Undergraduate: Euan’s Placement in Trading and Technology
Euan McNicholl is a BSc Finance student who has recently carried out his placement at Susquehanna International Group (SIG).
Tell us about your placement?
For my placement year I have been working at Susquehanna International Group (SIG). During my placement I have worked in the Trading Operations Department. This involved working with several teams including Options and Exhange Traded Fund Support, Stock Loan and Insights into Risk and Settlements.
Which areas of your placement did you find most rewarding?
When I started my placement, I had limited technical skills and knowledge, especially on the coding side of things. Through the help of SIG’s classes and aid along with external classes that I completed in the evenings, I was able to really improve these skills to the point where I was able to build Graphical User Interfaces and programs through Python, which could be used by the whole operations department. Learning these new tech skills throughout the year was something I found very rewarding.
Did you encounter any challenges?
During the year, I was looking after Over-the-Counter trades for the options side of the business. During times of high volatility in the market such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine this year, a lot more trades were being executed. This meant I had to adapt and work in this fast-paced environment. This was challenging at times, but I really enjoyed it.
How has placement year helped to shape your future career?
My placement year has been an invaluable experience and it has really helped me get a clear insight into what career path I would like to go down in the future. The School Placement Office were a great help in showing me the placements that I felt would be best suited to me, and helping with application processes and interviews.
What advice would you give to a future student starting their placement?
The main advice I would give to anybody going into a placement regardless of what the company is, would be to get a bit of experience looking around all the different departments within the firm. Within trading alone there are so many different areas, and I was lucky to get experience in all the trading operations desks along with research and tech. This varied outlook allows you to come out of your placement with a really good idea of what it is that you like doing, and you can begin to mould your career path from these experiences.
Find out more:
- Securing a placement
- Queries about placement
- Are you a business looking to hire a placement student?
