January 31, 2022

The Importance of Software Craft and Quality to Goldman Sachs

Hoshil Sejpal, Vice President and Tech Fellow, Storage Engineering

The ability to release changes to software rapidly and reliably is critical to the function of software systems at Goldman Sachs (GS). Our business and software requirements change with the market at a quick pace, and because of that, we need to ensure that these changes are backed by a high degree of quality, control, and assurance. We address this through two predominant strategies - instilling a ground-up culture of Software Craft and quality amongst our engineers, and having a set of control gates that manage our ability to push changes through the CI/CD pipeline to production. These are complementary initiatives that help ensure quality is at the forefront of our engineering practices.

When I started as a developer at GS more than 15 years ago as a relatively new Computer Science graduate, I had the privilege of working with some excellent senior mentors who made an impression on how I work. Their commitment to code quality, testing, and thoughtful software design influenced my working style and helped me to appreciate two aspects of software engineering:

  • Investment in software quality leads to products and services that are sustainable, commercial, and amenable to rapid change.
  • New joiners are highly impressionable, and the mentors they acquire will shape the way they think about software development practices.

This raises another point around the software development culture at GS and its relationship with the Software Craft movement - an initiative that emphasizes the importance of building skills over time under the guidance of an expert. I continue to have some excellent mentors today, but I mentor younger engineers too, ensuring the cycle of apprenticeship continues. Mentoring is an aspect of my role at GS that I really enjoy. It gives me an opportunity to meet others within the organization, share my developer experience, and continue to learn from others. Goldman Sachs' strong culture of apprenticeship and collaboration has nurtured Software Craft, and led to the creation of a GS Software Craft community. This community has several hundred participants and meets every two weeks to talk through various aspects of Software Craft (such as techniques for deleting unused code, code review best practices, new testing techniques, discovery of libraries, etc.). Our Software Craft community is one of several examples where teams from across the organization come together to collaborate on best practices, and help each other to continue to raise the bar. Another example is an initiative that involves our Tech Fellows community - a large group of selected senior technical leaders who help review the design of services and initiatives across our organization. This cross-team collaboration yields better final products and greater overall efficiency.

I believe that our culture of Software Craft provides significant benefits to the organization. Not only does it improve our software standards, but it also embodies aspects of the GS culture (focus on clients, apprenticeship, mentorship, collaboration, and quality) as well as our engineering tenets. The topic of Software Craft and quality is one that myself, and many others at GS are passionate about, so, watch this space for more blog posts on Software Craft at GS. The next entry in this series will focus on techniques we employ to delete unused code, and how this improves the quality of our codebase.

If you would like to learn more about opportunities at Goldman Sachs, we invite you to explore our careers page.


See https://www.gs.com/disclaimer/global_email for important risk disclosures, conflicts of interest, and other terms and conditions relating to this blog and your reliance on information contained in it.

This site is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any security. The Goldman Sachs Marquee® platform is for institutional and professional clients only. Some of the services and products described on this site may not be available in certain jurisdictions or to certain types of client. Please contact your Goldman Sachs sales representative with any questions. Nothing on this site constitutes an offer, or an invitation to make an offer from Goldman Sachs to purchase or sell a product. This site is given for purely indicative purposes and does not create any contractual relationship between you and Goldman Sachs. Any market information contained on the site (including but not limited to pricing levels) is based on data available to Goldman Sachs at a given moment and may change from time to time. There is no representation that any transaction can or could have been effected on such terms or at such prices. Please see https://www.goldmansachs.com/disclaimer/sec-div-disclaimers-for-electronic-comms.html for additional information. © 2023 Goldman Sachs. All rights reserved.
Transaction Banking services are offered by Goldman Sachs Bank USA (“GS Bank”). GS Bank is a New York State chartered bank, a member of the Federal Reserve System and a Member FDIC. © 2023 Goldman Sachs. All rights reserved.
Not all products and functionality mentioned on this website are currently available through our API platform.
All loans and deposit products are provided by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch. Member FDIC.
Brokerage and investment advisory services offered by our investment products are provided by Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (`‘GS&CO.`’), which is an SEC registered broker-dealer and investment adviser, and member FINRA/SIPC. Research our firm at FINRA's BrokerCheck. Custody and clearing services are provided by Apex Clearing Corporation, a registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Please consider your objectives before investing. A diversified portfolio does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investment outcomes and projections are forward-looking statements and hypothetical in nature. Neither this website nor any of its contents shall constitute an offer, solicitation, or advice to buy or sell securities in any jurisdictions where GS&Co. is not registered. Any information provided prior to opening an investment account is on the basis that it will not constitute investment advice and that GS&Co. is not a fiduciary to any person by reason of providing such information. For more information about our investment offerings, visit our Full Disclosures.
Investment products are: NOT FDIC INSURED ∙ NOT A DEPOSIT OR OTHER OBLIGATION OF, OR GUARANTEED BY, GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA ∙ SUBJECT TO INVESTMENT RISKS, INCLUDING POSSIBLE LOSS OF THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT INVESTED