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I'd never heard of those until your post, and had to look up a Youtube about what they were: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ee-x6IXWK8 https://www.youtube.com

I'd never heard of those until your post, and had to look up a Youtube about what they were: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ee-x6IXWK8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ee-x6IXWK8 That's super fascinating. There's an entire industry that runs off these things, on their totally custom UI, showing everything from stock tickers to news headlines to maps? That must be a fun project to work on (except probably the finance users don't like random UI changes, lol).

pokepim 2y ago
lol this is probably most famous financial tool on the market. No wonder we have so many new software tools being created daily since some people don’t do basic market research.
- solardev 2y ago
  I work in UI, but never in finance. I don't even own a stock (is that even the right word?) and have never invested. Anyway, I wish I got to encounter this system earlier in my career... would've loved to experiment with a UI like that! News ticker under a real time map that you can use to drill down to specific regions to see what's going on? It's fascinating. And it looks like their map is using some sort of serverside raster tiling where even simple arrows have to be redrawn on different zoom levels... just random things I'd be eager to try to improve.
  - tionate 2y ago
    A bit off topic but it may be worth looking into investing a little (maybe basic index ETFs as suggested by the FIRE movement). You can fairly quickly get to a point where your investments go up (or down, but more often up) more in a day than your monthly income.
    - solardev 2y ago
      Yeah, at 40, it's probably (way past) time I start looking into things like that, lol. But first I have some massive debts to pay off first :(
mhh__ 2y ago
The real reason to have bloomberg, other than data, is actually the chat. OTC (things that don't trade on exchanges) markets are a lot closer to ebay or facebook marketplace than many realise, for example, e.g. you ask for a price, possibly haggle a bit, say you want it, behind-the-scenes people scurry off and actually make it happen. When you first activate your terminal bloomberg send you an email congratulating you on joining "the exclusive club" (this is exaggerated, they want you to feel special, but there's truth to it). As well as all that bloomberg is technically also still (iirc) one of the largest private computer networks. > That must be a fun project to work on Unfortunately possibly quite the opposite for many, although no first-hand experience.
- solardev 2y ago
  > The real reason to have bloomberg, other than data, is actually the chat. Wait, so inside Bloomberg there's like a huge IRC/Discord chat room for all the world's finance people? How does anyone keep up with that kind of volume? I can't even stay on top of my own company's Slack.
  - mhh__ 2y ago
    No it's more like whatsapp i.e. DM and group chats.
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
  I'll lay odds the core language is FORTRAN or COBOL.
  - fourthark 2y ago
    Famously huge FORTRAN code base going back to the 80's, although they were wrapping it in C++ and Javascript when I worked there in the aughts.
funcDropShadow 2y ago
> except probably the finance users don't like random UI changes, lol I have bad news for you, nobody who works with a system more than casually, likes random UI changes. NOBODY. Younger people are often more tolerant to these distractions, because they are often more curious. But when you have used a tool for some longer time, and suddenly it looks or behaves different, that erodes trust. That forces the user to turn of the mental autopilot and to proceed with care. Which A/B tests will report as increased engagement of the users. And there is our vicious cycle. Note, how a scheduled update with release notes does the opposite. It increases trust, because it tells you what is going to happen and then it happens. (Hopefully)

pokepim 2y ago

lol this is probably most famous financial tool on the market. No wonder we have so many new software tools being created daily since some people don’t do basic market research.

solardev 2y ago
I work in UI, but never in finance. I don't even own a stock (is that even the right word?) and have never invested. Anyway, I wish I got to encounter this system earlier in my career... would've loved to experiment with a UI like that! News ticker under a real time map that you can use to drill down to specific regions to see what's going on? It's fascinating. And it looks like their map is using some sort of serverside raster tiling where even simple arrows have to be redrawn on different zoom levels... just random things I'd be eager to try to improve.
- tionate 2y ago
  A bit off topic but it may be worth looking into investing a little (maybe basic index ETFs as suggested by the FIRE movement). You can fairly quickly get to a point where your investments go up (or down, but more often up) more in a day than your monthly income.
  - solardev 2y ago
    Yeah, at 40, it's probably (way past) time I start looking into things like that, lol. But first I have some massive debts to pay off first :(

mhh__ 2y ago

The real reason to have bloomberg, other than data, is actually the chat. OTC (things that don't trade on exchanges) markets are a lot closer to ebay or facebook marketplace than many realise, for example, e.g. you ask for a price, possibly haggle a bit, say you want it, behind-the-scenes people scurry off and actually make it happen. When you first activate your terminal bloomberg send you an email congratulating you on joining "the exclusive club" (this is exaggerated, they want you to feel special, but there's truth to it). As well as all that bloomberg is technically also still (iirc) one of the largest private computer networks. > That must be a fun project to work on Unfortunately possibly quite the opposite for many, although no first-hand experience.

solardev 2y ago
> The real reason to have bloomberg, other than data, is actually the chat. Wait, so inside Bloomberg there's like a huge IRC/Discord chat room for all the world's finance people? How does anyone keep up with that kind of volume? I can't even stay on top of my own company's Slack.
- mhh__ 2y ago
  No it's more like whatsapp i.e. DM and group chats.
ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
I'll lay odds the core language is FORTRAN or COBOL.
- fourthark 2y ago
  Famously huge FORTRAN code base going back to the 80's, although they were wrapping it in C++ and Javascript when I worked there in the aughts.

funcDropShadow 2y ago

> except probably the finance users don't like random UI changes, lol I have bad news for you, nobody who works with a system more than casually, likes random UI changes. NOBODY. Younger people are often more tolerant to these distractions, because they are often more curious. But when you have used a tool for some longer time, and suddenly it looks or behaves different, that erodes trust. That forces the user to turn of the mental autopilot and to proceed with care. Which A/B tests will report as increased engagement of the users. And there is our vicious cycle. Note, how a scheduled update with release notes does the opposite. It increases trust, because it tells you what is going to happen and then it happens. (Hopefully)