Pros: Flat organization. Good free food, summer parties, several smart people with big egos. Relaxed dress code.

Cons: Flat organization with training focused primarily on traders. One has to become bosses pet to get good work and raises. Highly skewed against women. Too many egos of long timers.

Pros: Fair disclosure: for every pro listed below, there's a "business reason" (e.g. productivity) for it and therefore, a con. Also, beware of the fake reviews - the 5 star reviews contrast greatly with the ones with low rating. - Free food (Breakfast, Lunch and if you're lucky, take-out). Although you forfeit your lunch break/going-out-with-colleagues-ever - Okay people to work with (despite some favoritism, like in any organization). The culture does in a way encourage "mediocrity" due to the clerical nature of work. - Casual dress code (collared/polo shirts with jeans/sneakers - no T-shirts. But, SIG T-Shirts are allowed... Huh?) - Convenience of facilities such as dry cleaning, laundry, car repair, detailing/body works, hair dresser etc. on site! - Gym classes, if you have the time and money (most of them cost money) - 401k with 6% matching

Cons: - I have seen over 5 people leave within the same team within less than a year. Clearly, the management doesn't want to listen and respond. - Highly disorganized processes / inconsistent workflow at times with certain things that can leave (new) employees feeling stuck, drained, frustrated and even bored. If you're a creative person, this could be a nightmare. - Despite what the HR/company claims about "openness" within the culture, the promises fall short at times when people are afraid to be themselves/express themselves freely, or have candid conversations with the senior managers. The place has a strange, hierarchial, corporate vibe to it - despite their "attempts" to make it Silicon-like - it's simply not and can't be. - Free food = no going out, working throughout the day at your desk (no lunch break) or ...lunch meetings 2-3x a week. Smart move to keep you in the office. - Long hours - min. 9 hour workdays mandatory (8 to 5, or 9 to 6) without breaks (45-50 hour work week typical). Yes, lunch is provided but in a way, it is a smart move to keep you in the office the whole time. Most folks eat at their desk either while working or at a stupid Lunch meeting 2-3x a week. The culture doesn't encourage "going out" for lunch at all. Work life balance is terrible. - Due to the quasi-"flat structure" of the company, there is little to none opportunity for advancement/career growth. - No remote/work-from-home/flextime/flexplace policy for Tech! Really. They have the available secure technology to let employees work from home but no official policy. The managers may give you an okay on working from home under extenuating circumstances (you'll hear a word or two about it) but it seems like the practice is discouraged in the culture. - Purely Decorative "game room" with XBOX/Playstations, 3D golf, poker room, library, gym, etc.: Yes, they have all these facilities they brag about that any employee/interviewee will fall in love with, but where is the time to use these? And if so, when is the right time? Perhaps, if you have time and energy after a 10 hour workday, you can go to the gym, but the rest of the facilities are largely decorative. All I see is work, work, work. - Regulation, regulation, and more regulation: I am very uncomfortable with this. Part of it is to do with the finance industry, but they have a highly restricted web/surfing. ALL emails, IMs, messages are archived for years and monitored. I'm not alien to this policy at other companies, but the measures here take it slightly overboard, and ultimately people have to keep watching themselves at all times. This greatly conflicts with the "open culture". Also, Gmail/other external email systems, paste bin, etc. (basically anywhere you could type over 1 sentence ) are blocked out of fear of you exporting their trading secrets - this shows their distrust in employees and frankly the distrust is mutual. - Little appreciation for work unless you are an old timer. - 90% of the "fun events" advertised are held after 6 PM. Why would anyone, after a 9-10 hour workday want to go to poker or a meeting for "team building", unless they are peer-pressured (which this place has a tendency to do) ? This is bizarre, bad for employee health (i.e. no gym time) and work-life balance. Often times, their focus on the teams can fall short. Teammates at times seem to be imposing and nosy. - Outdated technology to work with. Bad for technologists / software engineers! E.g. many teams are having discussions about migrating to "JIRA" (vs. the 1990 version of an inhouse product they used) in 2017 - something companies did 5 years ago! They don't want to invest in technology (or do the bare minimum) - everything has to be made into a "business case" and in terms of productivity without regarding what's new and what's best for employees. - Definitely, not for millenials or people who are creative and want to be part of the "new" side of tech. - Work is largely company-specific. If you work here for some time, you'll ask yourself what are you taking with yourself to your next job? At other places, 70% of the work is specific to the nature/industry (e.g. for a software developer, it would be software development) and 30% would be company process-specific. Here it can be the opposite. 70% of the things you do will only be applicable to SIG and their systems. Where is the benefit for employee? What is the employee gaining out of it in the long run? - Limited PTO (15 vacation days+2 personal days). Not the best in pay or benefits (health insurance, dental, etc.). Benefits are stingy (or just okay). Educational assistance takes 6 months to kick in. Fair disclosure: unlimited sick days (of course, they expect honesty from employees using them which is fair).

Pros: Big company so can pay big. Competitive pay for new grads. Free lunch. Other fun perks (poker tournament, free zoo trips, baseball games). Great for introverts. We all had standing desks. Provided WFH setup.

Cons: No titles which I think makes growth difficult-- and harder to use market research in salary negotiations. Lots of individual work and very little collaboration. Work-life balance is a challenge (9-hour days). Most teams stuck in old tech (they don't use Git, some teams still stuck in Python 2). This company is not people-first-- it was clear to me at least that management cares more about money than its employees. Employees have been fighting for the option to WFH for years, and even after quarantine they're still fighting. Really just off-putting company culture. But if you enjoy mostly working on your own, getting a big paycheck, and working for the weekend (no shame in any of that!) then this might be a good place for you-- that's why I think it's not a bad place to end your career. I do think it's a mistake to start your career here though.