This is one of the less pleasant elements of the Chicago scene right now, although it's more or less accepted at this point. An example, that shows both the good and the bad: Not long ago I was approached by a colleague who wanted me to write a few things to help some grain futures traders. They wanted to be able to spread / trade as they always had, but with smarter and faster execution logic. But instead of being paid for the work, the offer was that I would get a piece of their trading profits. My response was that they didn't actually have anything to offer me unless it was a strong discretionary track record: the regular/mundane act of entering orders, managing inventory, etc. could all be done better by software, and I already knew the trades that these guys did. That's the big change, and it's a lot of why so many here get upset about the automation stuff (even if they don't know it): unless you truly have/bring alpha as a trader, automation can do what you do better, safer, faster, and cheaper.