False Advertising - Data Scientist Capital One Employee Review

1.0
Apr 25, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible work hours and convenient downtown location.

Cons

3 out of the 60 DS actually do work that resembles industry standard DS work. These are the folks that are sent to public and recruiting events to make it sound like we all do real DS work. Don't be fooled! Most of the business leaders do not know what DS resources are or how to use them. They think Data Scientists' core job is to write SQL scripts for business analysts and process managers for "controls". Instead of investing in proper tech resources and fixing processes, leaders choose to use Data Science resources to write SQL script based "controls" designed by business stake holders who know nothing about data or SQL. You don't think you will be writing SQL scripts for data pulling when you sign up for a job description that throws out AI Machine Learning and PhD requirements. It's outright outrageous false advertisement. There are frequent breakdowns in processes that impact our customers. The in-house euphemism for this is a "risk event". Data Science resources are used regularly to fix these risk events by adhoc query writing to pull data for process manager who were not able run their processes properly. No wonder more than a dozen data scientists have left the company in the last few months. Turn over is insanely high. The gave every DS a big fat raise recently hoping to stop the bleeding. Did not help... The kind of problems the business is trying to solve do not require data science, machine learning or even basic statistics. Just some reliable data and SQL developers / Data Analysts would be more than sufficient.

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Pros

Decent work life balance good insurance

Cons

Managers can vary wildly and pip cycle is brutal

2.0
Jul 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Salary, benefits, mobility for internal transfers

Cons

I have been a part of Capital One for more than 20 years, most of my career. It was an exciting growth culture in the early years. Our team culture was very strong. People looked out for each other and worked toward a collective good. Around 2019 a shift began in leadership. Politics became more important and forced distribution, stack ranking, and performance management targets became more prevalent. When the pandemic hit, it broke the strong in person culture of this company. Many left for the lure of FAANG and other companies offering remote work for promotion and higher pay. It was a chance to jump the line and come back later. In the meantime COF hired people who tired of the relentless pace of Amazon, Google, and other tech companies. We also hired in big bank culture of JPM Chase and Goldman. This has resulted in a toxic, political, cutthroat culture with constant reorgs. I’m planning to leave this organization in the next 12 months. It is sad what it has become. I know tenured leaders, great people who look out for others and have helped me succeed over the years, who are miserable here. DFS colleagues from the acquisition are leaving in droves.

5
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