In today's markets, how can a trader with minimal or no programming experience, move beyond the basic software interface that comes out-of-the-box from applications such as eSignal, TradeStation, NinjaTrader and NeoTicker?
Can one's trading business be served by posting a plea for help on the NinjaTrader Support Forum titled, "Newbie...Please Help Me Write this Indicator!".
Using this approach to reach out for professional help may not lead to the support a trader needs in order to realize the software implementation of their trading ideas or approach.
Software, like many professions, takes years to learn and must be done in a professional manner.
There are a couple of approaches that a non-programmer can
take.
1. Learn how to Program. This is what I did...this
turned out to be a dumb idea that has plagued me for over a decade.
Though I am diligently autodidactic and now know how to
program, I hate programming, am not very good at it, and find myself spending
more time debugging code than creating valuable software.
2. Hire a Programmer.
This is the quickest, easiest
approach but one that entails managing a technical project and also carries the
possibility of Sticker Shock.
To do this
correctly, a trader, or their surrogate, must be able to clearly document their
requirements, execute the appropriate contractual agreements (Non-Disclosure
& Statement of Work), have clearly defined deliverables, and also allow time
and budget for training, bug remediation and ongoing support.
3. Create or Join a Trading Software Development Team.
This is a great approach as it provides a vehicle for ongoing work. If you are like most traders who go down the
path of developing custom software, you may find that once you have your first piece
of code in place, you will quickly need and want more.
To successfully create a Trading Software Development Team you will need members who can provide all of the following skill sets:
- Documentation
- Strategy Architecture
- System Architecture
- Computer Programming (programming language skills must be congruent with the development languages supported by the teams adopted Trading Platform
- Software Testing
- System administration
There are no shortcuts with any of these approaches. Each one has its own Pros and Cons, and each one must follow a valid Software Development Life Cycle.
I will be posting more detail to help you along with each of these approaches including sample documents that you can use as a Non-Disclosure Agreement, Statement of Work, Functional Requirements Specifications, User Acceptance Testing Scripts, Bug Remediation).
Hope that this helps.
