Pros: I've worked at Optiver a long time. Every year it gets better. * The company is managed on the basis of principles and values, not process or politics. * Those principles and values align very nicely with mine: * Autonomy: there is very little hand-holding and extraordinarily high expectations of individuals in the company. The company rewards those that keep pushing those expectations higher with greater responsibility and authority. * Collaboration: there are a lot of great fights over the right way to approach a given problem. When we're at our best, everyone in the fight has a strong opinion but is also listening to everyone else and continually re-evaluating that opinion as new information, ideas, and opinions are expressed. * Prudence: the company carefully evaluates risk/reward trade-offs both when it comes to trading and technology decisions. The latest fads (cryptocurrency, esoteric programming languages, etc) are carefully evaluated, but reckless pursuit of them is frowned upon. I'll end with a sports analogy. Working at Optiver Chicago is like playing for the Patriots or the San Antonio Spurs. It certainly isn't for everyone. But if you like competing for the championship every year and always pushing yourself to be better, there's no better team to join.

Cons: If the company values do not align with yours, you will find it an increasingly frustrating place to work. Honestly, just read the cons from other posts and you can see how that plays out. If you find the principles above strange, out of fashion, or backwards, you'll agree with other people's cons. If you think those principles are refreshing, you will have a hard time coming up with many cons.

Pros: The environment is friendly, and the people working there are great, both professionally and personally. The company realized it has a lot of technical debt and is investing heavily in reducing it. It's trying to become a world-class software development firm.

Cons: For most of the lifetime of the company, getting things done in a hacky way has been acceptable. This shows in the state of the codebase, which could be less than pleasant to work with.

Pros: Optiver is very intentional about fit. This means that employees find themselves in positions and working on projects where they are adding the most value. Optiver invests trust in people. This means that you are trusted to be honest and open, and you can trust that you can use your strengths. Optiver conducts itself with integrity. I can trust that we'll "do the right thing". Whilst that might mean that we don't participate in profitable activities that others might, it gives me confidence that we will continue to invest ourselves in trading activities that add value to the market, and that Optiver will continue to be sustainably and ethically profitable. Optiver provides a number of benefits to its employees: * CTA/metra pass * weekly massage * meals * snacks * facilities (games room, gym in building with trivial initiation fee) * 401k match * great health insurance * social opportunities.

Cons: Optiver is a reasonably small company with a flat structure. This is great for some, but for others who have a high need for boundaries, structure, and procedure, it might not be an ideal environment. Optiver can move slowly at times, being intentional about "new" things. They thoroughly think about whether new activities add market value, are compliant, and have well-understood risks and rewards. Some won't be accustomed to this and potentially find it frustrating.