D. E. Shaw Reviews

Pros

- Casual Dress Code
- Great health benefits
- Competitive compensation
- Stocked pantry(ies)
- Fun work perks (in-house happy hours, surprise treats, etc)
- Smart, motivated co-workers
- Academic culture
- Flexibility in maintaining a good work/life balance
- No holiday policy

Cons

- Becoming very political
- Working in an atmosphere of distrust among departments and managers
- No holiday policy
- Some people are too smart for their own good, therefore making real-world solutions hard to implement.
- Historically have seemed to value people with pedigree instead of assessing who would be a best fit for the job - even if she/he graduated from a state school, etc ...

Pros

Still prestigious, it looks good on a resume.
Lots of smart coworkers, most technical people have PhDs. Many have medals from International Olympiads in math, sciences or computer science
Good benefits
Low stress

Cons

Performance reviews are almost completely useless, though this could just have been my manager.
Compensation is below average, it appears they charge a premium for working there.
Reasons for job promotions or lack there of are communicated very poorly.

Advice to Senior Management

The company really seems to have very little invested in employee development. There are lots of courses one can take within the company, but no structure (even manager to employee communication) to provide guidance. Some of this is my former manager, but it seems to be more widespread.

Also, from a career development standpoint, the firm is still (even after the layoffs) very crowded.

Finally, the company has really gone downhill since David Shaw stopped taking an active role in the firm. Even though I don't work there any more, I hope he gets more involved again. The company seems to have lost its focus since he transitioned more to D E Shaw Research.

Pros

- Casual Dress code
- Fully stocked superpantry
- Smart and motivated employees
- Convenient hours
- High compensation
- Open discussion is encouraged

Cons

There is a relative lack of mobility with regard to your position at the firm. Sometimes work can be unstructured.

Advice to Senior Management

Management does a good job of delegating responsibility and maintaining the quality control of its employees day to day work.

Pros

Interesting people to work with
Interesting problems to deal with
Great culture
Good pantry

Cons

have to wait long for the decision from management

Advice to Senior Management

see above

Pros

* Extremely smart and helpful colleagues
* Very interesting projects
* Modern and attractive office space in the heart of midtown Manhattan
* Competitive compensation
* Well thought out, pragmatic approach to the financial markets
* Best-in-class technology
* Great benefits
* Many locations around the world (including SV, NYC, London)

Cons

* May seem overwhelming initially (but hang in there!)
* No cafeteria, but you don't need one - there are dozens of lunch options within a couple of blocks

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work.

Pros

1. Salary
2. Flexible Work Culture

Cons

1. Lot of politics.
2. Assets going down
3. Not lot of technical challenges.
4. Promotions are based on your relationship with management

Pros

Flexibility in work hours
Best Salary in the industry for the location
Good Culture
Excellent Perks
Good Work Environment
Very good ownership given to employees in their work

Cons

Lack of vision - There doesn't seem to be any vision for various locations
Middle Management - It would be good if higher management can layout vision and purpose for various locations and middle management instills it down to the foot workers

Pros

Salary and bonus
If you have an interest in financial world, its good

Cons

No flexibility of work - No work from home.
Politics.
Bureaucracy.
Only MT/SMT do most of the things.
PM(s)/PL(s) only do prioritization - Do not provide a good vision and do not come up with a plan.
They just want you to slog at the last minute to get job done even if its not worth the effort.
Many people do people management and forget that they are in a tech job.
Freedom to work on something else is not there.
MT/SMT are expected to multitask and slog and do the work end-to-end.

Advice to Senior Management

Just doing prioritization does not help - sketch proper plans. Do not beat around the bush. Talk about tech work. Give time for people to develop good applications.Sort out internal politics.Stop treating specific people as god and give respect to everyone overall. Encourage folks for their good work.Giving lot of money alone does not help.

Pros

Everyone is brilliant
Seniority is not a major factor in day-to-day decision making, the best ideas wins
Comfortable working conditions

Cons

Upper management does not seem to appreciate outstanding group performance
You trade being able to come to work in jeans for less pay at equivalent firms

Advice to Senior Management

As the firm grew, bureaucracy scaled and ended up becoming a large of a part of daily life. Going back to the small-firm roots would have been appreciated.

Pros

- flexi hours
- a few exceptionally good people

Cons

- bad management
- bureaucratic
- lack of learning and growth
- top team lacks vision

Advice to Senior Management

- get clarity on work/people
- treat people fairly