Fair Isaac Reviews

Pros

Name recognition, some market leading products

Cons

All business segments under attack by either FICO's own inability to deliver or competitors nibbling away at their footprint. Company has a hard time generating top line growth - consequently they manage cost (and workforce) agressively in order to look good... essentially the company shrunk by 1/3 over the last 3 years.

Advice to Senior Management

You got to understand the details if you want to fix the problem. Just producing high level presentations and announcements does nothing to move the company forward.

Pros

The employees are generally nice and helpful people, though most people prefer to eat alone at their desks. The FICO name is still respected and good to have on your resume.

Cons

Given frequent layoffs, morale is low, as people are constantly afraid of getting laid off next time. Many employees are secretly seeking positions elsewhere and leaving before FICO can lay them off.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer more job security and stock options to employees, to be vested after 6 years or termination, to attract talent and decrease attrition.

Pros

FICO is a good place to recruit talent that is most likely looking to move on.

Cons

FICO used to be a wonderful place to work and grow but recent cost cutting measures have left the company and rotten shell of its former self. A majority of the skilled and hard working staff have jettison from the company, with more leaving every week.

Advice to Senior Management

If your goal was a higher turnover rate and less loyalty to the FICO name, then your plan was achieved.

Pros

The people there are very smart, most are easy to work with. The technical aspect of the work is very interesting and challenging.

Cons

The company is relatively mature, therefore slow paced. The financial reward is not competitive. The career development is unclear and unsupported due to frequent re-organization from 2006 to 2011.

Advice to Senior Management

Change the CEO. Change the CEO. Change the CEO. Change the CEO. Change the CEO. Change the CEO. Change the CEO.

Pros

very cool product areas. you can make a difference if you want.

Cons

service delivery model. not a software company.

Advice to Senior Management

hire the best engineers.

Pros

Great people and technology combine to solve valuable problems for large financial institutions.

Cons

Senior management is struggling with how to position for the future. There have been cycles of hiring and firing that are bad for morale. Innovation isn't getting to the marketplace as efficiently as it should, they rested on past success too long.

Pros

Great People to work with. Good camaraderie. Great exchange of knowledge and information. Good starting point for a fresher out of college.

Cons

Bad compensation policy. Unorganized and short sighted management. Anyone who waves a dollar (promises revenue growth that is) at the CEO is taken into the executive team.
No long term thinking. No emphasis on the strong analytics that was the hallmark of Fair Isaac of the past. Only empasis on sales targets and earnings per share. The blame (and hence the layoffs) is passed on to the junior staff (through excuses of cost controls when the management always had a chance to monitor it regularly instead of discovering it right at the end of 2010).
Bonuses are a pittance. Most of it being claimed by sales.

Advice to Senior Management

Please think in long term initiatives. If you cannot manage then own up and don't just ruin careers for a few cents per share earnings every year.

Pros

Flexibility is good depending on your manager. The office building in San Diego is nice and most of the people are pleasant to work with.

Cons

Unrealistic expectations from some managers who don't believe in work/life balance. Communication severely lacking in Finance and Accounting. Employee morale is low and shows no signs of improving. San Diego salaries are low compared to the rest of the region. Company is so focused on sales that support functions are taken for granted.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate more effectively and treat employees like adults. Make collaboration between finance and accounting functions easier rather than keeping everyone in their silos. Create an environment of knowledge sharing.

Pros

They offer decent pay and management is open about how the company is doing, etc. It's also a very flexible company in that most employees have the choice to work from home

Cons

It primarily operates in siloes, where the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing. Most groups are only concerned about their role, and don't stop to consider "Is this good for the company and the client?". There isn't a lot of camaraderie within the groups, either; very few employees can say they have a friend in the workplace.

Pros

Some interesting people, mostly peers
Reputation (somehow) is still good in industry
Good IT operations

Cons

Extremely weak senior management
Unethical and morally repugnant executives, especially in Scoring division
Unrealistic expectations are the norm, company-wide
Employee "motivation" is achieved via threats ("If you can't do it, we'll find somebody who can...")
No upward career progression possible if you are a Senior Manager or Director
Recently laid-off 200 long-term, senior contributors... FICO does not value previous accomplishments or exemplary performance
Widespread executive arrogance - only they have the answers
Poor compensation practices - tiny or no salary increases year-after-year, even where performance ratings are High/Very High and bonus pool is fictitious
Board of Directors asleep at the wheel, so nothing is going to change soon

Advice to Senior Management

Combine your Senior Executive "Best Practices" to create a new predictive algorithm...How to ruin a good company and screw your employees.