Pros
On the surface, SS sounds like an amazing, even important place to work. 'I work at one of the largest and oldest investment firms in the nation. We handle more money than the national deficit every day. If we failed, nations would go under.' Everyone has a great title. I can't count how many vice presidents and presidents there are. Stick around a few years and you can be a VP too. It's easy to fool your friends into thinking you make a lot of money, since you work with a place that handles a lot of money.
Cons
Where does anyone start? I've read all the bad reviews here and seen every one of those situations first hand and then some. Some bother me more than others and should bother anyone associated with this company. First, there is a disconnect between the company vision and reality. The vision is (currently) 'Beacon'- cutting costs through effective technology. The reality is this place is too cheap and too ignorant (sorry) to make it happen. They offshore so much of their tech labor, turn over labor at a pace I've never seen anywhere else, work with the most Frankenstein patchwork of old technology which faced the brink of catastrophic failure daily, have barely any clue how this mess works together, continue to add pie in the sky projects (to look good to shareholders, I'm guessing) but can't spring for the greatest, much less the latest anything. I can't see them NOT having a serious catastrophic data crash within the next five years. Let's not forget the tech side doesn't communicate well with the business side so neither are happy with one another. Security, while necessary, makes many tasks almost impossible. For example, if you step in today, it'll likely take you at least two weeks before you can use a computer, even if they know you're coming on board several months in advance. Training is non-existent and one of the lowest priorities of any department, mainly because the departments are mostly understaffed and trying to both keep things running AND put out fires constantly. When I think about the company, I envision a group of people in a fast moving car falling apart on the highway, and rather than stop to fix the mess, they'd rather get people out on the hood with a toolbox and pray things just keep running without anyone noticing. Did I mention they haven't had a good product since SPDR's? They are cheap to a fault yet they think things like putting a statue of a girl in front of the Wall Street bull is the best move for business. And the internal communications... the company prides itself on it's pride. It's always doing the right thing; communications say so. Never mind the low pay. Never mind being thrown into projects no normal human being could ever hope to solve. Never mind the feeling that there are two state streets: Boston and everyone else- just go along with the pitch. Things are great. Good times on the Titanic for everyone! I dread coming to work every day and am sharpening my resume to get out before JP Morgan buys up the company and fires everyone.