Fidelity Investments

If you're married with kids and a house, and you want to go home at 4:45 PM every day, Fidelity is for you. I've never worked less anywhere else.

When I've had visitors in on a Friday in the summer, and only 6 of 30 team members are in, they ask "where is everyone" and I have to explain that this is normal. Largely "Working From Home" is used more than it should.

As far as ambitions go, Abby and Ned own the company. What they want goes. As such, you can expect fiats from on high and many people and divisions shuffling along, getting by.

This is not a terrible thing, but you'll not find floors of teams rushing to "get it done" and invent the "next great thing" despite the corporate newsletters that champion such internal trends. Rather, you'll find bureaucracy, process, and more process taking weeks to do something as simple as write a single line query.

One fiat was all applications moving to Linux servers from Windows servers. Why? Ned had met Bill Gates at a conference and decided he didn't like him, so we needed to get rid of Windows.

Pay is slightly below market, but health benefits are good ($140 for top health plan), bonuses are not bad, and the hours are great. Good training budget. OK vacation policy (15 days). Nice facilities.

Big Warning: Fidelity is divesting in Boston and New England. They are moving all the jobs they can to Raleigh (NC), Westlake (TX), Ireland, China, and India.

Every year more Boston teams get sacked and are given the "chance" to move 2000 miles or more, though usually only 10% take the offer. Be careful; if you're not deeply entrenched in the front office, your days are likely numbered.

Everyone keeps to themselves. Passing people in the hall, they stare at the floor. In the elevators, you could hear a pin drop. Folks are not outgoing, and I've seen many teams that sit 10 yards apart and don't know each other at all. This helps breed internal silos and technical fiefdoms. If you behave gregariously, people will be surprised.

Fidelity IT loves to talk about Agile, but we actually use FAM, the Fidelity Agile Methodology. During your interview, ask deep questions about how so-called "Agile" teams work, and you'll be in for a laugh. FAM is a broken application of Agile and little better than classic waterfall. If you've really learned Agile elsewhere, people are going to laugh at you your first few weeks here.

If you're looking to grow rapidly in tech, look beyond Fidelity. Our systems are laughably behind the times, though our "architectural conferences" will swear they're cutting edge (i.e., IE8 anyone? Java 6? Tomcat 5?).

You're the largest 401K manager in the US. You've got a great brand.

Get your tech house in order and continue to lead and set a new standard in 401K experiences.

Use the smart people you have and actually breed a true "innovation" culture rather than just speaking about it and running on 2004 tech.

Don't hold various town halls talking about how you're helping all your engineers grow, and create "building your career" websites, all the while sacking more teams every quarter.

There is little reason to "build your career" when it will soon likely be moved thousands of miles away. This sacks morale.

Also, do away with Working From Home; people abuse it too much.