Frustrating for self-motivated devs, but easy-ride if you wish to coast
Pros
- Big company/finance sector perks - Mostly good, friendly, genuine people - Great campus and facilities - Easy to transfer internally
Cons
- Heavy bureaucracy and politics to wade through - Lots of annual review/bonus driven people. Therefore lots of one-upmanship and power grabs - Easy to get trampled on if you don't have a backbone. - Mostly in-house software and processes, with non-transferrable skills to learn - Very short-term focused delivery. Tech debt is accumulated very quickly in order to appease higher ups and annual reviews - Technical stacks and projects are very set in their ways, but with enough immature tech thrown in the mix to become a nightmare - Lack of T-shaped devs, very much I-shaped (poor broad technical knowledge, good in narrower areas) - Poor Agile/Scrum implementation. Severe lack of POs/BAs. Often used as an excuse rather than a planning tool ("Remember, we're agile") - Pressure to be in the office more than core hours, even if nothing more to be done
