Meet a Network Engineer

Why did you decide to join SIG?

There were many reasons – from the short commute to the casual workplace environment; however the deciding factor was the aggressive approach to improving technology.

What unique experiences or projects have you been involved in since working at SIG?

The Network Engineering team is responsible for providing the data path for all communications. We attempt to learn about all aspects of the applications used during SIG’s daily activity. There are many different applications and requirements for each. I work as a specialist for the Algorithmic Trading Desk. Although I am technically a Network Engineer, I try to involve and embed myself with all aspects of the daily activities of the Algo team – it provides a solid foundation for making informed engineering design decisions.

Describe your journey through SIG in terms of roles and responsibilities.

When joining SIG, I wanted the team to get away from traditional Network Engineering and stop being a voice at the end of a technical trouble call. I felt the need to get involved deeper with the folks responsible for our critical trading environments. Due to this, we have elevated the team into having a wide breadth of knowledge about other technology teams. I personally make it my responsibility to understand the needs and desires of the business and our potential impact to ensure smooth implementations.

In your opinion, what is the best perk we offer?

Wearing shorts all summer!

What would you share with a person who is interested in working at SIG?

If you want to get involved with the latest technology and learn from the best in the business, then SIG is the place for you! Your ideas can become reality.

What do you think is unique about SIG technology?

Collaboration. Working for a very large company in the past revealed we did not collaborate with our teammates nearly enough. SIG Technology promotes collaboration and makes it easy to do so – the end result is informed employees who can remedy a failure or develop a solution quickly.

Do you have a really cool fact about yourself?

I am a crazy Philadelphia sports fan and a homebrewer.

A day in the life…

My role on paper is Network Engineer; however, in practice, I try to be a total solution developer and work very closely with our critical trading teams on solution development. The total Networking team consists of engineers, operations and provisioning. I consider the SIG Network as MY network; I take care and pride in our design, stability and support.

I arrive to work early most days during the week. I like to check in with the teams I am directly involved with to ensure morning processes are operating as expected. We have a daily scrum to go over issues and changes from the night before and the upcoming day. We provide a brief update to ensure all teammates are well informed.

The rest of the day consists of designing and supporting the global SIG network, meeting with our ‘Specialist’ teams and working on line-of-business initiatives and issues.

Networking meets at least twice a week to share information and go over new issues, initiatives, technologies and projects. I believe we need to constantly research new technologies to stay competitive in the markets. We provide the critical data path to the teams that keep the firm profitable, so we have to think outside of traditional networking to keep our edge. We are always trying to reduce latency and improve stability. Most designs are the brain-child of a group of engineers, rather than the vision of one. We value each other’s opinions and views – it keeps us effective as a team.