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Optiver Employee Reviews about "smart people"
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
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Cons
- "Poor management promote the worst people to management roles after seeing their own negative traits in them." (in 14 reviews)
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Found 53 of over 505 reviews
Updated Sept 19, 2023
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Reviews about "smart people"
Return to all Reviews- 1.0Nov 5, 2021Software EngineerCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsSydney
Pros
-Good pay (they'll almost always beat any competitor) -Free breakfast and lunch which tastes good on most days -Free coffee until midday -Good resume booster ^ But honestly don't let these perks lure you ^
Cons
-Very high expectations and BS performance reviews means that you could be below average and get fired very quickly. I've seen smart and competent people shown the door. -Within the first few months I saw quite a few people disappear or leave. There was even someone that resigned due to mental health problems (more than likely caused by work related stress). If this place is so great why do people leave? Seriously ask yourself that before joining. -Projects are an absolute mess. As a dev you'll be project manager, tester, support which is on top of your usual dev work. -Limited career growth outside of finance and the tech is an outdated mess. Honestly try finding a C++ job outside of HFT that pays in the same ballpark. So make sure you plan an exit route. -Engineers are a pay grade below. Seriously a second year junior trader earns the same as a senior (l3) developer. -Individualist environment means people are always fighting for their bonus. -Got yelled at by a frustrated manager because I made an honest mistake and was a little slow to interpret something -Be weary of teams with low headcount where only new comers join and people just leave. -If you get an offer at a big tech company, take that option. The slightly extra $ you get is not worth the career risk. I'm glad I made the switch and got out early.
28 - 5.0Aug 21, 2015Derivative TraderCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearChicago, IL
Pros
- Working with really smart and sharp people in the industry. Also everybody is friendly and willing to help. - Highly competitive pay as both junior and senior level, benefits(5 weeks vacation!), and free catered lunch - Intellectually challenging. You are on the production desk in only 3 months and start making trading decisions. - Transparent bonus structure and management. Unlike other firms, we normally have the rough idea of how much we(and others) would get paid at the end of the year. - If you are good, you can advance pretty quickly.
Cons
- Trading is not for everyone; sometimes it could be pretty stressful. - Not sure the management fires people as its last resort. Its not good to see people voluntarily leaving/fired while we seem understaffed.
6 - 1.0Apr 19, 2021Software DeveloperFormer Employee, more than 3 yearsSydney
Pros
There are some really nice and smart people. Work can be interesting. Having barista on site is quite nice.
Cons
Shame those nice people are not in position to make change. Optiver used to be nice place to work. Then management and HR decided that people can more productive if they are told that everything they do can be better or done faster. Toxic culture of blame. People become withdrawn due to the excessive load and expectations. Some teams are worse than others. If someone decides a person should go, they will be bullied out of company using performance improvement program. If you are going through hiring, make sure to ask proper base salary since your bonus depends on rating and that is at mercy of management.
14 - 5.0Jul 6, 2022Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 1 year
Pros
- Very nice and smart people to work with - Good work culture and work environment, a stable company - Plenty of perks such as breakfast & lunch, weekly massages, gym membership and fun events such as annual trip
Cons
- Work is very challenging - Base salary is lower but overall is higher - Less diversity in some departments such as trading
2 - 3.0Jan 24, 2023AccountantCurrent EmployeeSydney
Pros
You work with some smart people and hierarchical structure is somewhat flat so easy access to top management. Really great benefits with daily breakfast and hot lunches. Company is big on promoting social interactions
Cons
Continuous and consistent high performance is expected and can leave you burnt out. Simply doing your job is not enough. Longer working hours than other finance jobs. Strategy is continuously changing with limited to no room for career development.
1 - 5.0Oct 3, 2015Software DeveloperCurrent Employee, more than 5 yearsChicago, IL
Pros
- Mission: We have a clear directive: Improve the market. I love the focus that mission brings in combination with its moral undertones. We only pursue strategies which actually add value to the world’s financial markets. And I see this play out every week as well. In meetings questions like “why should we be paid to this”, “is this a fair strategy”, and “is this money we should leave on the table” are constantly asked. It is so refreshing to work for a trading company which takes it duty to ensure stable, fair, transparent markets seriously. - Teamwork: The camaraderie, sense of togetherness, and practical outworking of the company structure are incredible. Within our office in Chicago, it feels like everyone is part of a tight-knit team that works together as true partners with no second-class citizens. Between offices there is a wonderful sense of friendly competition (every office wants the best results) balanced by the knowledge that we all share in each other’s success which motivates everyone to constantly sharing technology, strategies, and learnings. - Humility: Why are the most successful people at Optiver successful? Speaking for IT, the key is humility, being self-critical, proactively looking for critiques and advice to help yourself improve, and looking for your own faults before others. Our most senior people are the first ones to take the blame for something going wrong and push those around them to help learn from those mistakes and grow. - Intelligence: You can’t be a great company in this industry without incredibly smart people. And in addition to being some of the most humble, hardworking people I know, my colleagues are also incredibly smart. If we were ever to decide “let’s cut the person with the lowest IQ”, I’d need to start looking for a job… Thankfully I know we’ll never do that. :-)
Cons
- Professionalism Training: Because most new hires are fresh out of school, there is a need for and lack of training in “professionalism”: How to make a business case. How to produce meaningful statistics and not gibberish. How do you create, plan, and run a meeting. How do you stay organized and not drop the ball? How should you behave in a meeting? Etc. That many new hires don’t know these things is not a problem. The issue is the lack of internal development and mentoring in these areas. - Focus: Optiver has a lot of intelligent people, high quality traders, and opportunities to grow. But it feels like we’re at a giant buffet where every food option looks incredible. We’re half-way through the line, and we have a full plate and a choice: do we grab a second plate and keep moving or step back and re-evaluate what is best for our long-term health and short-term digestion? It often feels like we go for the second plate when we should ask: is that chocolate pie really going to be that good? We’ve tried it three times before and never been satisfied. Why do we think it will be good this time?
9 - 4.0May 27, 2013Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsAmsterdam
Pros
Informal, results-driven, eager environment Work closely with really smart and innovative people Good salary and secondary benefits Great responsibility right from the start of your career and enough space to come up with ideas yourself
Cons
It remains a flat organisation with a focus on trading, so there are limit opportunities for career development compared to the big corporates.
- 2.0Feb 20, 2023Software EngineerCurrent Employee
Pros
Really friendly and smart people. The food is fantastic.
Cons
- Extremely high standards. I understand that trading firms always want to attract extremely smart people. But the standard settings here are not for hard-working smart people, they are for intelligent smart people(geniuses). In other words, to meet those requirements, long working hours and always pushing oneself every day is inevitable . - Peer review for the bonus. It will be taken as a waste of time if ask others for help and colleagues will give help. Since the project assigned to each one is "autonomy", employees here won't be evaluated by how much they help others, but only by the outcome of their own project, which is not helpful to the growth of technical skills in the long term. - Cultural fit. There is hardly anyone asking about your weekend plan, let alone your life plans. People working here only care about working efficiency and how much they can earn every year etc. What's more, people here are quite ego with their "prestige", which makes me feel uncomfortable sometimes.
16 - 5.0Feb 7, 2020Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 10 yearsAmsterdam
Pros
- Very competitive environment where you can also have fun and be casual when it suits the moment - Excellent learning curve due to working together with very smart people for world class player in financial markets - Fantastic primary and secondary conditions - Humble culture and down to earth mentality
Cons
- Due to fast growth and increasing regulation more focus on controls. It is a necessity and in general quite well managed. One of the strengths of company is to be taking very good risk/reward calls.
- 5.0Oct 17, 2020Software Engineer(Internship)Former InternAmsterdam
Pros
Very nice and smart people to work with
Cons
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