Oscar Bertrand

I am a career switcher from finance, excited by this fresh coding challenge and all the opportunities that lie ahead. I recently completed a 4-month coding bootcamp at Makers Academy in London where I learnt JavaScript, React Native through the MERN stack, Ruby as well as Ruby on Rails. I also had exposure to back-end tech in Node.js, PostgreSQL and Mongo DB among others. Beyond individual tech, the course at Makers had a strong emphasis on TDD and BDD software development within a wider context of Agile and XP values, which has shaped and guided my individual learning and development as a coder. I am now in a position to build on both my front-end and back-end experience and I am looking for a first coding role that will challenge and stretch me as both a developer and a professional.

• Drive Arkera’s ETF and regulatory product development by addressing important industry trends, monitoring potential new entrants to the market, existing issuers and participants in the wider ETF ecosystem
• Collaborate with data scientists and engineers to source, process and deliver high quality information critical to decision-makers ahead of competitors
• Review and draft cutting-edge product-related content for sector experts surfacing AI-powered intelligence
• Maintain client relationships with weekly calls/in-house meetings and proactively improve existing offerings

• Produce insightful reports about the growing global ETF market, from Europe and the US to Brazil and India as well as analysis of active and smart beta ETF
• Maintain information on all aspects of the ETF eco-system within proprietary calculation and publication system
• Coordinate with issuers, index providers and exchanges globally ensuring all relevant data is available and properly processed
• Develop new and innovative products with engineers helping ETFGI expand its core business

• Developing models & strategies to assist with trading decisions focused on Eurozone government bonds
• Supporting the Government Bond trading desk through daily and ad-hoc tasks
• Collating and interpreting market data to form the basis of fixed income analysis
• Writing commentary on the performance of sovereign bond auctions and keeping up to date with the latest market developments
• Monitoring trade ideas and maintaining the yield curve models

Understanding the information critical to decision-makers has been the cornerstone of my approach at Arkera. I was routinely delivering intelligence to sector experts that they cannot find themselves. As the principal analyst at ETFGI, I assembled intelligence which ETF industry professionals relied on to make strategic decisions. I also developed new and innovative reports helping ETFGI expands its core business and bring transparency into the then opaque industry sectors of ESG and Smart Beta ahead of competitors. At Makers, I applied the same analytical skills by clearly defining the problem of each project and by breaking it down into smaller pieces, after having understood the requirements from a broader perspective.

Clearly communicating ideas has been another important aspect of my professional life. I used to write market commentary and data analysis reports that I would then distribute to our clients on a daily/weekly and monthly basis. I would also collaborate with data scientists and engineers to source, process and deliver high quality information critical to decision-makers ahead of competitors. During my time at Makers, I have worked on a few group projects where I applied XP values, following practices such as daily stand-ups, retros as well as two-day sprints.

I used to work under pressure and tight deadlines in order to deliver market reports and analysis. My strong organisational skills allowed me to prioritise work appropriately as well as handle queries from internal and external clients on a daily basis. For my final project at Makers, I used the same time management and organisational skills, and delivered a fully-functional mobile app using the MERN stack in just 10 days.

A full time, intensive and immersive boot camp to learn the essentials of full stack development, taught by one of Europe's leading tech education providers

• OOP, TDD, MVC, DDD
• Agile/XP
• Ruby, Rails, JavaScript
• RSpec, Jasmine

MSc in Quantitative Finance (Distinction)

• Dissertation theme: Volatility Forecasting: Evidence from the EUROSTOXX 50 and FTSE 100 Stock Indices
• Main topics: Mathematical Finance, Financial Derivatives, Modelling/Forecasting Financial Markets, C++

BSc (Hons) in Finance 2:1

• Main topics: Financial Markets, Macroeconomics, Financial Analysis, Econometrics

• Avid CrossFitter practicing 5 times/week
• I love to travel and experience new things