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 food and large bonuses

Cons: Extremely political. The majority of where you must spend your time to survive at Optiver is politics. If you do not, you will be eaten by others that do. Management has zero interest in dissuading this behavior. Watch your commits, as large pieces of work will be quietly re-based into other developers' names. This is not by accident, as you'll start hearing word back that they're bragging about having written the code. Poor management promotes the worst people to management roles after seeing their own negative traits in them. Management is also gifted to long-term employees who cannot keep up with the technical work anymore. These managers all review each other, ensuring the quality stays low, as poor management has the majority and removes anyone that doesn't have the negative traits they hold up as ideal.

Pros: Great pay. Great people. Great free food and perks.

Cons: Might be stressful to some.