Fidelity Investments

• Good work-life balance.
• Easy job.
• They try their best to keep folks happy.
• They have decent benefits.

You Must Play Politics To Get Ahead: Merit means nothing; you have to engage with managers and kiss butt.

Lots of Confusion: Leadership consists mostly of folks doing jobs they have no experience in. These are folks who have no degree, no education, and no job experience, yet are leading technical implementations. Lots of "phone folks."

Poor Trust: Everything is top-down. You are not allowed to make decisions; management wants a voice in everything you do.

Creativity is Discouraged: You must become like-minded in your way of working. Innovation is discouraged, and they do not make space for new folks to create or improve. They don't even understand it most of the time, since most of these folks have never worked anywhere else.

Lack of Honesty: Being honest about work and working hard will not get you anywhere. You only need to focus on the perception of you.

Years at the Company Mean Too Much: They have a "club mentality" based on years at the company. You are not treated equally or valued if you are not part of that club.

There's No Accountability: If you work hard or you barely work, it doesn't matter because managers and leaders do not understand anything other than tone, body language, and word choice. If you are managing folks and they are not doing their job, you can't complain or address it; you must just be positive and play the game. However, you still have to deliver, which means you have all the pressure on you.

In my experience, I feel like chapter leads and squad leads that come from a technical background facilitate better. They have deep knowledge and can be helpful because they understand the implementations to some degree. At Fidelity, they most come from the phone, and I found they cause lots of confusion and created an environment that was difficult for someone who likes accomplishing things and getting things done. They are clueless.

Teams are siloed, make decisions that only affect them, and transact as if they are not all working together to deliver the same thing. I love Agile, but what is missing here are technical directors and leaders that facilitate changes and improvements across many teams. I found there's no one to talk to when you get stuck because there are no folks above you that are technical. Architects do not want to interact with teams or help because it does not help their career. These folks have no input in their success, and so they don't want to engage with teams unless a manager is involved. It's quite toxic. So, as a tech lead, you are on an island. Also, I found that bringing this topic up will get you in the bad graces with leadership. Each team is doing the same thing a lot of times, but there's no sharing or coordination because folks only care about their team and their work. It's a culture of disunity in that regard.

It all boils down to people.