Pros: The people are the best part of Optiver, and they are why it is successful. As an intern, I was able to work with and learn from firm leadership, development leads, and developers at a wide range of experience levels. The human investment poured into my experience was great. Chats about technology at the firm in general and my work in particular were regular and helpful. Because of these engagements, I felt that I was both able to add real value during my internship, learn more about development, and learn more about the industry. The principles with which Optiver trades and develops are heavily stressed. These principles allow them to both work with intention and manage risk effectively. A developer intern has the opportunity to learn more about these principles and see them in practice at Optiver. Finally, developing production systems requires a different mindset and a different set of skills than academics. The internship can help you on your path to becoming a real-world software engineer.

Cons: Resources to get general trading knowledge didn't seem very well presented to me during the onboarding process. I felt that I learned these things gradually and on my own throughout the internship. Although, this isn't completely a bad thing.

Pros: Definitely a great place to work: collaboration across teams, sharing of knowledge across teams and offices. Focus on diversity. Focus on organizational structure, which changes periodically to reflect changing business needs and to fix what's not working. High performers are rewarded extremely well. Senior management shares the current state of play, forward-looking plans, earnings, and other metrics (which aren't shared in other similar firms). Excellent facilities: food, gym, massage, discounts, company trips, parties, swag... a long list.

Cons: A few senior staff continue to knowingly exercise rude behavior with people who are relatively new in the firm.

Pros: As a software developer, I have found that everyone is very approachable across all levels in the company. If I ever have a question that needs answering, it's easy to sit down at someone's desk and get the answers I need. From a technical standpoint, I value Optiver's emphasis on starting with a simple solution and incrementally building up from there when needed. Another advantage is that since our customers are our internal traders, we have an immediate feedback loop where we can continually improve and tweak our applications until we have a really solid system. As far as company culture goes, I would say it is relaxed, and I enjoy the optional events and activities provided outside of work.

Cons: Trading is a fast-moving industry, with products and strategies changing. This can put pressure on our applications to change frequently, but also provides new problems to tackle and keeps things interesting.