Pros
- Nice office in downtown with perks such as gym membership - Free drinks, a game room, and Roti delivery - Very good work/life balance - Most of colleagues are really nice and friendly. There are a few really smart people. Overall, culture is jerk-free among non-management level employee. - At least the size is growing This could either be pro or con, if you are (or if you can pretend to be) - comfortable being in frat culture, - from Wheaton college, - a "follower of Jesus" type of person who likes discussing the Bible, and / or - loves football, then you will be doing fine. Sales / trading is classic boy's club culture, analytics team is run like fraternity house (in fact there are many kids fresh out of college)
Cons
- The way they sell the company to potential recruits (especially new grads) is a bit misleading. They emphasize the math, and say math degree is desirable, but frankly speaking, you don't need a math degree for the job here. - Training program is highly disorganized. Where you will be working within the company after the training really depends on luck, i.e. what kind of task will be assigned to you or who you will be assigned to work with during training. - A lot of politics for the size of the organization, which is fine, but sometimes lower level employees who happens to be a friend with a wrong person could become collateral damage of such politics, which is not fine. - Quite a few people who had true analytical acumen left / were pushed out in recent years. With these people gone, the company kind of lost its edge and is turning into just another mid-size broker dealer. - IT division is in chaotic situation with record high turnover in the company's history. Actually it's not only IT team, many old timers have left in recent days across the board. The company used to have high employee retention, but that no longer seems to be the case. - Again, if you meet certain criteria (see the pro above) or so you can pretend, you will be fine. But especially in sales/trading floor and/or analytics, if you are not fitting in this type, you will probably struggle.
