Pros: - Coworkers - Work environment - Work events

Cons: It was 5 days in person.

Pros: Free food is the only incentive that you get.

Cons: - Pay in tech is very low. Can’t even compare with other trading firms. In fact, a lot of banks and asset management firms in the Philly area are paying a lot more. - No growth since the hierarchy is flat. - Tech is fairly old since everything is developed and hosted in-house with the majority of applications still using legacy tech like Perl scripts and .Net 4.5. Senior management is clearly against upgrading it, so there is very little scope for learning. - Worst culture ever. Have to work long hours and on a lot of support activities. Support is a primary responsibility of developers rather than innovation. Even if you are driving, in the shower, or on a hospital bed, the first thing expected is to inform managers that you won’t be able to provide support. Situation or environment does not matter. Reason - the operations team does not have a budget for a support team. - No clarity on expectations. - No proper process for annual reviews. Have not seen a firm where there is no self-review process or no proper documentation about how you performed for a specific period. On review day, a meeting with a senior manager to discuss your numbers and you are all set for the next year. - Of course, a bad culture brings a toxic environment. If you question the approach of senior management, you are out of the firm. A list can go on and on..so please do proper research about the team, project, and management before jumping into a pit.

Pros: Great work life balance and job security which means you don't need to do much and not worry about getting fired. See more in the cons.

Cons: Stay away! Compensation is poor for technology. Get used to 0-3% raises and a bonus that is a pittance. There are no stock awards like other tech firms. Bonuses are a far cry from 100% base that most other HFT firms pay. Even Comcast has been paying better recently. Undergrad hires make 90k + 5k bonus, Grad hires get 120k + 10k bonus and after that small raises. Go to Citadel, Jane Street, D.E. Shaw or Hudson River Trading among a few if you want to be paid well. I haven't seen any ivy league or top tier school hires in tech in a long time. A lot of good people are leaving. Many people who don't pull their weight and are just clipping a paycheck (it is good work life balance, great job security because they never fire anyone in tech). You could be doing the job of n such people but only get paid n% more in recognition for that. Senior managers are busy trying to hire more people who report to them because that is how they make more money. I am glad to have left and should have done it a long time ago, will regret the loss in lifetime earning for a while. I personally know a few people who were contemplating the same. Technology is very mediocre, nothing exciting. The firm operates at a scale where they can make money if the systems keep running. They have a lot of resistance to adopting open source technologies and instead develop poor ripoffs internally. As an example their version control system locks up regularly slowing people down, enough said! Don't come here if you are young and looking to learn exciting technologies and make money.