Why Zuzana swapped a big bank for a fintech

This is part of a series where I talk to people I’ve helped take the next step in their careers.

Zuzana knows core banking systems better than almost anyone I’ve met. She spent ten years in a large bank, working on the integration layer between the core platform and everything around it: cards, payments, regulatory reporting. This summer she joined a Vienna-based fintech as a Site Reliability Engineer.

I asked her how it went.

Zuzana, ten years is a long time. Why leave now?

“I loved the systems, but I didn’t love the pace. A simple change could take two months of approvals. I wanted to see what it’s like to ship something on Monday and see customers use it on Tuesday.”

Weren’t you worried that fintechs only want “cloud-native” people?

“Very. Every job ad was full of Kubernetes, Go and observability buzzwords. What Matúš showed me is that fintechs have a big problem too: they need people who understand how banks actually work, because they connect to them every day. Settlement, ISO 20022, reconciliation. Their young teams often don’t know that world.”

I thought my banking background was the thing I had to hide. It turned out to be the reason they hired me.

How was the interview process?

“Fast compared to the bank! Three rounds in two weeks. Before each one, Matúš told me what that interviewer cared about. In the system design round they asked me to design a payment status service. I spent half the time talking about failure modes and idempotency, which is exactly what they wanted to hear.”

And the salary conversation?

“That’s where I needed help the most. I had no idea what the market paid outside the bank. Matúš gave me real numbers, and we agreed on a range before the final round. I ended up with a better offer than I would have asked for on my own, plus a proper learning budget.”

Any culture shock?

“Of course. Less process, more ownership. Nobody tells you what to do, which was scary for the first month. But I’m on call for systems I actually understand end to end, and that feels great.”

Your advice for bankers thinking about a move?

“Don’t undersell your domain knowledge. Learn the modern tooling, yes, but the understanding of money flows and regulation is rare. Fintechs need it badly.”

Thank you, Zuzana! If you work in banking IT and wonder what’s on the other side, send me a message. No pressure, just a conversation.