Capital One Reviews

Pros

- Great place to learn cloud technologies and get your certs, free subscriptions to great online resources. - Some teams can be great at times and you may learn a few things if you are lucky. A lot of your colleagues are not extremely qualified so there's plenty of opportunity to mentor too. - As far as modern tech open-space sweatshops go they have nice sit-stand desks and nice aesthetics. Some catered lunches, the ones the business side pays for can be really good but engineering is mostly fed pizza. - A lot of distractions, you can be busy for months without doing any actual work. Don't worry, as long as you make your senior manager look good you will still get promoted!

Cons

The senior management team is great at manipulation and self-promotion; skills that allow them to recruit some good talent which, sometimes, accidentally, can form good teams. Don't expect those teams to last, you will soon find out that all work of substance is done by the US team. Canada is playing catch up, you will find yourself begging US teams to push a button for you, write tons of configuration and maybe a line of code or two. If a promotion comes don't expect money. Pay is under market but they pretend it's not. Be careful who you trust! It's all cliques, in-groups and the agile coaches are there to report your thoughts to managers.

Pros

- Work life balance is excellent - Other associates are generally quite friendly - Leadership makes an effort for employees to have fun

Cons

- Salary difference between job families is ludicrous. Employees at the same level doing very similar work will have income differences of 30k, possibly more. Unless you're a business analyst, good luck. - Work in the Canada office isn't very exciting as most decisions come out of the states. It also takes a ton of people and departments to make even the most basic decision. - Like another reviewer said, "Analysis Paralysis". Too much emphasis on the same few analytical/data-driven views that any other opinions are rejected. - Promotion-motivated. From the day you start, you are fixated on your next promotion and if you don't get it within the 18-24 month window you will probably leave. - Like many others have mentioned, your success highly depends on your manager as they have to advocate for your promotions.

Pros

Good benefits - employer paid premiums for health insurance and tuition reimbursement.

Cons

High turnover - seems to be letting people go.

Pros

Capital One was unparalleled in terms of the work-life balance: employees up to the VP level would regularly leave at 4:00 pm to pick up kids from work, leave for classes, or make an appointment. The internal coding courses offered were an incredible way to get relevant, foundational technical skills that you could practice day-to-day. The role I was in was fairly challenging although the cyclical nature of the work meant that things would get repetitive past the 1-year mark. Fortunately the rotation program allows almost anyone to switch teams and experience a new role within the company.

Cons

Capital One's only real con to me was its unsavory business model. While the mission was to "Change Banking for Good", looking at the financials usually painted the picture of profiting off poor people and new immigrants off of interest and high fees. While this does not affect the genuinely great day-to-day work environment, there is a pill that should be explicitly swallowed when considering the societal value that is created at large.