Pros
I wanted to share some thoughts on ICE. Like any place there are good and bad aspects. First off, I work in one of the NY offices and a lot of what I say is specific to my office and team. That said, there is a certain culture that sneaks throughout the whole company at least in the US. Positives: • Work-life balance is good • Unlimited PTO as of 2023 • Higher than average bonus • Stock options (ICE shares with 15% off) • Good benefits for the market • Hybrid (diff levels have diff requirements, but many ICs WFO only once a week) • Good charitable initiatives
Cons
• You feel like a cog in the machine; no specific mission or social good you feel part of • Hard to find motivation • Outdated technology • Outdated/depressing offices (although conf rooms are not too bad) • No office perks. All we get is free nuts and bars (not the healthy kind) • Some people especially management are HIGHLY toxic. Seagull management style. Culture: this word means different things to different people. In terms of non-work activities, my whole office is very bad. We used to get free pizza once a month, but since COVID, we don’t anymore. We have 1 or sometimes 2 city-wide parties in good venues, open bar, finger food, but no activity, not even a speech. I do appreciate them and usually have a modicum of fun, but other companies I worked for had speakers, gamers, prizes, a bit more rah-rah, you know. There is no effort to build any team spirit. The last Holiday party was at the NYSE, which yes, it’s a cool venue and it’s fun to be there, but we had very low participation. You can have the best party but if people don’t care to show up, you have to ask yourself why (as a company). Feedback on Core Values: • Collaboration (4/5): depends highly on team. Mine has a good amount of healthy collaboration • Problem Solving (3/5): not so much a core value as much as it is a necessity with all the terrible legacy code we have • Communication (1/5): really terrible, a large percentage speaks horrible English especially in terms of ability to articulate ideas; another percentage is aggressive and is permanently dialed at 11. There’s a common pattern where during tech discussions (which can get pretty complicated), people get heated, not so much because they disagree, but simply because they have to explain something twice! There is no patience and no concept of proper mentoring. • Integrity and Professionalism (3/5): depends a lot from person to person. Some senior managers are allowed to be very unprofessional and that is accepted. • Leadership (3/5): while I did learn valuable lessons from the people I report to, ICE insists managers lead by example, which is a good idea in theory, but when personalities are so toxic (and again, that’s MY team), the last thig you want to do is pick up your boss’s habits. In this day and age where tech companies are laying off so many employees, ICE is not such a bad place to be. But work life should be better than this. You just work for the salary with no other incentive or motivation. Definitely true for many other companies, but it does not make it right.