Just Okay... - Senior Software Engineer BlackRock Employee Review

2.0
Dec 21, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* Great office at nice locations... though lack of places to eat nearby * Nice cafeteria - a bit on the expensive side, but I like it. * Good to have the company name on the resume

Cons

* Imense number of meetings - at BLK we just love them. Even meetings about meetings. It's hard to do any work. * I think they track everything you do. * "Unlimited vacation". But, I'm pretty sure if you allocate more than 3 weeks, you will either be laid off before even take it. :) I've seen it. * Legacy systems - pretty much everything on prem, with minimal cloud exposure. Everything engineered with either C or Java 8. * DEV environment is shared with thousands of employees and if one person messes up something, you can't do any work. The managers just shrugs off when you mention this, don't take any initatives to improve the working conditions. * Lot of politics - if you are not loud or not a good talker (or don't have a manager who stands by you), you'll be eaten by others. * I get impression they pretty much try to be like Goldman Sachs, but not very well. * The leadership is quite amusing - you can see guitars, rock & roll pictures in their office. But they are quite distant, they hardly say hi or trying to be friendly, or ignore you in the elevators even when you speak with them. * Every other day there are climate activists and protesters peacefully protesting in front of the building. You are prohibited to speak, talk or even take a flier from them. If you do, you risk being fired.

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5.0
Jun 23, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good team environment and interesting work

Cons

Long hours and slightly competitive

1
2.0
Jul 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Branding branding branding!!! an incredible brand, and having it on your resume opens some doors but not all.

Cons

The Preqin acquisition never really found its identity after becoming part of BlackRock. It felt like the focus shifted from listening to clients to fitting Preqin into a broader BlackRock strategy. As AI changes how firms access and analyze private market data, simply being a data provider isn’t enough anymore. My impression was that Preqin’s long-term value is likely to come from being integrated into the broader Aladdin ecosystem and APIs, rather than remaining a standalone platform. Leadership would benefit from spending more time listening to customers and the teams on the front lines instead of assuming they already know what the market wants.

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