Image by rawpixel.com on Magnific
Fintech is one of the most attractive career destinations for people coming from both finance and technology backgrounds, and one of the most competitive. The combination of strong compensation, interesting problems, rapid growth, and the sense of working on something that matters draws applicants from every direction, which means that the people who successfully break in are those who have differentiated themselves in specific ways rather than simply expressing interest and hoping their background is sufficient.
Here is what actually separates the people who successfully get into fintech from those who do not.
1. They Understand the Intersection of Finance and Technology, Not Just One Side
The most common mistake people make when trying to get into fintech is positioning themselves as either a finance professional who knows some technology or a technology professional who knows some finance, rather than someone who genuinely understands both domains and how they interact. Fintech companies are solving problems that sit at the intersection of these disciplines, and the people most valuable to them are those who can think across both rather than deeply in one while superficially in the other.
Finance professionals trying to get into fintech who have not invested in understanding the technology that is transforming their field are less compelling than those who have. Technology professionals who have not invested in understanding financial services well enough to grasp the regulatory, risk, and customer dynamics that make fintech problems distinct from other technology problems are similarly less competitive.
2. They Have Built Something Relevant Rather Than Just Studied Fintech
The fintech hiring environment consistently rewards demonstrated capability over described capability, which means that candidates who have built something relevant, whether a personal finance application, a trading algorithm, a blockchain project, or a financial analysis tool, are more compelling than those who can describe what they would build. Building something does not require employment at a fintech company. Side projects, open source contributions, hackathon projects, and independent learning that produces demonstrable output all provide the evidence of capability that descriptions of interest and education cannot match.
3. What Are the Best Networking Events for Accountants in Fintech?
Accounting professionals transitioning into fintech face a specific networking challenge because the communities where accounting professionals typically gather and the communities where fintech professionals gather have historically had limited overlap. Building a network that bridges both worlds requires deliberate effort to engage with fintech-specific communities alongside the accounting professional communities that are more familiar.
Intuit’s guide on get into fintech identifies community engagement as one of the most important differentiators for candidates successfully breaking into fintech, with specific emphasis on the events and communities that produce genuine connections rather than transactional networking. For accountants specifically, the most valuable networking events in fintech include Money20/20, which is one of the largest fintech conferences globally and draws professionals from across the fintech spectrum including accounting technology, payments, lending, and financial data companies where accounting expertise is genuinely valued. The AICPA Engage conference increasingly includes fintech-focused content that attracts accounting professionals who are actively exploring fintech opportunities. Finovate events provide access to fintech innovation communities where accounting technology companies are actively represented. Local fintech meetups in major financial centers including New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and London provide more accessible and more relationship-building-friendly environments than large conferences for accountants who are earlier in their fintech network development.
Beyond in-person events, online communities including the Fintech Accountants community, LinkedIn groups focused on fintech and accounting technology, and accounting technology focused communities within platforms like Slack and Discord provide ongoing networking opportunities that supplement in-person event attendance. The networking approach that produces the best outcomes for accountants entering fintech is genuine engagement with fintech topics and communities over time rather than event attendance motivated primarily by job search, because the relationships that produce referrals and opportunities are built on shared interest rather than transactional outreach.
4. They Have Developed Regulatory and Compliance Literacy
One of the most significant ways fintech differs from other technology sectors is the regulatory environment that governs financial services, and candidates who understand this environment are more valuable to fintech companies than those who bring strong technology or finance skills without regulatory awareness. Knowing that payments, lending, insurance, and investment products each operate under different regulatory frameworks distinguishes candidates who understand the fintech context from those who understand finance or technology without the specific fintech context.
5. They Have Targeted Specific Fintech Subsectors Rather Than Fintech Generally
Fintech is not a single industry. It is a collection of distinct subsectors including payments, lending, personal finance management, wealth management, insurance technology, banking infrastructure, cryptocurrency and blockchain, and regulatory technology, each with its own competitive dynamics, technical requirements, and career opportunities. Candidates who have developed a specific point of view about which subsector they want to work in and why are more compelling to employers in those subsectors than generalist fintech candidates.
6. They Have Built a Network Within the Industry Before They Need a Job
The fintech job market is relationship-influenced enough that candidates with genuine professional connections have a meaningful advantage over those who begin networking only when they are actively job searching. The most effective networking for fintech job seekers is genuine engagement with topics and communities that are intrinsically interesting rather than transactional outreach aimed at job leads.
7. They Understand the Business Model of the Companies They Target
Fintech companies operate under a wide range of business models including interchange revenue, subscription fees, interest income, asset management fees, and data monetization, and candidates who understand the specific business model of companies they are targeting are more effective in interviews and more credible as potential hires than those who know the product without understanding how the business makes money.
8. They Have Addressed Their Skills Gaps Before Applying
Most career transitions into fintech require acquiring skills that the candidate’s current background does not provide, and the candidates who are most successful are those who have identified their specific gaps and addressed them before applying rather than hoping that employers will overlook deficiencies or provide training for fundamental skills. Whether the gap is in financial modeling, programming, data analysis, regulatory knowledge, or product management methodology, candidates who have invested in closing their specific gaps are more competitive than those who acknowledge them without addressing them.
9. They Are Specific About What They Want to Contribute
Candidates who can articulate specifically what role they want, what problems they want to work on, what they would contribute in their first ninety days, and why they are targeting a specific company rather than fintech generally are more compelling than those who express general interest in getting into fintech without the specificity that signals genuine engagement.
10. They Treat Rejection as Information Rather Than as a Final Answer
The fintech job market produces rejection consistently even for candidates who are ultimately successful in breaking in, and the people who successfully make the transition are those who treat each rejection as information about what they need to develop rather than as a verdict on their suitability for the industry. The candidates who eventually break in are not always those who were most qualified initially. They are often those who were most systematic about learning from rejection and most persistent in addressing the specific gaps that their rejection pattern revealed.