D. E. Shaw Reviews

Pros

good salary compared to industry standards and compared to quality of work
many fringe benefits
lovely parties

Cons

poor quality work, no absorption
If your direct boss is not competent, u are in a problem since he is all that u have
work culture is awful, unhealthy competition

Advice to Senior Management

Remove the deeply entrenched hierarchy

Pros

flexible schedules and vacations
good medical benefits
happy hours and other events for employees
internal training program
super pantry with food and drinks

Cons

not good at promoting from within or transferring personnel internally
not good at sharing information
large divide between front and back office staff
very difficult recruiting process

Advice to Senior Management

provide more opportunies for developing personnel
provide better leadership to inspire employees
communicate more to all employees not just managing directors and senior manager

Pros

-Some of the smartest and most self-motivated people I've ever worked with
-Diverse staff - so many unique interests (artists, musicians, etc.), especially for a financial firm
-Fun perks (happy hours, lectures, snacks, etc.) and good benefits
-Interesting work

Cons

The financial crisis greatly changed the company culture in more bad ways than good
-Increasingly bureaucratic and political process (this was also partially due to the increase in company size)
-Lack of transparency from senior management

Advice to Senior Management

Tell people what is going on.

Pros

The team was great to work with. they were very helpful in introducing me to the work environment. they gave me lot of responsibility from the beginning

Cons

the working hours are very long and they expect 1000% commitment . not everyone gets so lucky with their superiors and are expected to be on their own from day 1.

Advice to Senior Management

they take fantastic people with superb skills who haven't worked in this field before. these people would need more on the job training.

Pros

Accepts non-financial people into the world of Finance
Good benefits
If you get into a good group then it's a good place
Really good people
Nice parties

Cons

Restrictive non-compete agreement that won't allow you to continue on in Finance when you leave (and no you can't just ignore it)
Little or no choice about which group you are in or about what work you will do
Becoming increasingly bureaucratic with an abundance of micromanagers
PhDs doing menial work and often nothing else
Long hours
No vacation policy so you really are at the mercy of your boss

Advice to Senior Management

Less micromanagement and more transparency

Pros

good package except bonuses
people are great to work with
learn a lot about hedge fund operations
can do this coming form liberal arts

Cons

more limited exit opportunities coming from this group
very long hours the first 6 months - 1 year
no formal training program

Advice to Senior Management

It seems that there should be more opportunities for liberal arts students to gain employment with de shaw ... maybe expand company operations to accommodate this

Pros

Higher package compared to other companies
You generally can get the kind of job you like to work
Smart people all around

Cons

Long work hours
Tech team at only one place in India
The management may not respect you as much as in other companies
They are little scroogy except for their package

Advice to Senior Management

Dont be scroogy
Respect staff at all levels
Apart from these you seem to be doing a good job congrats

Pros

Freedom to make decisions
Direct exposure to the clients
Challenging problems to solve

Cons

Stressful, deadlines every now and then
Not your cup of tea, if you dont like finance

Advice to Senior Management

Streamlining the process of requirements gathering will lead to overall benefit. Problem is that people giving requirements (direct users) are sometimes not sure what they really want.. and the requirements keep changing forever.

Pros

The pay is great. Lots of bright people work for the firm, including management and support staff. For a financial services firm in particular, this company places control in the hands of the technologists; many of the senior managers have PhD's in technical disciplines. There is potential for large bonuses and advancement within the firm, or so I am told. Like many software companies, there are free beverages and snacks. The firm is structured as a meritocracy. The company has shower facilities on site in the main office. Some might appreciate the firm's location just off of Sixth Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

Cons

I felt that the picture my interviewers painted of my position was very different from the reality of the position. The firm hires over-qualified people for every position, which means that your position may not be fun or challenging, and moving up is that much more difficult. Fast paced, high stress environment. Health plan had a high deductible. The downside of being organized as a meritocracy is that it takes a long, long time to move anywhere. The company is growing at a very rapid pace, so the average experience of employees at the firm is much lower than it once was. Unless working in a primary business role of the firm, the fact that you are in a supporting position is very clear.

Advice to Senior Management

Be careful to grow sustainably.

Pros

A few of the best reasons to work for D. E. Shaw are the laid back atmosphere, great benefits and wonderful coworkers. There is no dress code, and only 4 titles in the entire company. While this might seem overwhelming at first, it is nice to not have an emphasis on needing to move up a title every two years. Your career path here can be much more free form and this is reflected in D. E. Shaw's academic nature. Extensive benefits for all employees are a definite perk and everyone who works here tends to be very motivated and smart but also concerned about their lives outside of work. It's definitely a great balance of everything.

Cons

Sometimes the academic atmosphere can be a downside. Unless you are the type to figure out what you want to do next and go after it, the opportunity will certainly not come to you like at some more strictly traditional hierarchical companies. The good news is that most of the employees at D. E. Shaw are very smart, enjoy what they do, and know how to go about taking the desired next step in their careers. The senior leadership is very competent and I think the future is bright for the company as a while. While not necessarily considered by me to be a downside, I would recommend that self-moitvated individuals work for the company since I see them as more likely to succeed in this type of an atmosphere.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management is very good and has deep experience in both good and bad times to successfully lead the company into the future.