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Fidelity Investments

Engaged Employer

Acceptable if you're out of ambition - Software Engineer Fidelity Investments Employee Review

3.0
Oct 1, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you're married with kids and a house, and you want to go home at 4:45PM every day, Fidelity is for you. I've never worked less anywhere else. When I've had visitors in on a Friday in the summer, and only 6 of 30 team members are in, they ask "where is everyone" and I have to explain that this is normal. Largely "Working From Home" is used more than it should. As far as ambitions go, Abby and Ned own the company. What they want goes. As such, you can expect fiats from on high and many people and divisions shuffling along, getting by. This is not a terrible thing, but you'll not find floors of teams rushing to "get it done" and invent the "next great thing" despite the corporate newsletters the champion such internal trends. Rather you'll find bureaucracy, process, and more process taking weeks to do something as simple as write a single line query. One fiat was all applications moving to Linux servers from Window servers. Why? Ned had met Bill Gates at a conference and decided he didn't like him, so we needed to get rid of Windows. Pay is slightly below market, but health benefits are good ($140 for top health plan), bonuses not bad, and the hours are great. Good training budget. OK vacation policy (15 days). Nice facilities.

Cons

Big Warning: Fidelity is divesting in Boston and New England. They are moving all the jobs they can to Raleigh (NC), Westlake (TX), Ireland, China and India. Every year more Boston teams get sacked and given the "chance" to move 2000mi or more, though usually only 10% take the offer. Be careful if you're not deeply entrenched in the front office, your days are likely numbered. Everyone keeps to themselves. Passing people in the hall, they stare at the floor. In the elevators you could hear a pin drop. Folks are not outgoing and I've seen many teams that sit 10 yards apart and don't know each other at all. This helps breed the internal silos and technical fiefdoms. If you behave gregariously, people will be surprised. Fidelity IT loves to talk about Agile, but we actually use FAM, the Fidelity Agile Methodology. During your interview, ask deep questions about how so called "Agile" teams work and you'll be in for a laugh. FAM is a broken application of Agile and little better than classic waterfall. If you've really learned Agile elsewhere, people are going to laugh at you your first few weeks here. If you're looking to grow rapidly in tech, look beyond Fidelity. Our systems are laughably behind the times, though our "architectural conferences" will swear they're cutting edge (i.e. IE8 anyone, Java 6, Tomcat 5?).

Explore other reviews about Fidelity Investments

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A great place to work!

Cons

Not much cons from my experience.

5.0
Jun 11, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Benefits including profit sharing and bonuses are great. The breadth of this company provides a great opportunity to try out different career paths or boost your current one.

Cons

In my current role, I am working overtime more often than I'd like with recognition that seems to only go so far until it sizzles out. That may be tied to the size of the company itself, where promotions work in a "trickle down" manner.

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