Geeks venture into Goldman Sachs' world of big deals and egos

One concern is that technology may make some staff redundant. Another is that the strats themselves - more likely to hold engineering PhDs from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology than MBAs from Wharton - could get ahead of bankers on a career path. Worries have been exacerbated by weak business and broader job cuts across the industry. At Goldman, revenue fell 9 percent last year to its lowest since 2011, and its return on equity remains below the 10 percent investors generally expect. Investment banking had a rough year, hurt by a near-empty calendar for initial public offerings, and a broad slowdown in M&A activity.