Because of a scheduling conflict and the unavailability of Stephen Taylor, panelist of the well-known ArrayCast, I had the privilege of stepping in for my third appearance, this time as a (guest) panelist. Or, as the former ice hockey player in me would say, I got called up as the backup goalie.| DefconQ Blog
September is going to be a busy one. Just in time for DefconQ’s 2nd birthday, we’re hosting not one, but two Happy Hours, on two different continents! I’m thrilled to announce the Brews & Qs: Belfast Edition 🍻, hosted by DefconQ and kindly sponsored by KX.| DefconQ Blog
As someone truly passionate about finance, Wall Street has always felt like the center of the universe, so I was beyond thrilled to receive an invitation to attend the Cornell Financial Engineering Manhattan 2025 Future of Finance & Ai Conference, hosted by Alexander Fleiss, founder of Rebellion Research.| DefconQ Blog
This is it ladies and gentleman! The moment we’ve all been waiting for! KX just dropped the long-promised Community Edition, and IT'S FREE. Yes!!, you read that right: it's free. Not for a week. Not for personal use only. Free to use, even commercially. Holy cow, this honestly feels like Christmas came early this year. If you're wondering what all the hype is about and why I'm so excited about this breaking news, keep reading, you don't want to miss this.| DefconQ Blog
Last week, I had the honour of making my first solo appearance on the ArrayCast podcast, a show dedicated to everything array programming, and a tribute to the legacy of Kenneth E. Iverson, the legendary creator of APL. While I’ve previously been part of a group discussion during last year’s Iverson College event, this was my first time flying solo.| DefconQ Blog
🎉 Big Giveaway: Win a Premium Ticket to Quant Strats Europe 2025 🎟️| DefconQ Blog
Are you a student eager to launch your career in finance, quantitative development, or financial data engineering?| DefconQ Blog
As part of our shared mission to grow the KDB/Q community in London, KX and DefconQ have teamed up and we are excited to announce the first-ever London KDB/Q Community Happy Hour, with many more to come! This event is open to all KDB/Q developers and enthusiasts who would like to connect, share ideas, or simply enjoy some good company over drinks.| DefconQ Blog
The finance & tech job market EXPOSED! A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Craig Whiting, Managing Director at RLS Search and host of the Top 10% Podcast, for an unfiltered conversation about some key topics in our industry:| DefconQ Blog
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the KX Capital Market Summit. Following an invitation of my friends at KX, I joined market participants and other KDB/Q developers for a day full of keynote presentations, real-world use cases of KX products, and engaging networking sessions with fellow KDB/Q enthusiasts.| DefconQ Blog
Last week, in a groundbreaking move, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) revealed plans to extend after-hours trading on its Arca electronic exchange. Pending regulatory approval, this would expand Arca's operating hours from 130 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, offering 22 hours of trading each weekday. This development follows other major exchange announcements this year, the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE Group), backed by BlackRock and Citadel Securities. To learn more about how these changes c...| DefconQ Blog
Quant Strats| DefconQ Blog
Throughout my career, I've had hundreds of interviews with investment banks, hedge funds, startups, and tech companies. Some were successful, others less so. I've also been on the other side of the table, interviewing candidates. Additionally, I've prepared several candidates for their interviews, all of whom successfully landed jobs. In this blog post, I want to share my tips on how to best prepare for an interview and boost your chances of landing your dream job.| DefconQ Blog
One year ago, on my birthday, I launched DefconQ — a KDB/Q-focused blog aimed at helping developers and KDB/Q newcomers enhance their skills or get started with the language. What began as a small personal project to motivate myself to deepen my KDB/Q knowledge quickly evolved into a valuable resource for the KDB community. I never anticipated the level of popularity, feedback, and support the blog would receive. As DefconQ celebrates its first anniversary today, I want to share some key mi...| DefconQ Blog
A little over a year ago, KX introduced the KXperts a team of KX developers with deep passion and expertise in KDB/Q and vector databases. Their main goal is to help developers become more proficient with KX technologies, such as KDB/Q, KDB.AI, KDB Insights, PyKX and more. The team currently consists of Michaela Woods, Michael Ryaboy, Ryan Siegler, Laura Kerr, and Megan McParland, and I've had the pleasure of meeting and collaborating with most of them. The KXperts have produced a series of v...| DefconQ Blog
Recently, I had the pleasure of being invited by Michaela Woods to join her and Cynthia Faus Viadé on the KX LiveStream to discuss best practices in designing your KDB/Q Tick Architecture. We began by exploring the new KDB/Q Architecture course launched recently by KX, starting with a plain vanilla tick setup and gradually progressing to more advanced configurations. Our discussion covered a range of topics including Derived Analytics, Load Balancing and Gateways, Disaster Recovery, Slow Con...| DefconQ Blog
When developers first encounter KDB/Q, they are often intimidated by its "strange" syntax, which differs significantly from most other programming languages they've seen. However, understanding and familiarizing oneself with the syntax is merely the beginning. To truly master any programming language, one needs a deep understanding of its core concepts and paradigms. For instance, when learning object-oriented languages like Java or C++, you should focus on concepts such as inheritance, encap...| DefconQ Blog
In this blog post, I have a special treat for you. I sat down with Dimitri Bianco a seasoned quant who runs his own podcast and YouTube channel dedicated to all things quant finance. I have been following Dimitri for a while and always found his podcasts incredibly informative and helpful, so when the opportunity to join him on a podcast and discuss KDB/Q came up, I couldn't turn it down. Dimitri’s engagement provides graduates and students at the start of their careers with valuable insigh...| DefconQ Blog
Welcome back, fellow KDB/Q enthusiasts! If you've been following my blog journey, you've likely come across one of my earlier posts where I shared my favorite Go To KDB/Q Learning Resources aimed at beginners for diving into the world of KDB/Q. Congratulations on your progress thus far! Now, as seasoned learners in this domain, it's time to elevate our understanding further. In this latest post, we're shifting gears to focus on more advanced learning material. Whether you're looking to deepen...| DefconQ Blog
Mid January, I stumbled upon a KDB/Q meetup hosted by Habla Computing in Madrid, boasting an interesting lineup of talks and speakers. Spontaneously, I opted to seize the opportunity and booked a trip to the sunny capital of Spain to attend the event. Following the meetup, during the networking session, I had the pleasure of meeting Juan, a founding partner of Habla Computing, and Jesus, the VP of Research at Habla Computing, who warmly welcomed me into the small, but growing, Spanish KDB/Q c...| DefconQ Blog