Bank wants to be a tech company, fires 10-15% of employees every half for no reason other than policy - Senior Software Engineer Capital One Employee Review

2.0
Nov 4, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good pay, generous sign on bonus and severance pay Flexible hybrid in office, seem to be slowly tightening though

Cons

They're trying to be a tech company but instead they make a lot of things are unnecessarily complex and using in-house tools that you'll never see outside the company. It was very frustrating trying to diagnose problems with all the extra layers to get through. I liked my time at Capital One though and was a little surprised when my boss, after having bi-weekly one one one meetings giving positive feedback, told me during mid year reviews that I was being put on a PIP due to something that took me too long to work on 6 months ago. What? Why was this never discussed before in our one on one meetings? I don't think anyone would dispute that I was very loud and clear during daily standups about issues I was having while working on that project and how I was solving them or which team I was reaching out to. I did more research and learned about stacked ranking and Capital One's policy of firing the "lowest" ranked 10-15% every half year. So watch out, even when everything is fine and you're consistently delivering on all your projects, being arbitrarily ranked lowest will still require that you or someone else on your team who did nothing wrong will be fired.

Explore other reviews about Capital One

5.0
Jun 7, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent benefits Great community, major opportunities for growth

Cons

The training process can be challenging due to the volume of information and the absence of a dedicated trainer, though the team is supportive and committed to helping new employees succeed.

1.0
Jun 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pay can be decent compared to GovCon. Some people are a pleasure to work with. Other non-pay related incentives.

Cons

Never heard more nonsensical topics during meetings; people sharing their sexual preferences, flaunting overly dramatic personal lifestyle decisions, diversity to the point of failure, etc. Hearing the term "white guilt" in a professional setting was, well, pretty unprofessional. Stack ranking for performance reviews is a mess. Someone has to have an "F" regardless of their performance because that is what their line of business is allotted. Be prepared to be held responsible for actions any Sr Leadership would just sweep under the rug under their own circumstances. If a manager doesn't like you, regardless of your productivity, you're toast unless you're able to find another LoB to support. HR / AR are just a check in the box and will most likely point you from one to the other and back again without resolving any issues. You'll find yourself curious as to what leadership does as they continue to scrape managerial responsibilities from their plate, to yours. Last but certainly not least; you may find yourself working hard on a project; nights and weekends, just in case that work life balance is feeling a little too perfect. Fret not, someone will surely assist in taking credit for the hard work you've put in. I'm sure none of these things will happen to you, though. Best of luck!

4
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