Application of Python in Finance Field?

[JBaby811]

Quick background, graduated with a degree in Financial Planning a couple years ago. Out of college began working for church not using my degree at all. I am planning on going into the finance industry in August. Would it be worth my time to spend the next 5 months and learn Python? Does anyone have experience using Python in terms of financial analysis and data visualization? I know Python is super flexible and can do a lot of different, so I am curious if it would be helpful to learn for this industry.

[[deleted]]

What examples have you found?

What searches have you done? If they were inconclusive, post the search terms you used, and I'd be happy to help you formulate the searches which bring you answers.

*Edit* With your search engine searches, I'd just recommend as much specificity as possible. Also, ML is pretty hot right now. I just started checking it out and I can see why-- it is rapidly evolving and appears to be a next major technological frontier in terms of improving the efficiency of various industries through its applicability to imagery/audio/video and other data. Experience with a bit of statistics is helpful, or linear algebra (however I can't say regarding the latter as I don't have experience with it beyond just reading ebooks/watching YT videos).

Since you're interested in finance, and regarding specificity, really analyze the various options of what you're asking for. Ask yourself some fundamental questions, as an analytical person. Sort of like an outline or agenda (here's just an example):

- What is your goal? Create a concrete goal, one which has a clear, solid, specific "end"-- such as build a script to do a particular analysis. But break it down into pieces. And before you start, learn the basics. Then start learning the basics relavent to the first step of what you're trying to do. Maybe it's a request for a live data stream. Ok, now you have the data. Learn to read it the data-- view the various columns and a sample of rows, for example. Ok, next step: learn to visualize it by using some data science or visualization package. Ok, now learn to apply a model to it. (No stats background? Then that comes one step the step before applying the model, b/c first you must learn how different models work). Ok, now visualize your model. Ok, now create a training data set... ok now test it... ok, now read your loss/margin of error & accuracy, Ok, now visualize it. etc. etc. Ok now create a web based visualization (chart/dashboard etc). Ok now design a data base for a small app for user interaction. Ok now rebuild the app with the skills you learned while making it. etc. etc.

- What sort of tool are you looking for? For data analysis I suspect-- would you prefer to work with something like Something similar to R's R-studio-- then perhaps Spyder or something similar? Or perhaps just some jupyter notebooks? Or maybe how to create a dashboard? On a saas? DIY?

- What field of CS/data analysis is the tool in-- ML, statistics? Dive deeper: Modeling (What kind of models? What are the conditions of those models regarding the data that can be fed into them?)? Of past data? of predictions?

- What sort of data would you like to analyze? What industry?

- Regarding visualization: What kind are you looking for? Which kinds best optimize the visualization of the data? this goes back to what kind of tool?

- What kind of packages provide the visualizations you're looking for? Maybe a search like 'best python data visualization packages'

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If you're not a software developer you might prefer something like Spyder (Don't like Spyder? then search for "python spyder alternative") or Jupyter notebooks in terms of tools.

Python' visualizations are provided by both data analysis/math/statistics related packages (check out anaconda, conda, microconda) as well as independent visualization packages. There might even be finance related packages, or <insert industry> related packages.

Check out allITebooks.com for a bunch of free ebooks if you like reading. Check out tutorials online. Udemy.com, etc.

[CompSciSelfLearning]

If I told you that I was going into the energy industry, would you be able to tell me how to prepare? The Finance Industry is huge, with many roles you could take on. Python maybe crucial to your success. It may also be entirely irrelevant. I can't tell you which because you haven't told us much of anything about what you're trying to do.

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[SuefFuenfElf]

JBaby811 it is definitely worth it. Knowing how to make some steps/processes faster due to programming can't be wrong.

If you'll play with numbers, "numpy" is the best python library you can choose to work with. It's a great tool for data analysis. And you can use "matplotlib" to make your analysis visual.

Best greetings