Stay away. Horrible place to work for software engineers. - Senior Associate Software Engineer Capital One Employee Review

1.0
Jul 17, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Good benefits. - Good work life balance.

Cons

- Too many useless meetings, when time can be spent on actual planning & development. - Performance management. STACK RANKING is toxic. They compare you to other associates and place you in buckets: below strong, strong, above strong. You have no incentive to help out your fellow associates. If you end up in below strong, it's time to find a new job because you will most likely be fired. If you ever do end up in "below strong", don't beat yourself, it's just the company (is really stupid), and it's probably not you. I ended up there, and now I am at this amazing company who actually values me and pays me more. - Bad management. Managers are responsible for bringing work to your team. If your manager is bad, you might get screwed over and you may end up as "below strong" even if you do your work properly. I ended up with a manager who told me throughout the year (during 1 on 1s) that I have been doing good and then dropped the bomb during performance reviews with a "below strong" rating. Basically, if you are surprised by your rating during performance reviews, the manager did not do his/her job properly. Performance ratings should not come as a surprise to anyone. - High expectations, not enough compensation to back those expectations. As a "senior associate" you are expected to do many things including doing some managerial stuff. I came into the role assuming that as a senior associate software engineer, I'd be roped into challenging projects and design meetings, etc. However, I was expected to do some of the manager's or principal associate's work for them like bringing in projects to the team. Basically, 95 K was my compensation and that is not close to enough in this day and age with #Justinflation to do this kind of advanced work. Basically, these role names are very ambiguous. - It's a bank not a software company no matter how much these guys market it as so. You get the same politics (performance reviews - bump people down so they can promote others), bureaucracy as banks. They just have these really cool events that software companies also do. However, don't be mistaken IT IS A BANK. If you are a software engineer, do not work at a bank.

Explore other reviews about Capital One

5.0
Jun 12, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Culture is amazing and work life balance

Cons

Performance management is very intense

2.0
Jul 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

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.

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