As a Software Engineer, what sparked your interest in trading and IMC?

I was always fascinated by trading and finance. I’d read a lotabout stock markets in the news and was captivated by their impact on the economy. I started saving up at university to make my own investments. I learnt about algorithmic trading online and wanted to experience a million trades in a day! After graduating with a degree in Computer Science from the Netaji Subhas University of Technology, I stumbled upon IMC on LinkedIn and that’s where my journey with the company began.

What kind of projects were you involved with during your internship?

My project improved the latency monitoring setup of IMC in Mumbai, which tracks the speed at which information is exchanged between financial exchanges and IMC’s trading systems. I built a system using exciting technologies like Java, Kafka, ActiveMQ, and Dagger to monitor latencies in real-time and highlight degradations. This proved vital for our traders to react to market events swiftly and increase profitability.

This project was also a personal highlight because the monitoring system I worked on is still in use. It just shows that no matter how new you are, IMC gives you lots of responsibility and empowers you to do your best.

Is that what encouraged you to stay for a full-time role?

Absolutely! Unlike my previous internships, at IMC my team members trusted me with complex technical problems and were always there to answer my questions. I remember talking to my mentor for hours about technology, trading, IMC, and the challenges I was facing in my project. From day one, I felt valued and welcome. Plus, everyone’s nice and people want to have fun too. I had a blast at the after-work socials every Friday!

Did you face any challenges during your internship? How did you overcome them?

I was very new to trading and lacked background knowledge in many places. For instance, I knew nothing about options trading, which is a key focus for IMC.

My mentor was able to introduce me to the various facets of trading, which provided a great head start. There are also face-to-face and virtual L&D programs available to all staff, ranging from short courses to 3-day programs. One of these was Trading for Non Traders, which was really valuable.

On the technical side, I was relatively new to working on large code bases. My mentor gave the right amount of advice to help me figure out on my own, rather than spoon-feeding solutions. IMC has some really talented people who always want to help, and that’s something I value.

Tell us more about your graduate traineeship and your time in Chicago.

Twice a year, IMC holds a five-week traineeship forGraduate Software Engineers and experienced engineers who just joined IMC – whom I learnt a lot from over the five weeks. In August 2023, the global traineeship was held in our Chicago office. IMC’s senior engineers and traders led seminars on our way of trading, the technologies we use, and the broader industry. Alongside these classes, we had to create a trading system in a simulated environment. As the weeks went on, we added new features using what we learnt in class. To add to the challenge, this was a competition! I learnt so much and had a lot of fun competing with my peers.

The traineeship isn’t just an opportunity to learn, but also to connect. I met so many IMCers from different offices and had the opportunity to directly interact with some of our leaders. That helped bring a lot of clarity on our role as a company and how we operate.

Chicago is an awesome city! This was my first time travelling outside of India, so to visit the States was an incredible opportunity. I watched my first baseball game at Wrigley Field. All in all, it was an unforgettable experience!

How have you applied the knowledge and skills you acquired during your traineeship to your current role as a graduate employee?

We learnt a lot about IMC-specific tech during the traineeship, which has been immensely helpful as a Graduate Software Engineer. Everything from building design patterns to navigating messaging systems like Kafka and JMS, the trade-off between them, and the principles of software craftmanship – I frequently refer to materials from the traineeship in my day-to-day role.

And how have your role and responsibilities changed since transitioning from an intern to a graduate software engineer?

As an intern, I focused on one project. Now, asa graduate, my scope is much wider. I work on multiple projects at the same time – some big, some small. I’m also involved in firefighting, i.e. helping operations with any technical issues they face during the course of the day.

You’ve made a pretty big impact early on in your career! How has IMC's culture enabled this success?

IMC’s flat structure has a huge part to play – I can approach anyone in the company and they’ll gladly give their time to answer my questions or provide advice. Plus, people trust you with lots of responsibility and provide you with the tools to get there. The technical challenges at IMC are very interesting, which isn’t something you get everywhere. I work with some of the brightest minds on varied projects where I get to make an impact – and this has enabled me to learn and grow every day.