Photo by senivpetro

The Financial Industry is experiencing a massive revolution in the last decade. With technologies like Cryptocurrency, Blockchain now becoming more and more popular, banks are starting or already did start considering these new solutions in the transaction era. One question you might ask is: why is this happening now? Why this decade? In order to answer that we need to take a few steps back and use an imaginary time machine.

Before we start I want to say that this topic is really close to my heart, not only because it is a related subject to my studies, but also because I personally experienced the effect of this crisis. In 2010 I obtained my Diploma in Business, Finance and Management, only 2 years after the crisis. My thesis was entitled Subprime Crisis and the bailout of US banks (translated). The reason why I decided to bring this topic was that this event made me question our current system, it changed my perspective of the banks and finally shaped my career decisions.

Having said that, let's set our time machine to the year 1971 and let’s go!

# **Deregulation of the financial system**

The opening of the financial markets began with the dissolution of the Bretton Woods system, 1971. As a result, the gold exchange standard, which based the dollar’s value on the value of gold, was now terminated. The dollar used to be the equivalent value of a coin of gold, but now dollars don’t have any intrinsic value and have become a FIAT currency. In the 80s the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act changed regulations upon banks based on the events of 1929 and because of the inflation of the 70s.

One of these changes was that it allowed institutions to charge any loan interest rates they chose and more freedom of movement of the financial capitals, which started to increase significantly at that time. In the meantime, between 1985 and 1990 the EU central banks were freed from Government and started to have their own executive power. Banks and Funds could then be acquired by privates.

The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA) made sure that OTC derivatives were unregulated, meaning no exchange supervision was required. 30 years have passed but more and more changes are yet to come.

# **The financial system today**

The 3 main parts of the financial systems are:

* The big international banks
* Institutional investors
* and the Shadow Financial System, based on private organisations that offer the same services as a bank but they aren’t one such as hedge funds.

The American Banking system has 2 types of banks: Commercial and Business banks. The firsts are controlled by the FED, but the latter are controlled and supervised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This differentiation happened in 1999 and created an important dualism for the next events.

# **Subprime Loans**

Subprime Mortgages are loans accessible to people that couldn’t have access to prime loans. The word ‘sub’ implies the inferiority of these loans. This category wasn’t only limited to loans but was spread out to all the different products a bank could offer such as credit card, car finance etc...

These instruments were given to people that didn’t have a healthy financial background, in exchange for higher interest rates and fees. These services were classified as derivatives and no supervision was required. As a result, the request for Subprime loans started to increase year by year. Below, a graph I used in my thesis:

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/100876/567x375/49b6d7d270/subprime.jpeg)

The maximum peak was reached in 2005 with a total value of $665 Billion of Subprime Mortgages opened, compared with 2001 this is a 300% increase.

# **Real-estate bubble**

From 2000 to 2006 a positive and strong expectation of the market helped increase prices of houses by an average of 15% each year. This trend created the perfect conditions to make subprime loans convenient and less risky. If payments of the loans were behind schedule, the banks could take ownership of the house and sell it for a much higher price.

# **Lowest interest rates in history**

In 2001 the Federal Reserve System (FED) decided to adopt a policy that would guarantee an economic stimulus, by lowering the interest rates. This was done until 2004 but was enough to help the creation of the bubble. The graph below shows the data publicly available [here](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS). If you watch closely you can see that 2004 reached the lowest interest rate since 1990.

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/100876/1169x512/d8d9308268/fedinterests.png)

> The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions trade federal funds (balances held at Federal Reserve Banks) with each other overnight

# **What caused the Subprime crisis?**

To prevent inflation from running, the FED decided to increase the interest rates in 2004 to decrease the liquidity in the market. This started a domino effect: the first signals started in the spring of 2007 when the house prices decreased by 8.4% initially and at the end of the year, by 18.4%. FED and the European Central Bank started to inject money into the system, but it was too small of intervention and too late.

Mortgages started to cost more, the values of the securities based on these mortgages started to collapse. People started to sell them. Companies started to have great losses. Securities became toxic, meaning they had no value. In September 2008 the Lehman Brothers, one of the biggest banks in the US at the time, declared bankruptcy. Banks started to assess their portfolio and check for toxic securities, they then stopped trusting one another and borrowed money. Also, they started to sell the securities considered healthy, by losing value on Wall Street. Business banks were then converted into commercial banks so that they could be helped by the FED. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs became commercial banks. Business Banks ceased to exist.

# **From financial crisis to an economic crisis**

In order to understand how this crisis moved from being financial to being economic, there are few important notions to understand.

Securitization is the process in which a mortgage is converted into marketable securities, ready to be sold to investors. Subprime mortgages were considered triple-A securities. Totally safe. This was caused by the total absence of supervision mentioned earlier.

The last thing is the financial leverage formula, which is pretty simple. It’s the result of the debt divided by the equity. Meaning how much debt your bank or company has. Banks in 2007-8 reached a debt equal to 30 times their entire equity and in EU even more. To put this into perspective, a bank with equity of 100 and a leverage of 30, with an increase of 1% in activities, would have a 30% profit on the equity. On the other side, a 10% decrease would translate into a value of 3 times the total equity.

The effects of the Subprime crisis were terrific, the entire world economy had a loss of -11%. The US government planned a bailout of $700 Billion to fix the domestic crisis.

# **What’s happening in the world today?**

Today we can experience some similarities to 2008. We have the lowest interest rate in history both in the US and UK.

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/100876/1169x436/f50df44088/screenshot-2021-06-21-at-20-57-42.png)

> US interest rates

In the UK the Bank of England is declaring the interest rate to be at 0.1%, [check here](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/Bank-Rate.asp). A real estate bubble is currently running in the UK, with more and more mortgages that help people to take higher value houses than they could afford with help-to-buy schemes etc…

These are only similarities and they don’t imply a possible crisis, but we also live in a very optimistic market and the inflation is alarming.

# **Blockchain and crypto**

In all of this, Banks are starting to understand the real possibilities and advantages that the blockchain has to offer. Actually, [JPMorgan](https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/jpmorgans-blockchain-payments-test-is-literally-out-this-world-2021-02-24/) just concluded its blockchain test. In 2020 [Wells Fargo ](https://bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/blockchain/wells-fargo-invests-in-blockchain-firm-elliptic/74241328)invested in Elliptic a blockchain firm. More and more banks are turning to the crypto-world, Barclays, Revolut, National Bank Of Canada and Goldman Sachs.

# **Conclusion**

The financial sector failed in the past and history has told us that technology has always had a disruptive touch. Having said that, blockchain and crypto are the next revolution after the internet and social media: they are already creating new jobs and new opportunities. There is a lot of speculation still in cryptocurrencies, but as with the 2000 crisis with the Dot bubble, the internet didn’t vanish. Blockchain, like the internet, proved to be full of potential, but also full of challenges.

Why is the Subprime crisis still relevant today?

Photo by Money Control

Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, Ledger, Bitcoin, Decentralised. Even if you aren’t a tech person, you probably heard one of these names at least once in your life. In the last decade, these new technologies have gained a lot of attention and more and more people are becoming more confident in talking about them.

If you feel foreign to these topics don’t worry, the goal of this article is to give you a quick introduction to these revolutionary technologies that are changing the world. Also at the end of this article, I’ll list all the useful links related. But before we dive into the details…

# **Why is Blockchain important?**

In 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto published [Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System](https://www.blockchain.com/bitcoin.pdf). This group, or individual person, invented the Blockchain to create an inflation-free system without the need of a trusted authority, like a bank. In order to do that, we need to tackle the problem of Double-Spending.

Double-spending is a well-known problem in the Financial World. In a nutshell, Banks need to guarantee that if you spend £3 on a cappuccino (with oat milk) at your Local Cafe, you won’t be able to use the same £3 again.

Now you might wonder why Blockchain was created without taking into consideration trusted authorities such as banks? In 2008 something bad happened that caused a lot of victims all around the World, called the Subprime Crisis - an interesting topic that I will probably discuss in the next article. For now, what you need to understand is that this crisis was caused by mismanagement of the Banks’ Debit and the absence of any surveillance on it.

In order to save the banks from this crisis, people’s money was used (taxes) even though they didn’t cause the crisis directly.

Blockchain is a better solution than the way banks handle transactions, and the best part is that this new system is decentralised, meaning no middlemen are required to manage transactions.

# **What is the Blockchain?**

The Blockchain is a list of blocks linked together with cryptography (hash). A block is a container of transactions that has: a hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. The hash is a function that transforms a value into a new one, masking the original information. When a new transaction occurs, it is added to one of these blocks.

Earlier, we mentioned that the Blockchain is a decentralised solution, meaning there is no central authority that checks if a new transaction is unique and valid. Here's when the ledger came into place.

A Distributed ledger or DLT is a shared, replicated and synchronised data shared publicly. Everyone can have access and see all the transactions that happened throughout the entire history of the ledger. The blockchain itself could be shared with everyone, used as DLT and be the source of truth for all transactions.

# **How does Blockchain prevent alterations in the ledger?**

Let's start to mention the biggest player in this topic: Bitcoin (BTC). What is it? Bitcoin is an open-source peer-to-peer network and it represents a digital currency also known as Cryptocurrency. When you spend bitcoins a transaction is generated and made publicly available to everyone using this cryptocurrency.

If you try to alter this exact transaction and save it in a block, all the other ledgers will notice this discrepancy. This means that your ledger will be detected as invalid or altered as it doesn't reflect the others. The only possible way to succeed is to change at least 51% of the entire ledgers available out there. Also, you’ll need to recalculate the last block and replace it in all the other computers before they generate their own version.

Considering the number of transactions that happen every day and the latency that exists between the connections, the complexity and the computational power is too high to be feasible.

# **Calculate hash**

One thing that is important to understand is each block is the result of calculations that someone has to do in order to have a synchronised blockchain. This someone is the Miner. Miners are people or organisations that offer their computational power in exchange for bitcoin.

There are 21 million Bitcoins that can be mined and today more than 18 million have already been mined. Before you research how to mine bitcoin, let me say that you need to calculate 2.7 Quadrillion hashes to generate a single Bitcoin according to [Investopedia](https://www.investopedia.com/tech/what-happens-bitcoin-after-21-million-mined/). I bet that even with the best laptop available it will take years and a lot of electrical consumption.

# **Conclusion**

This was a simple introduction to this huge topic. Hopefully, you’ll now have a better understanding that might trigger your curiosity and encourage you to read more about it. Below I listed some useful documentation and websites if you want to know more:

* [Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System](https://www.blockchain.com/bitcoin.pdf)
* [Bitcoin’s Website](https://bitcoin.org/en/)
* [Blockchain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain)
* [How many people use & Own Bitcoin?](https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/how-many-bitcoin-users/)

Also if you want to see how I created my first cryptocurrency have a look at this [small project I did.](https://github.com/mgattello/crypto-mark)

What do you need to know about blockchain?

photo by Marco Gattello

We heard about companies switching to full remote working and with COVID was almost inevitable. Working remotely has definitely made an impact in the digital world. Take Zoom for example, with +300 million users it became very popular last year, making the CEO Eric Yuan very happy. Google peaked something out of it and decided to do the same and in April 2020 decided to introduce Google meet for everyone.

Working from home not only changes the way we work but also our daily life. Nobody was ready for this change and surely the impact was unprecedented. As the first person to start remote working at GSG, here are 10 tips I learned that I want to share with you.

# **Create your routine**

Having a good routine will guide you during the day and set the right mindset. Make sure you take multiple breaks and have a nice walk. It could help you clear your thoughts, exercise your body and breathe fresh air.

# **Start fresh**

Have you ever heard the saying: “the good day you see it from the morning”?. Well, it’s true. Take 10 minutes to prepare yourself for your coming day and list the things you would like to accomplish at the end. Order them by importance and start working on the most difficult one.

# **Keep your desk tidy**

Having a clean and organised environment is important not only for your performance but also for your mental health. There are a lot of studies regarding the link between the state of your house and your personalities. At home you are surrounded by distractions and keeping your focus could be a nightmare. One thing that helped me maintain the focus was to have just what I needed on my desk: a pen, block notes/agenda, my laptop and yes, water.

# **Drink water**

Although it might seem obvious, don’t underestimate the importance of being hydrated during the day. When you’re busy you don’t want to interrupt your flow by taking a glass of water in the fridge. Stay hydrated by keeping a big bottle on your desk.

# **Constant communication**

Socialising while at home might sound difficult, but in reality, is easier than you think. Even if you can’t see someone in person doesn’t mean that you can’t socialize. Set a call for a coffee break with your colleagues at least once a week. Not only It will help your mental health but also your professional relationship with your colleagues.

# **Keep track of your progress**

Have you ever had the feeling of not having accomplished enough on your day? Well, is it true? It’s easy to lose track of your progress when you’re busy and forget what you’ve done. That’s why you should write down your progress, helping you feel better.

# **Split your place into areas**

Don’t eat and work in the same place. Try to keep areas separated by your activities. Structuring your place in areas will help you organise your activities and mind. Once you’ve familiarized yourself with your areas, your brain will start to familiarise yourself with the activities associated with them. This will help you have a better organisation and maintain a good mood. Also, try to spend a similar amount of time in each area. In this way, you won’t feel stuck in the same place.

# **Music**

When you’re at home having music in the background could keep you company. I know people that can’t work with it, I’m one of them, but at least once a day having 20 minutes of music will help you keep a good mood.

# **Prepare the day before**

When you start your day you don’t want to spend time organizing your desk or spend time finding your earring phones for your meeting. Create good habits to charge all your devices, clear your desks and prepare your notes the night before.

# **Conclusion**

Those were my 10 tips for working at home. Share them with your friends and colleagues and also feel free to comment or add your suggestions on Twitter. Good luck with your WFH and stay safe!

10 tips for working from home

Photo by Marco Gatttello

How to land a job as a Developer with no experience? How to gain experience in coding? Do I need a degree to be a Developer? If all those are questions that you ask yourself every day, then you're in the right place. Starting a new career as a Developer is hard, but not impossible.

# Know your industry

Developers are required more and more because the world needs people that know how to code. According to the [World Economic Forum](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-10-skills-you-need-to-thrive-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/), the first skill that the world needs is Complex Problem Solving. The main task of a developer is to solve problems.

In 2020 we saw an increase of +24% of new Developer professionals hired, only in the USA. In the UK there is a 45% increase in demand for Full Stack Developers, Cloud Engineers and Web Developers, according to [EDC](https://evansdata.com/reports/viewRelease.php?reportID=9).

Just to give more perspective in 2020 the number of developers reached 24.5M, but the world needs them more than ever. According to Statista, the number of Worldwide Developers will reach 28.7m in 2024.

![Developers Worldwidepredictions in 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2024](https://a.storyblok.com/f/100876/1000x743/a4177c690d/statistic_id627312_developers-population-worldwide-2018-2024.png)

Having said that, let's see how to become a developer in 2021!

# Degree or no degree, that's the question!

First of all, you do not need a Degree to be a Developer. Although it may help you during the process, having a degree is not compulsory to be a Developer. Companies are looking for people that know how to fix problems and code.

This doesn't mean that you shouldn't consider studying for a Degree. Universities are a good place to learn and give you the fundamentals needed to start your career. In Europe, having a Degree is almost be a must, on the contrary in the USA and the UK is not the case but that's for another topic. As you see situations could change from place to place.

# Where to learn?

If you don't want to start a University course and prefer a more practical approach, there are lots of other options for you. When I first started to learn to code, I had to decide between paying £15,000 for a 6 months course or going Self-thought.

In the end, I decided to start [FreeCodeCamp](https://www.freecodecamp.org/), a free online Bootcamp that had the same units and topics but without any mentoring or live support. By the time I was working full-time and studying during my spare time. I was so keen to finish in 8 months and to learn that I was always finding myself awake until night.

If you're not familiar with the concept of Bootcamps, basically is a course that you could do for free or by paying. Most of them are online and give you a lot of flexibility especially if you're working full time in another job. At the end of the course, you'll receive a certification that proves your commitment.

[FreeCodeCamp](https://www.freecodecamp.org/) is one of the many FREE Bootcamps out there, but I will strongly recommend it because it helps you create your first projects and build your experience while you're studying. Did I say that it's FREE?

# How to meet the requirements?

When you first apply for a Junior position, you see lots of skills required and almost seems impossible to learn all of them at once especially if you just started or looking to start your career. Well, don't fall into the trap of not being worthy. Companies always look for people with high standards, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't apply for the job.

As Junior Developer, the first thing you have to prove is that you love what you're doing, that you have problem-solving skills and that you are willing to learn new things. Presenting yourself as a dynamic professional to learn quickly and to adapt under circumstances is the main reason why people might prefer your profile to others.

# Choose your Branch

Being a developer could have a different meaning. As in all professions, there are different branches of development. Know which one is the perfect fit for you, it will give you a huge advantage in your career decision.

If You like building UI and delivering amazing UX, then being a Front End Developer could be the perfect fit for you. Or maybe you like to work on more technical problems; then go for Back End. Love both? Full Stack Developer. Do you like the idea of building Cloud Applications? Cloud Developer.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what types of developers exist. Other examples are Security Developer, Mobile Developer, Game Developer, Data Developer etc...

And What to do if you don't know which path to take? Well, in that case, try to start as a Full Stack Developer, in this way you'll be involved in almost all the processes. Also don't forget that you could get some Career Advice from your University or if you're not a student, directly on the market.

# How to Build your experience

Alright, now you just want to apply but you see that all the Junior Positions require at least 1-year experience. This is a catch 22 that will never disappear. How can I gain experience if I need the experience to start my career?

To solve this paradox, you have to differentiate the professional experience from personal experience. What's the common word used there? Exactly!

Starting your projects is a good start to gain experience, including research you've done or even better, code that you wrote to solve a problem. Collaborating on Open Source projects is one of the things that will help you improve your knowledge and experience.

If you want to be a Developer, you better start thinking like one. Reading is one of the habits you should have. Start to read technical books or articles that are related to the topics of the industries you want to work for. Remember though, reading will help you, but won't be enough.

Now that you have gained some expertise, it's time to show off.

# Build your Portfolio

Having a portfolio is something that will let you stand out from the other candidates and is your proof of experience. You don't have to build the next Facebook or Linkedin, you just need to demonstrate that you know how to code. Also, you don't have to pay to host your portfolio, there are lots of free services you could use: Github Pages for example allows you to host your website for free.

Create your Github account. In general, Github is the platform to use for hosting your projects, allowing people to see your work. There are lots of other platforms you could use such as Bitbucket for examples, but Github is the most used overall.

# Ask your network

Ask your network if you could be a valid candidate and ask for directions. Find the right person to speak with and try to see if they can explain to you the type of candidate and skills they're looking for.

When CTOs build a team, they try to hire people within their network. That's why it’s important to ask to be referred by someone that works for the company you like.

Let people know that you're approachable and easy to work with and demonstrate a genuine interest. No one wants to work with some grumpy guy that is faking interests just to land a job.

# Write the perfect CV

It took me a while to perfect my CV because I learnt thanks to my mistakes. Writing a good CV needs the same amount of attention and efforts that applying for a job requires.

Don't write things just for the sake of filling your blank page. Try to keep it simple and don't write something that even you won't bother reading.

Keep it interesting. Write about skills that you learn along the way, even at school but that is related to the job. The job description is helpful here. Use the same words that the Company or the Recruiters used in the ad.

Keep it short and crisps. Remember that someone will read your CV and if it’s too long, they won't even bother reading it. A single page will be more than enough if you have just started. To achieve that you can use bullet points.

Keep it simple. Don't use too many technical words unless are needed to describe a project you've worked on.

Use your space wisely. Every single inch of CV must be used with a reason. If you don't know why to put that information, then don't do it!

Your CV must be Typos-proof. Ask someone to read your cv. Another pair of eyes will help you find mistakes and typos easily. Especially if, like me, English is not your first language.

Those are just some of the tips that you might find out there. Also, don't forget to ask for help. There are professionals that could help you write your CV. I decided to learn to do it myself and took more time than just asking someone to do it for me.

# Ask for feedback

Asking for feedback is always a good sign because it means that you care about growing. I wouldn't suggest using emails because the likelihood that you will receive a response is very low.

Use the follow-up call or try a message on Linkedin. After 1 week, call the company to ask about the status of your application. At this moment if you haven't succeeded,  ask politely why and in which areas you should work. Most of the time they will answer.

# Unfortunately, you have not been selected!

Start to get familiar with this sentence, because it will torment you for a while. Accept failure as part of the game and don't feel a victim of the process. Companies receive lots of applications every day and the competition is very high.  That doesn't mean you should give up. Keep going and don't stop.

When I landed my first job as a Developer, I applied for +400 jobs a week, sent +100 emails a day, did \~3 interviews a week. After 4 months I received my first offer. Determination and being relentless will pay off in the long run.

# Enjoy the process!

That's right, starting your career is hard but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to have fun. I know that applying for thousands of jobs is not fun at all but knowing new people and learning new things should be. Having a positive attitude will help you to stay focused and consistent with your search. Always keep in mind that your moment will arrive. Good luck!

Want to learn a new language? Read my previous article Top 5 Programming Languages to learn in 2021.

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