students can save by taking it as part of the FinTech Bootcamp, Data Science Certificate, Data Analytics Certificate, or Python Data Science & Machine Learning Bootcamp. Beginners are welcome to apply.
These programs attract a variety of students and busy professionals, from beginners to tech workers looking to transition or level up from current positions. The presence of experienced FinTech pros and hands-on instruction from world-class instructors can make FinTech much easier to learn than in a traditional classroom or self-guided learning path.
