Simplex Trading LLC’s Post

Last week, a few members of our team joined other members of our community at the 10th annual Celebrating Women in Innovation ceremony! It was an incredible evening honoring women who are innovative leaders in the Chicago region. Congratulations to this year’s winners, and thank you to Chicago Innovation for an incredibly motivating event. #WomenInInnovation 

We’re proud to sponsor the upcoming Options Industry Conference April 30-May 2 for another year! We hope to see you in Asheville. #SimplexinAction

From software developer to Ska-fan, our next #MeetSimplex feature, Dan Hoodin brings nearly 15(!) years of expertise and passion for #data and #trading to our team. Dan has been with us since 2009, and we’re thrilled to introduce him to you! Read on to learn more about him and his time at Simplex: What are your key responsibilities at Simplex? I am a senior software developer at Simplex. I have been the team lead of the market data team for most of my tenure. I am responsible for the critical data infrastructure that enables Simplex to trade. This includes the feed handlers, equity micro-price services, real-time reference and snapshot services, and many core networking and protocol libraries. Since the equity exchanges don't consistently organize their data feeds, a substantial burden of the market data team is to normalize, sort, and redistribute the market data based on our internal symbol distribution so that we can bring the data together from all exchanges on any given security across many hosts in several data centers. I also maintain the data archival system for historical market data and many tools used for data retrieval and analysis. What skills from your previous roles have helped you succeed with Simplex? Prior to working at Simplex, I was a graduate student and teaching assistant for a Data Structures course class at UIUC. Having a deep understanding of data structures is a critical part of writing high-performance code in real-time applications. What do you love most about your job? About Simplex? I love that we have ownership over our projects and the freedom to make changes as necessary to improve the system. At Simplex, we try to keep unnecessary meetings to a minimum, allowing us to focus on the software development tasks, which enables us to be much more efficient with our time. What is one thing your colleagues would be surprised to know about you? I am an avid fan of ska and punk music and enjoy seeing my favorite bands play at local bars, music venues, and festivals. I have attended all three days of Riot Fest every year since 2010. I have often taken trips to the Southwest to attend music festivals such as Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas, Back to the Beach Ska festival in Huntington Beach, and It's Not Dead punk festival in San Bernardino. This year, I'm traveling to see The Denver Ska Fest with a group of friends. Tell us about your proudest accomplishment. My proudest accomplishment was designing and implementing from scratch a custom database to efficiently step through (forward and backward) every tick of the equity and future securities. And then building a web front-end to easily view the data and share links to the data with others. #LifeatSimplex #fintech

While we work hard at Simplex during the day, we also find time to relax and enjoy each other’s company. Last month, a few members of the team got together for an impromptu game night playing #Mindcrushers. It was a great way to unwind and connect with the team. #LifeAtSimplex

Technology continues to change business every day. Cboe Global Markets has persevered in the face of what could have been a challenge to traditional floor trading. Find out more from our very own Jason Coogan, who spoke with Crain's Chicago Business on how technology has been leveraged to support customers. (Subscription required) https://bit.ly/3x1gZLL #fintech #trading

Happy (belated) St. Patrick’s Day! ☘️ Our team came together last week to celebrate and enjoy the holiday festivities with a pint of Guinness and corned beef. #LifeAtSimplex #Slainte! #StPaddysDay

Last week, some members of our team struck a pose and took new headshots and photos of our Simplex offices. Thanks to all those who volunteered! We cannot wait to share new photos soon. #LifeatSimplex #SimplexinAction

Earlier this month, we had the honor of sponsoring the Security Traders Association of Florida's Annual Meeting. It was a fantastic gathering of industry leaders and professionals. A big thank you to the STA Florida team for hosting such an insightful event. Plus, help us congratulate our very own Rory O’Kane, who won the #STAFLA’s fishing tournament in the ‘Sea Trout’ category, and our customer, Gary Franklin from Raymond James, who won the ‘RedFish’ category! #SimplexinAction #options #trading

Welcome to the newest member of the Simplex team, Jenny Goyer, who joined us earlier this year as a Human Resources Generalist. In her role, Jenny is responsible for a variety of HR areas, including the onboarding of new hires, fostering employee engagement, maintaining employee records, developing HR initiatives, optimizing our HRIS, and more. Every day is different, and that’s why she loves it! Learn more about Jenny below. #MeetSimplex   How long have you been with Simplex? I’ve been with Simplex for one month. In my short time here, I have been welcomed so warmly and am grateful to have the opportunity to bring immediate impact to my role.    What skills from your previous roles have helped you succeed with Simplex? HR policies may change with each organization, but my philosophy remains the same: we are here to help! My previous work in HR has always involved a variety of HR functions and required adaptability. I use this each day at Simplex, as no two days are the same.     What do you love so far about your job?  I love my work within HR because I love helping people. Whether it is a quick answer to an employee’s question or helping employees navigate complex situations, I am happy to dive deep and investigate until we find a solution.     Why did you want to work at Simplex? Simplex’s culture really stood out to me. This is a group of intelligent and driven individuals who are passionate about their roles. As a mid-sized employer, Simplex feels like a comfortable community to work within and get to know your colleagues. The benefits also contribute to the team-like atmosphere, and I really appreciate that!   What is one thing your colleagues would be surprised to know about you? Je parle français et j’adore voyager! I love to travel, and I recently spent three months backpacking through Europe from Croatia to Malta to Hungary and beyond. I love furthering my intercultural fluency and want to see more of the world. During my undergraduate studies, I lived in Paris for a year and love to keep up with my French studies.   Tell us about your proudest accomplishment. I am very proud of the variety of work experiences I have had. Prior to my work in HR, I worked in the theatre industry. I was primarily a stage manager, but have experience on many crews and various types of shows. My favorite is stage managing for dance performances - it is very challenging to call cues solely based off of movement, but it is very exciting. I loved having my friends and family watch me call shows from the booth. The next time you see a show, look above at the catwalks and behind the audience at the booth and imagine all the magic that it takes to make it to the curtain. You’ll still find me attending theatre on a weekly basis, and I love the theatre community!   #LifeatSimplex #WomeninTrading #HR

At Simplex, we're on a mission to enhance trading capabilities, manage day-to-day options trading, and provide unparalleled support. Join our team and be at the forefront of innovation, using proprietary software to optimize existing strategies and develop new ones. Explore career opportunities with us: https://lnkd.in/ecVEyNEH #LifeAtSimplex #Careers