Optiver Software Engineer reviews

- 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. :-)

Optiver is a great place to work for motivated developers that want to hone their craft and view themselves as professional engineers. I enjoy working here because no one tries to hold my hand. There are plenty of opportunities to do impactful work and to grow. The development team is focused on staying lean and getting done what needs to be done.