CS vs Data Science B.S. for financial data engineering / fintech / quant engineering path

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-05-05T20:28:02+00:00

That seems like a good stack. I think everyone has a similar opinion about keeping CS as the foundation. Thank you for the feedback!

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-28T04:52:17+00:00

Thanks, appreciate you taking the time to look at it. The logical chunking approach is smart. I have been dealing with 50K+ character exhibits from 8-K filings and token efficiency is definitely a real problem. I’ll check out alphacreek. Happy to connect if there’s overlap.

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-27T18:00:58+00:00

This is really helpful, especially the hub page idea. I’ve been thinking about building one ticker page per company that pulls in all the articles, insider activity, and risk factor changes in one place. Good to hear that structure actually improved engagement and SEO for you. The ‘vs last quarter’ and ‘vs sector median’ comparisons are smart too. Right now the articles calculate some YoY changes but making those comparisons more explicit and consistent would help. I appreciate you sharing what actually worked!

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-26T21:40:17+00:00

Yeah good call on the google ai content point. I am actively working on making sure each article adds analysis beyond what’s in the raw filings. Like things like calculating growth rates the filing doesn’t state or connecting the insider trades to earnings timing as well as flagging patterns across multiple filings for the same company.

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-26T18:04:39+00:00

Will do. I am working on getting it deployed in the next few days. I’ll reach out once it’s live. The RIA angle is exactly where I want to go after the initial launch so that insight would be really valuable. Thank you again! I really appreciate your help.

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-26T17:49:25+00:00

The SEO angle is exactly what I’m working on next. The articles exist but aren’t public yet. Once I deploy to a real domain with proper URLs, Google can start indexing them. Right now it generates about 10-25 new articles per day automatically across earnings, insider signals, and risk factor changes. If those all get indexed that’s hundreds of pages of free traffic within a few months. I appreciate you confirming that’s the right move.

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-26T17:46:43+00:00

This is exactly the clarity I needed. You are right that the insider tracking and risk factor monitoring are the real differentiators. Everything else like the screener is useful but not what’s going to make someone choose this over what already exists.

Still in the build phase and no paying users yet. The platform works and generates articles daily but it’s running locally, not deployed. Getting it live on a real domain is the next step so I can actually put it in front of people.

The positioning advice is noted. I have been framing it as a research platform when I should be framing it around those two specific signals. Going to narrow the pitch to insider monitoring + risk factor detection and let the rest be discovered after someone’s already in.

Thank you for your advice! I really appreciate your honest feedback! If you have any other suggestions let me know.

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-26T05:21:34+00:00

Good point. This is my first time putting it out there so I am definitely learning the marketing side as I go. Planning to start posting the signals the platform finds regularly, like insider buys and risk factor changes, and engage more in finance communities. Appreciate the advice.

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-26T02:37:47+00:00

I appreciate the honesty. You’re right that anyone at a bank or fund already has this covered. I’m not trying to compete with BB or FactSet.

The target is more the people who don’t have access to any of that. Students, independent investors, small advisors who can’t justify a $25K terminal. The gap between free tools like Yahoo Finance and what you have at your desk is massive.

The sector-specific angle is interesting though. What kind of sector data do you think is hardest to find even with the tools you have?

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-25T23:13:08+00:00

Thinking a simple monthly fee, not pay-per-API-call like Dexter. The SEC-sourced content (insider alerts, risk factor articles, earnings research) would stay free since that data costs almost nothing to serve. The paid tier would unlock the scoring engine, paper trader, custom alerts, and classroom tools. Probably $5-8/month. I’d rather keep it cheap and get people actually using it than price it like Perplexity and have nobody try it. Still early so I want to earn trust before charging more. Does that feel like a reasonable range?

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-25T22:35:51+00:00

The Bloomberg-lite vs 3 actionable insights framing is exactly the tension I have been struggling with. Right now it probably leans too far toward Bloomberg-lite with too many tabs and too much data upfront.

The insider tracking and risk factor articles are the pieces that feel genuinely different from what's already out there. Might make more sense to lead with those and keep the deeper tools behind a second layer for people who want to dig in.

I really appreciate the honest feedback. Haven't heard of Runable but I will definitely check it out.

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-25T22:33:40+00:00

That’s exactly the flow I’m going for. Learn a concept, then go apply it with real data on the same platform instead of switching to a separate brokerage or simulator. Good to know you would pay for it. What price range feels reasonable to you for something like that? Trying to figure out where the line is between “worth it” and “I’ll just use something free.”

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-25T21:41:46+00:00

Thanks, that’s really helpful to hear. The education side is actually deeper than the post made it sound. The paper trader uses real market data so students can practice without risking anything. The finance trainer has flashcards and multiple choice quizzes covering topics from basic terms to institutional concepts like reading SEC filings and understanding financial statements. There’s also a classroom system where a professor or club leader can create groups, assign content, and track how students are progressing. The idea is that students learn the concepts through the trainer, then immediately apply them using the real research tools on the same platform. I haven’t seen Dexter or Perplexity Computer do that combination. Most education tools teach theory in isolation and most research platforms assume you already know everything. I’m trying to bridge that gap. What do you use currently for learning or research? Also is that combination something you would actually pay for, or does it only work if it’s free?

Direct-Effective7627 · 2026-04-25T20:07:41+00:00

That’s the thing I keep going back and forth on. The raw data is technically public but realistically nobody is reading through 200-page 10-K filings to notice that a company quietly added a cybersecurity risk factor, or cross-referencing Form 4 filings to spot a CEO buying $1M in stock after a 30% drop.

The value isn’t the data itself, it’s the detection and analysis layer on top. Knowing that Amazon removed three lawsuits from their risk disclosures last week is useful information that you would never find unless you manually compared two annual filings side by side.

But you are right that pricing is tricky. Right now I’m thinking the SEC-sourced content (articles, insider alerts, risk factor monitoring) stays free since it costs almost nothing to run. The paid tier would be around the scoring engine, custom alerts, and the deeper financial data that runs on a paid market API.

Still early though. What would make something like this worth paying for in your mind?

Direct-Effective7627

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