JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan is a company that is trying to change and be innovative. Upper management is wholeheartedly trying. They are investing heavily into technology and are attempting to provide the hardware and resources needed by technologists.

Direct managers appear to be on the opposite side of the spectrum of where the company wants to go. At least that is what I gathered from talking to others and my own experience. I would continuously get the same feedback:

• My manager doesn't know what he/she is doing.
• I have no idea why my manager promoted that person.
• My manager wants to use a certain technology, but it makes no sense.
• I hardly get feedback, and the end-of-year review is brief and pointless.

With the above said about managers, it wouldn't be surprising to know that pay is all over the place. It is up to you to make sure you are getting the pay that you should be getting.

The most disappointing thing is that the promotion process and hiring is ad hoc. Which probably explains why JPM is full of bad managers and unambitious people, or people that are happy with just doing the status quo. There are people at levels that shouldn't be at that level; I have no idea how they got there.

Put people in management positions that will be good managers.

Be competitive with salary and continuously raise the bar when hiring.

One good software engineer can do the job of five mediocre ones.