The Trainee Program is a Scam if you're a college graduate. I left within the first two weeks. Here's why: - Anonymous employee FDM Group Employee Review

1.0
Nov 23, 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The office is friendly environment, you won't be disappointed by your coworkers. The trainee program helps veterans develop technical and business skills. This is great. This is the best part about the company as a whole.

Cons

They approach college graduates with technical degrees. The recruiters reach out to new college graduates with degrees in Computer Science and Business. This is a problem, because they are approaching people who are already qualified for the jobs. We did introductions the first day and almost all of the trainees had degrees in Computer Science. So these people are already qualified to be consultants, and some (based on experience) developers. The contract is UNACCEPTABLE: 1. The salary is bad. The fact that you have to be "open to relocation" and the salary doesn't change based on the location. The salary is definitely not enough to cover the cost of living in cities such as NYC or DC. This is bad enough. Also during training, you're payed 12/hr. 2. You are contractually obligated to work for them for 2 years. You are pigeon holing yourself to a low salary for two years of your life. The biggest issue with this is that you are placed in a company to do a job that usually pays around 70-80K. Yet you are being payed about 40 percent less. They start the class by saying "you are our products". 3. Let me spell it out for you. They are offering you low pay, to do a job that pays pretty well normally. Not only that, you have to be open to moving for this job. 4. If you have a computer science degree and are taking the java developer trainee program, you should already know most of what is being taught. Not only that, if you made it through an undergraduate CS program, you should be able to learn all of this stuff through online resources. 4. The bottom line is, if you have a degree in tech or business, you are already qualified for these developer/consultant roles. Send out a lot of applications and prep for interviews. If you're going for developer roles, learn those data structures and algorithms. If you're going for business consultant, read business books. If this is you, don't lose confidence because of rejection. I was so angry when I left the trainee program the second Monday. I went to my computer that night and filled out 25 applications. I got an interview for that Thursday and had another offer, paying nearly twice as much the following Tuesday. Believe me, if you have one of these degrees, you are worth a lot more than what FDM has to offer.

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CEO approval
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Pros

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Cons

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1.0
May 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

It is a job that pays.

Cons

They will promise you opportunities that don't exist. The company they contract you to will promise you work that you will not be assigned. I was a Java Consultant with a masters degree in Math and certificate in full stack and I was shoved into a manual testing position that required zero coding and constantly dangled automation in front of my face. When I was asked to look at Selenium, I studied it in some of the copious amounts of downtime i had and was reprimanded during the next meeting for 'wasting company time'. I moved from Texas to New Jersey for my first position. After contracts with the company were terminated, I was pulled off my assignment only to be abruptly fired for "lack of geoflexibility" despite willingness to move to several places they do business including NYC and even Denver. There is no accountability from them as the only response they give is "the decision is final". There is no way to appeal a blatant lie. Their company has no integrity and side with business majors over people that know how chemicals and physics and electrical components work just seem like bad life decisions. They will say you can reapply but they won't hire you. They'd full of it at every angle.

5
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