Mixed feelings - Associate Software Engineer BlackRock Employee Review

3.0
13 Jul 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- I know this could vary by team, but my team is laid back and chill - You get to learn a lot about financial stuff (if you are open to learn anyways) especially investing and money management - Good benefits including unlimited PTO, 401k matching and boost

Cons

- Pay is not that good compared to tech companies. I wouldn't have complained if that at least increased (a little if not a lot) every year but no. It'd be the same for several years and they don't care about your life changes, inflation, etc. EVERY YEAR they say the same thing "oh it's not been that good a year", even though the earnings are good? - Promotion process is a huge mess. I saw people bootlicking senior management get promoted even though they are unworthy and some talented and hard working people ignored because they actually work and not waste time talking BS and entertaining those senior management. This kind of culture is HIGHLY TOXIC and its high time people corrected it. People have taken cue and started working less and boot licking more. Also there is no clear path or definition to promotion or any measurement scale for the criteria. Its just too abstract and they expect you to already be doing the work of the role that you are trying to get promoted to. Why would I do that when I'm not getting paid for it yet? - Developer experience sucks - you get all kind of "security" crap installed on the computers that make them super slow for developers. If you don't trust software engineers to not click on stupid spam or get virus onto the computers, why hire them in the first place? The dev process becomes SUPER SLOW because of thousands of background processes running and becomes super irritating and you lose all the remaining motivation to code. How hard is it to have different policies for developers and non developers?

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BlackRock Response
5y
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. We are glad to hear that you’ve grown your financial knowledge and that you are enjoying our benefits. Regarding compensation concerns, we follow a pay for performance compensation model and aim to reward all employees fairly for their contributions to the firm. If you’re not satisfied with your current compensation package, we encourage you to speak to your manager and HR. Additionally, we follow a strict performance management process and promote all employees based on merit. Employees participating in our annual promotion process are nominated and evaluated based on their performance and contributions to the firm. Please reach out to HR or speak with your manager regarding our promotions process and about opportunities for advancing your career.

Explore other reviews about BlackRock

5.0
7 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Surrounded by top talent, Lots of opportunities for career growth

Cons

Large organization, so decision-making and processes can sometimes move more slowly than in smaller firms.

3.0
22 Feb 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. The executive leaders in the firm are doing a great job 2. Many people in the firm genuinely have a sense of pride working there 3. The (base) compensation is compatible with the market; bonus, however, is another story. 4. For the first ten years of my career in the firm, I made some great memories and made some great friends.

Cons

The culture of my organization started to shift away from a sensible approach and career nurturing to a hostile and confrontational one around 2 years ago. In several all-hands meetings, we were chastised for being "too nice" and were made clear that things would change. The anonymous feedback in the meetings was cut short or eliminated entirely because it didn’t paint a positive picture. In the last 2 years, 1. I was often asked and expected to answer, "Now.. what can you do for me?" in my 1:1 with my latest manager. 2. I was reminded more than once that English is my second language 3. I was reminded more than once by the manager that I should not speak during the meetings I was invited to because they weren’t in the right timing or not appropriate to the subject being discussed during the time There were many of these examples in the last two years with the firm that just seemed inconceivable; nevertheless, I had a great ride and met some genuine people that I consider friends even today.

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