Never forget it's a bank, not a technology company - Applications Support Lead J.P. Morgan Employee Review

1.0
21 Jul 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The benefits package is good, lots of options for extra health, dental, ... coverage. The offices in Glasgow are located right bang in the centre of the city - a great location. Vast majority of people are doing their best in difficult circumstances. The volume of work is pretty low - see cons section for some comments on this but it does mean time pressure is not really a problem. If you are a 20-something looking for a graduate job then it's likely a great career move.

Cons

I should say at outset that I had previously only wokred in science and technology, for around 20 years.. Starting as a VP at JPM I was simply amazed at the state of their technology. This is how technology used to be the in 1980s, they simply haven't moved forward. so it's close to 20 years behind the technology curve, a ton of manual work. The vast majority of the "technologists" have no significant background in real technology - mostly working (hard) up the greasy pole. "Building their network" is most people's priority, meant in the making personal connections sense. If you know what words like "socket", "latency":, or "character encoding" mean you will be massively in the minority. There are a zillion IT groups, each split into L1, L2, and L3, and each responsinle for a minute sub-section of the overall IT landscape. My team was 25+ people. In previous environments that should have been a team of 4-6, but such a team would not wokr a JPM - the systems are simply not stable enough. The whole place seems to work without any solution architects, so many "solutions" are not fit for purpose. A project owner typically leave a project once it reaches "operations", shortly after a farce of a process called "Permission to Operate" and a half-hearted KT session, and therefore there is no effective accountability. Change Management is even worse. Typially 50-100 people need to approve each change, so whoever initiated it is responsible for chasing people to click a button on a ITSM-tool, which of course most eventually do without even reading a word. Since there is no accountability it does not really matter, so its just a chore that slows an already slow system down even further. I was there 5 months - in that period the onboarding process had not yet been completed. which sort of says it all. Everyone there for a long period of time is sort of used to it being as it is, and just accepts it. Tech savvy people dont hang around long - it's simply too frustrating.

Explore other reviews about J.P. Morgan

5.0
1 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Strong problem-solving and analytical skills Scalable backend and distributed systems expertise Fast learner and adaptable to new technologies Ownership mindset and accountability Team collaboration and communication Focus on performance, reliability, and quality delivery

Cons

I can be overly detail-oriented at times, but I’ve learned to balance quality with delivery timelines and business priorities.

3.0
12 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. One of the best banks, heavy on tech and AI, that makes my life simple 2. Bonus is consistent every year 3. The company is highly social and multicultural. 4. A lot of training program to upskill and develop.

Cons

1. A lot of administrative items to take care of, a significant portion is spent on meetings, meetings are called to establish an agenda for next meetings, and so on. 2. Layoffs, all year round- sometimes significant, while in the middle of delivery. If your manager is off-site/ another city/country, you are more likely to be impacted. 3. Departments may have skewed gender or racial ratios. It is best to stay away to avoid discrimination (to be fair, this has less to do with culture and more to do with who the head of the department is).

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