American Express

Amazing brand, well-packaged benefits, and great opportunities for new employees. Extremely competitive environment.

It's an excellent place to grow your career from start if you're competitive and ambitious, but not empathetic.

It's nearly impossible to succeed in the engineering director role if you're hired from an outside firm. Amex has a cut-throat competitive culture, a constant chase for numbers, and a lack of attention to individual colleagues' needs. Many directors are required to lead often-times upwards of 30 people without the ability to re-structure reporting relationships. Consultants are mainly treated as numbers; however, full-time colleagues enjoy significant benefits, such as 6-month child-care leave, while the rest of the team is expected to pull the burden of delivery.

The leadership expects innovation and delivery of exceeding outcomes at every step of the way. Beating your past numbers is not rewarded; it's expected. Personal sacrifices that mid-level leaders make to keep the team spirit up and deliver on these needs often do not matter. Every month, engineering has some kind of competition, and there are numerous favorites on multiple teams persistently winning the game, while no one cares about specific people. It's all about the numbers. Budget decisions drive every major decision. Very few team members have significant tenures unless they're in competitive senior leadership roles.