Pros: As far as Engineering goes, I really enjoy the people and have found many mentors (both senior and peer). People are smart and come from various backgrounds, bringing diverse thinking and cool personalities. There is a strong emphasis on networking, which creates a pervasive "catch-up over coffee" culture. I entered post-undergrad, and I like being able to choose between working back-end/service-side and front-end, and learning a little bit of everything, not necessarily stuck to one thing (though my specialty is Java). Team culture varies depending on the leadership of your team. My first team was not too entry-level friendly, but my team did genuinely care about my growth and had my back; I always felt that I was treated with respect. Overall, I've had a pretty positive experience with working in a team and working to my own schedule. Since the pandemic, I've been working remotely, and the plan is to move forward with a mixed approach (2-3 days in office, 2-3 days working remote from home). Engineering teams do seem open and willing for the mixed-work style moving forward as well, which is good. Internal mobility is always an option, and people are willing to help you out. Amenities in the New York office, such as the gym and the cafe, are very nice.

Cons: If your main concern is money, you might as well look for a job at a tech company. You could definitely be getting paid better elsewhere. Office politics is definitely a thing. If you're interested in stocks/trading, working at a bank will put restrictions on that. My current team is based in EMEA and is definitely more suited for developing new engineers, but dealing with time differences, keeping in the loop, and making space for myself in project tasks (from the perspective of being based in the Americas) has proven frustrating at times.

Pros: Prestigious name, work on a large scale.

Cons: Not top-tier pay, bad work-life balance.

Pros: Culture can be team-specific, so sometimes you can get lucky and get people you like working with. This is a 40,000-person corporation, so you never know who you will get paired up with. Additionally, often the people you work with are very passionate about technology and into their jobs, so it is a good place to learn about tech, especially for more junior people.

Cons: The culture in place is inherently against work-life balance; there are yearly firings. The intention for all employees is that you keep growing while also competing with your colleagues. Once you hit vice president level, the expectation becomes clearer that you are expected to maximize your time working. The only constraint you have is your own health, as many of the employees there are immigrants (myself included). So basically, you are forced to prioritize work over everything else, otherwise you are at risk of losing your job and your status in this country. Additionally, they made it clear this last year with the small bonus pool and decrease in flexibility (where they basically do not want you working from home if possible) that they do not value software engineers as much as they were touting during the past few years. Look elsewhere for a place that has a more sustainable work culture.