Pros: Paid extremely well. Free breakfast, lunch, and (if you stay late enough) dinner. Lots of amenities: free massages, gym memberships, etc. Good education program. Get experience with the financial markets.

Cons: Expect to do a lot of work. Need to perform and be independent. Can be stressful if you are not used to that kind of high-intensity work environment.

Pros: Good place to work if you want to be paid reasonably well, but not have too much pressure.

Cons: No scope to push your own trading ideas; you can only implement ideas coming from trading.

Pros: Optiver is ambitious and continues growing. There is a competitive spirit, a desire to be the best, and long-term aspirations. Optiver realizes that people and talent are key to success. For motivated, disciplined, ownership-seeking individuals, there is tremendous upside and growth potential. There are lots of examples of junior and campus hires eventually progressing to senior leadership positions. Leadership takes transparency seriously. Not everything can and will be shared with everyone. However, compared to most places, a huge premium is put on transparency. Optiver is a collaborative company. There is minimal intra-office competition. There is a good quorum of technical and trading leaders that have been with the firm for a number of years.

Cons: Optiver isn't without flaws, just like any other company. When you have a group of ambitious high-achievers, it's bound to create occasional tension. There's always a crunch for resources. This can lead to difficulties focusing on the right things and tough decisions. There are a number of areas, both internal and external, where Optiver should be more aggressive.